Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
1. Wholesale price inflation increased 0.83% in December 2025.
- India’s wholesale prices inflation increased 0.83% year-on-year in December 2025, as government data showed on 14 January 2026.
- This increase has come after a 0.32% decline a month earlier, as government data showed on 14 January 2026.
- Inflation in December increased mainly because of an increase in the cost of manufacturing in certain sectors.
- These sectors include machinery, food products and textiles.
- Wholesale food prices remained flat in December compared with a 2.6% decline in previous month.
- In December, vegetable prices fell 3.5% year-on-year after a 20.23% decline in November.
- Manufactured products' prices increased 1.82% year-on-year in December compared with a 1.33% rise in previous month.
- Fuel and power prices declined 2.31% year-on-year in December compared with a fall of 2.27% in previous month.
Topic: Awards and Prizes
2. Karnataka Bank won award in the ‘Best Fintech & DPI Adoption’ category at the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) Banking Technology Awards.
- Additionally, Karnataka Bank was declared runner-up in ‘Best Tech Talent’.
- It received Special Mention in the categories of ‘Best Technology Bank’, ‘Best Digital Financial Inclusion’ and ‘Best Digital Sales’.
- Bank of Baroda won four major awards and one Special Mention at IBA’s 21st Annual Banking Technology Awards 2025.
- Bank of Baroda won awards in the categories of 'Best AI and ML Adoption', 'Best Fintech and DPI Adoption', 'Best IT Risk Management' and 'Best Tech Talent'.
- It received a Special Mention in the Best Technology Bank category.
Topic: Banking System
3. Tripura Gramin Bank has become the first Gramin Bank in India to introduce a solar-powered ATM van.
- The bank has secured SKOCH Silver Award for the innovative initiative.
- It is one of national-level recognitions for excellence in governance and innovation.
- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman formally inaugurated the ATM van initiative on 21 July 2023 at the time of her visit to Tripura.
- At present, the bank operates three solar-powered ATM vans.
- They provide eco-friendly, uninterrupted banking services even in areas having limited supply of electricity.
- The bank has been selected for the SKOCH Award 2025 in the category of Innovative Practices.
Topic: Reports and Indices
4. Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2024 has been released by NITI Aayog.
- This is the fourth edition and first edition was released in August 2020.
- It is a comprehensive assessment of export readiness across India’s States and Union Territories.
- The index is aligned with India’s objective of achieving USD 1 trillion in merchandise exports by 2030.
- The index has 4 pillars, 13 sub-pillars and 70 indicators.
- States and UTs have been classified into Large States & Small States, North East States and Union Territories.
- They are further categorised as Leaders (States/UTs demonstrating relatively high export preparedness), Challengers (States/UTs with moderate preparedness and scope for improvement), and Aspirers (States/UTs at early stages of export ecosystem development) withing each category.
- The four pillars of index are export infrastructure (20% weightage), business ecosystem (40% weightage), policy and governance (20% weightage) and export performance (20% weightage).
- Leading performers in Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2024 under large states category are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
- Leading performers in Small States, North Eastern States & Union Territories are Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu and Goa.
Topic: Appointments
5. Anup Kumar Saha has been appointed as whole-time director of Kotak Mahindra Bank.
- His appointment is subject to regulatory approvals.
- Saha will oversee the bank’s consumer banking vertical.
- Saha is an industry veteran with prior experience at ICICI Bank.
- He served for over eight years at Bajaj Finance as managing director.
- At Kotak, he will manage consumer banking, marketing, and data analytics functions.
- Ashok Vaswani, Kotak’s MD and CEO, highlighted Saha’s expertise in retail finance and data-driven growth.
Topic: Reports and Indices
6. The Indian passport's ranking improved in the Henley Passport Index 2026.
- An improvement of five positions has been recorded by India in the Henley Passport Index 2026.
- The Indian passport has been ranked 80th, allowing visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 55 destinations.
- The ranking reflects a recovery from the 85th position recorded in 2025.
- The Henley Passport Index has evaluated 199 passports across 227 global destinations.
- The index is based on exclusive data provided by the International Air Transport Association.
- Asian countries have dominated the top rankings, with Singapore securing the first position.
- Japan and South Korea have jointly ranked second, offering visa-free access to 188 destinations.
- Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain and Luxembourg have shared the third rank globally.
- The United States has returned to the top 10 after dropping to 12th position last year.
- Afghanistan has remained at the bottom of the list, ranked 101st with access to only 24 destinations.
Topic: Agriculture
7. Mizoram has been declared as the ‘Ginger Capital of India’.
- NITI Aayog has officially declared the state as Ginger Capital based on its rapid growth in ginger production.
- It also reflects the high quality of ginger produced in Mizoram.
- Chief Minister Lalduhoma credited the achievement to the sustained efforts of farmers.
- The Chief Minister noted that ginger has brought Mizoram rare national recognition.
- The Chief Minister inaugurated the Ginger Processing Unit established at the Sairang Horticulture Centre, around 21 km from Aizawl.
- Lalduhoma said passion fruit also has strong income-generating potential and the government will promote passion fruit cultivation more widely.
- According to the Mizoram Agricultural Marketing Board, over 3.38 crore kg of ginger was procured in 2025.
Topic: Reports and Indices
8. The World Intellectual Foundation will launch the Responsible Nations Index on January 19.
- The Index will be launched in partnership with Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Indian Institute of Management Mumbai and the Dr Ambedkar International Centre.
- The launch event will be attended by former President Ram Nath Kovind.
- Three core dimensions of Index are given below.
- Internal responsibility focusing on dignity, justice, and the well-being of citizens
- Environmental responsibility covering stewardship of natural resources and climate action
- External responsibility measuring a country’s contribution to peace, cooperation, and global stability
- The Index covers 154 countries. The Index is built on transparent, globally sourced data.
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