Liberalisation & Industrial Policy

The Union Government is reportedly working on a scheme to absorb 90% of the compliance cost faced by MSME exporters under the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. The issue is important for UPSC because it links climate policy, global trade, MSME competitiveness, carbon pricing, WTO concerns and India’s export strategy in carbon-intensive sectors such as iron, steel and aluminium.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has notified amendments to the Drugs Rules, 1945, expanding the QR code-based track-and-trace framework to cover all vaccines, antimicrobials, anti-cancer medicines and narcotic and psychotropic drugs by bringing them under Schedule H2. The move aims to curb counterfeit and substandard medicines and strengthen India's fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This article explains the new notification, India's drug-regulation framework under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, the meaning of various drug schedules, how QR-code traceability works, the law on spurious and substandard drugs, and the AMR connection.

India and the United States have concluded two days of negotiations in New Delhi on their Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), with both sides reviewing "core elements" such as market access, digital trade, supply chain resilience and the reduction of non-tariff barriers. The talks, led on the US side by Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, came as Washington prepares a new tariff architecture under Section 301 after the US Supreme Court struck down its "reciprocal" tariffs. This article explains what the India-US BTA is, how the tariff stand-off escalated and de-escalated, the significance of the IEEPA ruling, the meaning of Section 301 and non-tariff barriers, the key sticking points, and the strategic stakes captured in "Mission 500."

On 21 June 2026, the Indian Navy commissioned three indigenously built warships at Kolkata in a single ceremony — the stealth frigate INS Dunagiri, the survey vessel INS Sanshodhak, and the anti-submarine craft INS Agray, all built by GRSE. This article explains the three distinct strategic roles of these ships, decodes Project 17A stealth frigates, hydrographic survey vessels and Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft, and situates the event within India's Atmanirbhar Bharat defence drive and its maritime strategy in the Indian Ocean Region.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR), Jamieson Greer, is set to visit New Delhi on June 23-24, 2026, to give the "final touches" to the framework of the much-awaited India-US trade deal and to push the broader Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). It is the first visit by a US trade chief since negotiations began in early 2025 under the Mission 500 target. The talks come amid a lingering US Section 301 investigation into India's "industrial overcapacity" and a separate forced-labour probe that could trigger fresh tariffs. This article explains the trade deal, the tariff timeline, the working of Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, the BTA roadmap, the key sticking points such as farm market access, and what the deal means for India.

Amid rising public attention on youth and jobs, India's employment data is again under the scanner. Private data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) shows the share of working-age Indians holding a job falling over the past decade, even as official Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) figures from the government show participation and employment ratios improving. This article explains the core concepts — working-age population, labour force, the Employment Rate (Worker Population Ratio), Labour Force Participation Rate and Unemployment Rate — clarifies why these data sources diverge, and links the debate to "jobless growth" and India's demographic dividend.

India is reworking the template for its Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) to make them more investor-friendly while protecting its sovereign policy space, after years of falling net foreign investment and costly arbitration defeats. Reports indicate the Centre is anchoring the new model on three principles: a minimum two-year window for exhausting local remedies before international arbitration, no Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) clause, and exclusion of tax matters. This article explains what BITs are, how India's treaty regime evolved from 1994 to the restrictive 2016 Model BIT, the arbitration losses (White Industries, Vodafone, Cairn, Devas) that reshaped policy, the working of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), and what the proposed changes mean for India's FDI strategy and regulatory autonomy.

From June 1, 2026, India is enforcing a major new domestic-sourcing rule under which "net-metering" and "Open Access" solar projects must use solar PV cells made by manufacturers listed on the ALMM List-II, not just domestically assembled modules. Aimed at cutting import dependence and deepening Atmanirbhar Bharat in clean energy, the mandate has triggered concern that smaller, non-integrated module makers could be squeezed because India's cell capacity (~30 GW) lags far behind its module capacity (~200 GW). This article explains the ALMM framework, List-I vs List-II, the Domestic Content Requirement, net-metering and Open Access, PM Surya Ghar Yojana, the PLI scheme, BCD walls, the overcapacity problem, and the federalism and trade dimensions — everything a UPSC aspirant needs on India's solar manufacturing push.

On March 27, 2026, the government introduced the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha. The bill seeks to amend 79 central acts administered by 23 ministries and proposes to decriminalise 717 minor procedural offences while removing or changing 67 more provisions. This is the second edition of the Jan Vishwas initiative after the 2023 Act. Congress members raised strong objections during introduction, but the government rejected them, saying there is no precedent for sending such bills to a parliamentary committee at this stage.

India's first space launch of 2026 ended in failure when the PSLV-C62 rocket, carrying 16 satellites including a key earth observation payload, deviated from its path due to a problem in the third stage. This marks the second straight failure for ISRO's trusted PSLV rocket in less than a year, raising questions about its dependability and affecting commercial and strategic goals.

A committee set up by the Ministry of Education has come up with key ideas to change how high school education works in India. These ideas focus on cutting down the time students spend in coaching classes to just 2-3 hours a day, making school lessons more like the tests for JEE and NEET, and giving more importance to board exam scores for getting into colleges. This comes as a response to growing worries about too many coaching centres, the stress they cause on students, and how they make education unfair for those who cannot afford extra classes.

India's first space mission of 2026 ended in failure when the PSLV-C62 rocket, launched from Sriharikota, deviated from its path due to a problem in the third stage. This led to the loss of 16 satellites, including the main earth observation satellite and international payloads, raising concerns about the reliability of ISRO's workhorse rocket just months after a similar failure in 2025.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has introduced a revised framework that lets stock brokers offer services usually handled by other regulators like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). This step is meant to help brokers grow their business by providing more financial services through one platform, while keeping the right regulator in charge of each part.

Recent blockbuster deals, including Blackstone's $705 million stake in Federal Bank and Emirates NBD's $3 billion takeover of 60% in RBL Bank, have spotlighted India's banking sector as a hotbed for foreign investment. These moves, part of a $15 billion surge in 2025 mergers and acquisitions—a 127% rise from 2024—highlight surging global trust in India's economic stability and digital banking boom, even as regulators fine-tune ownership rules to balance openness with control.

The Reserve Bank of India released its October 2025 bulletin on October 20, highlighting positive signs in domestic demand for September based on high-frequency data like vehicle sales and GST e-way bills. It also downplayed the impact of high US tariffs on India's growth, emphasizing the role of recent GST rate cuts in boosting consumption and offsetting external pressures, amid ongoing global trade tensions.

Google has announced a landmark $15 billion investment over five years to establish its first AI-powered data center hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, marking its largest such commitment outside the United States. This initiative, formalized through an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government, involves partnerships with AdaniConneX and Bharti Airtel, and is expected to generate 1.38 lakh jobs while democratizing AI technology across sectors like healthcare, education, and agriculture.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a caution in its latest World Economic Outlook update, drawing similarities between the current boom in Artificial Intelligence (AI) investments and the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, warning that unmet expectations could lead to sharp market corrections. This comes as global tech giants like Google announce massive AI investments, including a $15 billion commitment to build an AI data centre in India's Andhra Pradesh, underscoring the rapid influx of capital into AI and its potential implications for economic stability worldwide, including in emerging markets like India.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has released a draft notification proposing that all electric cars, buses, and trucks must be equipped with an Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) to generate artificial sounds at low speeds. This move comes in response to growing concerns over road accidents caused by the silent operation of electric vehicles (EVs), which can surprise pedestrians and cyclists, especially in busy urban areas. The proposal aims to make EVs safer for everyone on the road while supporting India's push towards cleaner transport options to reduce emissions.

The Indian government has set up a special committee to make Quality Control Orders (QCOs) simpler and less strict. This will help over 6 crore micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) import affordable raw materials without long delays or high costs. The move comes after MSMEs complained that current rules block cheap imports and raise their production expenses. The committee, led by former Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, will give monthly suggestions to cut red tape while keeping product safety intact.

For the first time outside the COVID-19 years, India's power sector saw a 1% drop in CO2 emissions during January to June 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, as per a latest analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) for Carbon Brief. This milestone in the sector, which contributes nearly 40% of India's total greenhouse gas emissions, signals a potential early peak in power-related emissions by 2030, supporting the country's push towards 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030 and net-zero by 2070. The dip comes amid record renewable additions and milder weather, highlighting progress in India's clean energy transition.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has given approval to the updated Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) 2025 on September 14, 2025, which replaces the old 2009 version. This step is important now because it helps make the process of buying everyday items like spares and ammunition faster and simpler for the army, navy, and air force. It focuses on making India self-reliant in defence needs, especially when the country is spending about ₹1 lakh crore this year on such purchases, and it supports the government's push for quick decisions and home-grown innovation in a time of modern wars and global supply issues.

Amid apprehensions that businesses might not fully pass on the benefits of recent GST rate reductions to consumers, the Union Finance Ministry has directed its field formations to compile detailed monthly price data on a range of common-use items before and after the new rates take effect on September 22, 2025. This move follows the GST Council's decision to simplify the tax structure into a two-slab system, aiming to ensure transparency and prevent profiteering as part of the broader GST 2.0 initiative.

The 56th GST Council meeting has introduced significant rate reductions on inputs in key sectors like textiles and fertilizers, easing the inverted duty structure where input taxes exceed output taxes. However, persistent wide gaps between these rates continue to raise concerns among industries, primarily due to delays in input tax credit refunds and resulting working capital blockages, prompting calls for faster processing mechanisms.