News on Indian Economy
The rise was led mainly by an increase in foreign currency assets, the largest component of India’s reserves. Foreign currency assets rose by $1.481 billion to $557.463 billion during the week. These assets include the effect of movements in non-dollar currencies such as the euro, pound and yen when expressed in dollar terms.
The Finance Minister urged SEBI to help drive common KYC norms and support the simplification and digitalisation of KYC processes across the Indian securities market. She said SEBI has the scale of investor participation, digital infrastructure and institutional credibility to take a lead role in this area. The larger objective is to create a more seamless, secure and portable KYC experience across the financial sector, reducing inconvenience for citizens while maintaining regulatory safeguards.
The Small Industries Development Bank of India will serve as the initial implementation agency for the scheme. SIDBI will manage the process of AIF selection, screening, due diligence and monitoring. DPIIT will also bring in an additional implementation agency to widen the scheme’s reach, improve sectoral expertise and strengthen institutional capacity for managing such large-scale startup financing programmes.
The conference was jointly organised by IIT Roorkee and Swadeshi Shodh Sansthan, with participation from more than 100 institutions from India and abroad. IIT Roorkee Director Prof. K.K. Pant and Padma Shri awardee Shridhar Vembu were among those present at the event.
The strongest push came from the manufacturing sector, where output improved on the back of better domestic demand and a rise in fresh orders. Factories reported stronger production requirements, suggesting that companies are seeing enough demand visibility to keep activity levels high. This rebound in manufacturing gave the overall private sector reading a clear lift in April.
The company’s most produced models during the year were Dzire, Fronx, Swift, Ertiga and Baleno. Each of these models crossed the 2 lakh-unit production mark, showing the strength of Maruti Suzuki’s portfolio across sedans, hatchbacks, compact SUVs and family vehicles.
The latest drawdown comes after the Maldives settled an earlier US$400 million swap facility that it had availed in October 2024 under the US Dollar/Euro Swap Window of the bilateral arrangement between the RBI and the Maldives Monetary Authority. The Maldives Foreign Ministry said the repayment reflected the government’s commitment to meeting its financial obligations.
Sri Lanka’s overall export earnings for the January–March 2026 period stood at US$4.30 billion, registering a 1.59% year-on-year increase. Merchandise exports during the quarter reached US$3.38 billion, while services exports were estimated at US$921.11 million, supported by sectors such as ICT/BPM, construction, financial services, transport and logistics.
AWS has also lined up a major investment pipeline for India. In 2023, the company announced plans to invest ₹1,05,600 crore, or about US$12.7 billion, into cloud infrastructure in India by 2030.
The crop had initially been expected to touch a record level, with the Agriculture Ministry earlier estimating wheat output at 120.21 million tonnes, up from 117.94 million tonnes in the previous year. However, unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms in key wheat-growing regions have raised concerns over yield loss and grain quality.
