Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
1. India moved 171 million people out of extreme poverty between 2011–12 and 2022–23, according to the World Bank.
- The proportion of people living on less than $2.15 a day (called extreme poverty) fell from 16.2% to 2.3% over this period, said World Bank in a report on ‘India Poverty and Equity Brief.
- Rural extreme poverty dropped from 18.4% to 2.8%.
- Urban extreme poverty declined from 10.7% to 1.1%.
- The rural-urban poverty gap reduced from 7.7 to 1.7 percentage points.
- Poverty based on the $3.65 per day threshold also saw a major fall. It dropped from 61.8% to 28.1%.
- This shift lifted 378 million people above the lower-middle-income poverty line.
- Rural poverty under this line declined from 69% to 32.5%. Urban poverty fell from 43.5% to 17.2%.
- The rural-urban gap narrowed from 25 to 15 percentage points.
- Five states—Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh—had 65% of India’s extreme poor in 2011–12.
- These states contributed to two-thirds of the national poverty reduction by 2022–23.
- As of 2022–23, they still accounted for 54% of India’s extreme poor.
- They also made up 51% of the multidimensionally poor between 2019 and 2021.
- India’s consumption-based Gini index improved from 28.8 to 25.5.
- This indicates a reduction in measured income inequality.
- The World Inequality Database shows a different trend.
- It reported that the income-based Gini index rose from 52 in 2004 to 62 in 2023.
- In 2023–24, the top 10% earned 13 times more than the bottom 10%.
- Urban unemployment dropped to 6.6% in the first quarter of FY24/25.
- This is the lowest level since 2017–18.
- Youth unemployment remains a concern at 13.3%. Only 23% of paid non-farm jobs are in the formal sector.
- Self-employment is increasing across the workforce. This rise is especially seen among rural workers and women.
- Female labor force participation stands at 31%.
Topic: RBI
2. The Reserve Bank of India has extended the deadline for banks to use BIS-certified note sorting machines.
- The new deadline is November 1, 2025.
- This requirement was first announced in October 2024.
- RBI had set the original deadline as May 1, 2025.
- Only note sorting machines certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards will be permitted.
- These machines should be able to detect signs of wear and damage on banknotes.
- This includes dirt, creases, tears, stains, folds, and similar issues.
- The BIS published the official standards on March 19, 2024.
Topic: Appointments
3. Canara Bank has appointed S. K. Majumdar as its new Executive Director.
- Before this, he worked as the Chief Financial Officer of the bank.
- Majumdar is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
- He is also a certified Cost Accountant.
- He has more than 25 years of experience in the banking sector.
- He joined Canara Bank in January 2000.
Topic: Taxation
4. A 12% safeguard duty imposed on steel imports by the center to protect the domestic industry.
- On 21 April, a 12% safeguard duty was imposed by the Centre on the import of certain non-alloy and alloy steel flat products to shield the Indian steel sector.
- The government has imposed a safeguard duty for 200 days on five steel product categories, including hot-rolled coils, sheets, and plates, to protect domestic players from a surge in imports.
- The import prices between $675 per tonne to $964 per tonne have been set by the government for the five steel product categories.
- Any shipment imported at a price lower than these import prices will be subject to safeguard duties.
- According to the notification, safeguard duty will not be levied on product categories imported into India at or above the specified import price on a CIF (cost, insurance, and freight) basis.
- Product categories are hot-rolled coils, sheets, and plates; hot-rolled plate mill plate; cold-rolled coils and sheets; metallic-coated steel coils and sheets; and color-coated coils and sheets, whether or not profiled.
- This move will provide significant relief to domestic producers, especially small and medium enterprises, which have been facing immense pressure due to rising imports.
Topic: Indian Economy/Financial Market
5. India’s infrastructure output increased by 3.8 percent in March 2025.
- The production of cement, fertilisers, steel, electricity, coal and refinery products recorded positive growth during March 2025.
- The total growth rate of the combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) during the financial year 2025 stood at 4.4 per cent as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
- According to provisional data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the increase in various sectors on annual basis is as follows:
- cement production - 11.6 percent
- fertilisers - 8.8 percent
- steel production- 7.1 percent
- electricity - 6.2 percent
- coal production - 1.6 percent
- petroleum refinery products - 0.2 percent
- However, natural gas declined by 12.7 percent and crude oil decreased by 1.9 percent in March 2025 as compared to March 2024.
- Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI):
- It measures the combined and individual performance of production of eight core industries - Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.
- The eight core industries comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production.
Topic: Infrastructure and Energy
6. Coal-based power generation grew by just 2.8% in FY25.
- This is the slowest increase since FY21.
- Peak electricity demand remained stable over the past two years.
- It increased from 240 GW to 250 GW in FY25.
- Renewable energy played a key role in meeting the increased demand.
- Thermal power had the weakest growth among major power sources in FY25. Its growth was only 2.8%. Nuclear power grew by 18.4%.
- Large hydro and renewable energy grew by 10.8% and 11.4%, respectively.
- India’s total electricity generation reached a record 1,821 billion units (BU) in FY25. This represents a 5% year-on-year increase.
- Growth in electricity generation was seen across all sectors.
- Thermal power increased by 2.8%, nuclear by 18.4%, large hydro by 10.8%, and renewables by 11.4%.
Topic: Awards and Prizes
7. Secretary to the Ministry of Women and Child Development receives PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration for Poshan Tracker app.
- The Secretary of the Ministry received the PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration in the innovation category.
- The Poshan Tracker is a mobile-based application used by Anganwadi workers to provide real-time data on the delivery of nutrition and childcare services.
- The app has been developed under the Saksham Anganwadi and Mission Poshan 2.0 of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
- For the year 2024, the scheme for Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration aims to recognize the contribution of civil servants under the following categories :-
- Category 1 - Holistic Development of Districts
- Category 2- Aspirational Blocks Programme
- Category 3 – Innovation
Topic: World Economy
8. The IMF has warned the US and China of major economic losses due to the intensifying trade war.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its global growth projection to 2.8% for 2025, down by 0.5 percentage points from its January forecast.
- Growth in 2026 is now expected to be 3.0%, 0.3 percentage points lower than previously estimated.
- The IMF expects the tariffs to lead to a broad increase in global prices, slightly raising its forecast for world consumer prices to 4.3% for 2025 and 3.6% for 2026.
- The downgrade is primarily attributed to the escalating trade conflict between the US and China, driven by tariff hikes and unpredictable policy actions from Washington.
- The IMF cautioned that if recent tariff measures become permanent, the economic damage to both the United States and China would be even greater in 2026 and beyond.
- The latest tariff hikes announced after April 4 – including new US tariffs and China's retaliatory measures – have not yet been factored into the IMF's current outlook.
- The effective tariff rates between the US and China have exceeded 60%, raising concerns among economists about serious damage to bilateral trade.
- The IMF has revised China's economic growth forecast for both 2025 and 2026 to 4%, a cut of 0.6 and 0.5 percentage points, respectively.
- Due to policy uncertainty, trade tensions and declining demand, US growth forecast has been revised to 1.8% for 2025 (down 0.9 points) and 1.7% for 2026.
- Top US trading partners – Mexico, Canada and China – are expected to be harmed by the Trump administration's aggressive tariff policies, which are likely to harm the broader global economy.
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