Business, Economy & Banking Current Affairs MCQs

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Recently, the Ambassador of Japan to India led a high-level business delegation to the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR). The visit aimed to explore strategic cooperation in semiconductors and smart city development. Dholera SIR, India’s first greenfield smart industrial city, is located in Gujarat. The city focuses on advanced manufacturing, digital governance, and sustainable urban living. It is a key part of India’s vision to boost high-tech investments, particularly in the semiconductor sector

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Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has urged integration of the 8th Economic Census preliminary work with the 16th Population Census. The Economic Census aims to capture a full count of all entrepreneurial activities in India at a specific point in time. It is conducted by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) to strengthen data-driven policymaking. The census provides detailed data on ownership patterns, employment numbers, and geographic spread of economic activities.

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Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recognized India as a global leader in fast payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). In June 2025, UPI processed ₹24.03 lakh crore via 18.39 billion transactions, marking a 32% year-on-year growth from 13.88 billion transactions in June 2024. UPI now accounts for 85% of all digital transactions in India and nearly 50% of global real-time digital payments. It handles over 640 million transactions daily, surpassing Visa’s 639 million transactions per day. This scale was achieved in just 9 years, since UPI’s launch in 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

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India has become Malaysia’s largest importer of germinated oil palm seeds in 2025. In 2024, India imported 3.03 million tonnes of palm oil, making up 17.9% of Malaysia’s total exports. India aims to expand palm oil cultivation to 1 million hectares by 2025-26 under the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP). Goal is to produce 2.8 million tonnes of crude palm oil by 2029-30. Currently, India has 3.7 lakh hectares under palm cultivation, focusing on northeast and island regions. Malaysia offers to collaborate if India provides land for local palm oil production.

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India ranks second in global fish production, after China. Union Minister of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry stated this at a recent programme in Kolkata. Fish production in India rose by 103% in 2024–25 compared to 2013–14. Inland fisheries contribute nearly 75% of total fish production in India. Fisheries sector forms 1.12% of national Gross Value Added (GVA) and 7.26% of agricultural GVA. Around 30 million people are involved in the fisheries value chain. Union Budget 2025–26 proposed the highest ever financial support for fisheries sector.

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The Geological Survey of India (GSI) discovered huge gold deposits in Mahgawan Keolari area of Sihora tehsil, Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh. Samples confirmed the presence of gold along with valuable metals like iron, manganese, and copper. The deposits span about 100 hectares and are estimated to be in lakhs of tonnes. This is the first gold discovery in Jabalpur, which is already known for iron, manganese, and limestone exports. Earlier, gold was found in Katni, Madhya Pradesh.

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Recently, the Government of India revised the advance registration period for importing steel products on the Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) 2.0 portal, except for some items. SIMS 2.0, launched by the Union Ministry of Steel, builds on the 2019 SIMS to provide detailed steel import data to the domestic industry. It gives advance import information to the government and stakeholders, enabling better planning. Database integration helps identify risk areas, improve quality control, and support domestic steel industry growth and policymaking.

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Dubai International Airport (DXB), the world’s busiest hub for international travel, launched an AI-powered passenger corridor under the “Travel Without Borders” initiative. The corridor lets up to 10 passengers clear immigration in just 14 seconds using facial recognition and pre-registered biometric data. It eliminates the need for passports, smart gates, or physical checks. Initially, it is rolled out in Terminal 3’s First and Business Class lounges. The system builds on Dubai’s “smart tunnel” introduced in 2020. Artificial Intelligence (AI) verifies passenger data, while suspicious cases are flagged for review.

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According to State Bank of India’s Economic Research Department (ERD), Maharashtra is number one in Unified Payments Interface (UPI) usage, followed by Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu. Maharashtra led July 2025 with 9.8% share in transaction volume and 9.2% in value. UPI daily transaction value rose from ₹75,743 crore in January 2025 to ₹90,446 crore in August 2025. PhonePe is the top UPI app, followed by Google Pay and Paytm. SBI is the largest remitter with 5.2 billion transactions, 3.4 times HDFC Bank. UPI share in retail money value rose from 40% in 2019 to 91% in May 2025, showing cash replacement.

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The Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) is a programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched in 2002 at the World Summit for Sustainable Development. It was created to address threats to family farming and traditional agriculture such as climate change, displacement and biodiversity loss. Recently, the Minister of State for Agriculture informed the Lok Sabha that India has three GIAHS sites. Koraput in Odisha is known for paddy diversity, medicinal plants and tribal knowledge systems. Kuttanad in Kerala is a unique below-sea-level farming area with paddy, coconut, fishing and shell collection. Saffron Park in Kashmir is rich in saffron cultivation.