Business, Economy & Banking Current Affairs MCQs

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The Government recently announced the launch of the ₹25,016 crore Lakhanpur Coal Gasification Project at Lakhanpur in Jharsuguda district, Odisha. The Lakhanpur Project will be India’s first commercial-scale coal-to-ammonium nitrate facility, producing 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate per day. It is being developed by Bharat Coal Gasification and Chemicals Limited (BCGCL), a joint venture of BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) and CIL (Coal India Limited). The project aims to strengthen energy security, promote import substitution, and support Atmanirbhar Bharat.

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National Payments Corporation of India launched Drunix, an open-source blockchain platform. The purpose of this is to build and scale tokenisation platforms, support digital asset ecosystems and enable multi-organisation blockchain networks. Drunix is a high-performance distributed ledger platform designed for enterprise and public infrastructure adoption. Drunix is NPCI’s second major open-source blockchain contribution after Falcon.

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Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has successfully completed the first cohort of its BHARATI programme (Bharat’s Hub for Agritech, Resilience, Advancement and Incubation for Export Innovation). It is an initiative of APEDA. The initiative aims to promote innovation-driven growth in agri-food exports and support India’s target of USD 50 billion agri-food exports by 2030. Startups under the programme achieved early export success, including GI-tagged mangoes, millet-based products, and organic goods to global markets like the UAE, EU, USA, UK, and New Zealand. The programme strengthens India’s agri-export ecosystem through startups, technology, and value addition.

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The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has recently completed a nationwide database consolidation under the CITES project. The Centralised IT-Enabled System (CITES) is a major digital modernization initiative of EPFO. It replaces a decentralised, fragmented legacy system with a centralised national database and automated processing system. The project is managed by EPFO under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. It has been developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). CITES aims to allow any EPFO office in India to process any member’s request, removing dependency on regional offices.

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The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has launched the Amnesty Scheme, 2026 to provide a one-time opportunity for establishments operating exempted Provident Fund (PF) Trusts to regularise their status under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. The scheme, introduced by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, will remain open for six months from 29 June 2026. The scheme provides relief by waiving certain eligibility conditions, allowing retrospective regularisation, and withdrawing pending assessments related to PF dues, damages, and interest, subject to prescribed conditions.

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National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) launched Gramodyam, a rural entrepreneurship development programme, on its 45th Foundation Day. The programme is implemented in collaboration with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). Gramodyam aims to identify, train, mentor, and support aspiring rural entrepreneurs by providing industry-relevant skills, entrepreneurship training, credit facilitation, market linkages, and mentoring. It seeks to promote sustainable rural enterprises, employment generation, and inclusive economic growth.

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The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released India’s first trial Index of Services Production (ISP). The base year for the index is 2024–25, and the first release covers April 2026. The trial ISP covers 19 service sub-sectors, representing nearly 60% of India’s formal services sector. It is developed using administrative data, including GST records, without increasing compliance burden. Accommodation & Food Services (37.2%) and Retail Trade (30.8%) recorded the highest growth. The index will be available on the e-Sankhyiki portal, with future expansion expected to cover 85–90% of the formal services sector.

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The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) recently launched the E-Commerce Council of India (ECCI). It is the first national platform dedicated to strengthening and unifying India’s digital commerce ecosystem. The ECCI aims to bring together policymakers, e-commerce platforms, brands, retailers, logistics providers, technology firms, payment providers, startups, MSMEs, exporters, industry experts, and academic institutions. It promotes collaboration between industry and government for the growth of digital commerce.

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The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has introduced Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs) as an exchange-traded segment for buying and selling gold in electronic form. EGRs are exchange-traded securities representing ownership of physical gold stored in Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-regulated vaults. They are held in a demat account, traded like shares with a T+1 settlement cycle, and can be converted into physical gold.

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EnKash, India’s leading business payments and spend management platform, has launched UPI-based payments on its Meal Card. Employees can now pay directly from their meal card balance by scanning eligible UPI QR codes. The facility can be used at food and grocery merchants. EnKash has become the first company in India to enable UPI payments directly from a meal benefit balance. The feature extends EnKash’s Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) ecosystem.