UPSC Prelims 2026 Revision Checklist: Top Economy topics that aspirants should revisit

Here’s a checklist of some of the important Economy based themes in news for your exams. 

#1. Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)

— India’s forex reserves have four components: foreign currency (FX) assets, gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), and the Reserve Tranche Position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

— SDRs are a buffer of sorts for IMF members, who can exchange it for currency when they are in trouble. The value of SDRs is based on a basket of five currencies – the US dollar, the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, and the pound sterling. As of March 13, India’s SDR holdings were worth $18.7 billion. The reserve tranche position with the IMF is akin to an emergency line of credit. India’s reserve position is worth $4.8 billion.

— SDR is not a currency, nor a claim on the IMF, but is potentially a claim on freely usable currencies of IMF members.

#2. Additional factor of authentication (AFA)

— The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised guidelines for recurring e-mandate transactions, allowing payments of up to Rs 15,000 per transaction without additional factor of authentication (AFA). Transactions above this limit will continue to require AFA.

— In a major relief, the central bank said insurance premiums, mutual fund subscriptions and credit card bill payments can be processed without AFA for amounts up to Rs 1 lakh per transaction. According to the central bank’s Digital Payments – E-mandate Framework, 2026, every e-mandate registered by an issuer must clearly specify its validity period. Customers will have the flexibility to modify or withdraw them at any time, with issuers required to communicate these options clearly at the time of registration.

— The framework allows e-mandates to be set for either fixed or variable amounts, subject to caps prescribed by the RBI. For variable mandates, customers must be given the option to define a maximum transaction limit. Additionally, users can select or change their preferred mode — such as SMS or email — for receiving pre-transaction alerts, it said.

#3. India’s energy dependence on the Strait of Hormuz

— About a fifth of global oil and gas flows transit through the critical maritime chokepoint that connects the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea. Much of these oil and gas volumes go to Asian economies, including India.

— The country depends on imports to meet over 88% of its crude oil needs, 40% of which depend on the Strait of Hormuz. As for natural gas, India’s import dependency is about 50%, and 55-60% of India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports come via the Strait. In the case of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), India’s reliance on imports is 60%, and a whopping 90% of those come through the critical waterway.

#4. Aviation fuel

— Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), sometimes known as jet fuel, is a specialised, high-quality kerosene-based fuel that is refined specifically to power aircraft gas turbine engines.

— The sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a biofuel that is produced from sustainable feedstocks and has chemistry similar to conventional aviation turbine fuel (ATF) or jet fuel, which is derived from crude oil.

#5. MGNREGS in the 2025–26

— The government moves to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) with the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (GRAMIN).

— The official data shows that 5.32 crore households availed the scheme in the 2025–26 fiscal year, an 8 per cent decline from the previous year. The number of households that availed MGNREGS in the 2025–26 fiscal year was lower than last year’s 5.78 crore.

— The figure for the 2025-26 fiscal year does not include West Bengal’s beneficiaries, as no work was taken up under MGNREGS in the state. In 2025-26, MGNREGS demand was higher only during May-June compared to the corresponding months of the previous fiscal year, while it was lower in the other months.

#6. AT-1 bonds

— AT-1 bonds are a class of perpetual debt instruments issued by banks to bolster their capital base. While being inherently risky, AT-1 bonds offer higher interest rates compared to conventional bonds, making them attractive to investors seeking strong returns.

— Unlike regular bonds with fixed maturity, AT-1 bonds have no maturity date and can be written off or converted into equity if the bank faces financial stress. Banks may also skip interest payments in such situations. Investors receive regular coupon payouts as long as the bank is financially sound. But losses can be steep if its capital falls below regulatory thresholds.

#7. Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) survey

— Pay in India’s informal sector rose by just 3.9% in 2025, less than half the 13% increase seen in 2023-24 (October-September), according to the results of a new government survey released. At the same time, the sector saw a sharp reduction in the number of jobs it added, likely due to the number of establishments also growing at a slower pace.

— As per the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MoSPI) Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2025, the unorganised sector saw total pay – inclusive of employer’s contribution to canteen, health clinic, child care centre, etc – for hired workers rise to Rs 1.47 lakh in 2025. In rural areas, pay rose 2% in 2025, sharply lower than the 18% growth registered in 2023-24. Meanwhile, the increase in pay in urban areas was 5% in 2025, down from 10% in 2023-24.

— The first annual ASUSE survey was conducted in 2021-22 (April-March), with the second one carried out from October 2022 to September 2023. The latest survey is the fourth, with the statistics ministry revising the timeline such that it aligns to the calendar year.

— The survey has become an important input for measuring the size of the economy, with the revised GDP series having 2022-23 as the base year using ASUSE as well as the Periodic Labour Force Survey to more accurately represent the informal sector.

#8. Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs)

— SIBs are perceived as banks that are ‘Too Big To Fail (TBTF)’. This perception of TBTF creates an expectation of government support for these banks at the time of distress. Due to this perception, these banks enjoy certain advantages in the funding markets. However, the perceived expectation of government support amplifies risk-taking, reduces market discipline, creates competitive distortions, and increases the probability of distress in the future. These considerations require that SIBs should be subjected to additional policy measures to deal with the systemic risks and moral hazard issues posed by them, according to the RBI.

— The RBI has continued to identify SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank as Domestic Systemically Important Banks under the same bucketing structure as in the 2023 list of D-SIBs.

— Based on the bucket in which a D-SIB is placed, an additional common equity requirement has to be applied to it. The additional capital requirement ranges from 0.20 per cent to 0.80 per cent of risk weighted assets, depending upon the bucket D-SIBs are plotted into.

— In case a foreign bank having branch presence in India is a Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB), it has to maintain additional CET1 capital surcharge in India as applicable to it as a G-SIB, proportionate to its Risk Weighted Assets (RWAs) in India, i.e., additional CET1 buffer prescribed by the home regulator (amount) multiplied by India RWA as per consolidated global Group books divided by total consolidated global Group RWA.

#9. India’s electronic sector

— Electronics is today India’s second-largest export sector. NITI Aayog’s trade watch quarterly report, released last week, said that the US and the EU together have a combined market size of approximately $1.6 trillion — representing about a third of the total global electronics demand.

— The NITI Aayog said that Europe’s strong import demand and India’s comparative advantage in electronics indicate a high degree of alignment. India’s exports to the EU across six key electronic products categories total $8.88 bn, against an export opportunity of nearly $336 billion in the EU market.

— The electronics manufacturing sector, concentrated in states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, currently employs more than two million workers directly. The sector supports a network of component suppliers, assemblers and technology service providers.

— India remains heavily import-dependent for components such as semiconductors or chips, integrated circuits, batteries, and displays. In the financial year 2023-24, India imported electronic components worth over $12 billion from China and $6 billion from Hong Kong. Imports from these two destinations alone accounted for more than half of total such imports to India.

#10. National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0

— Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0 (NMP 2.0), with proceeds from asset monetisation seen at Rs 16.72 lakh crore over the five years that started April 2025. Developed by the Niti Aayog, the government’s top think-tank, the second phase of the pipeline is based on the mandate for ‘Asset Monetisation Plan 2025-30’ announced in the Union Budget for 2025-26 last year, but exceeds the figure of Rs 10 lakh crore that was then mentioned.

— The first phase of the pipeline – which looks to unlock value from underutilised public infrastructure assets through transfer of assets for a limited period, divestment of portions of listed entities, securitisation of cash flows, or strategic commercial auctions – was launched in 2021.

— The second phase of the pipeline covers the five years starting 2025-26, with the overall asset monetisation potential figure of Rs 16.72 lakh crore inclusive of private investments worth Rs 5.8 lakh crore, the government said.

— NMP 2.0 aligns with the infrastructure development plans of the Viksit Bharat initiative. It aims to contribute to accelerated infrastructure development through upgrading and expansion of transportation networks, including highways, railways, ports and airports, along with other sectors.

— PPPs are an important mode of monetisation under NMP 2.0 and are expected to play a significant role by improving public sector efficiency and service quality, reducing public debt through capital recycling and attracting private sector investment.

#11. Bharat-VISTAAR

— The Union Agriculture Minister launched the Bharat-VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources), an AI-powered multilingual tool designed to provide farmers with relevant information.

— Bharat-VISTAAR is an AI-powered multilingual tool that provides information to farmers in their native language through mobile or a simple phone call. The tool offers guidance on crop planning, agricultural practices, pests, weather forecasts, markets, scheme information, eligibility, applications, and grievances. It serves as a single “digital doorway” for farmers to access required information.

— It is a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiative in agriculture that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to personalise advice by integrating information from trusted sources across the Centre, state government, and cooperative systems.

— Farmers can access Bharat-VISTAAR by dialling the dedicated telephone number 155261 and talking to the AI Assistant, named ‘Bharati’. They can also download a mobile app from the Google Play Store or access it through a web interface link, which functions similarly to the app. The link will be available on the websites of the Agriculture Ministry and in mobile apps such as PM KISAN and PMFBY, according to officials. Besides calling the telephone number, farmers can also have a conversation via chat.

— According to officials, farmers can access information about 10 major central schemes after the launch of the AI tool. These schemes are: PM-KISAN, PM Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Soil Health Card (SHC), Modified Interest Subvention Scheme, Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization, Per Drop More Crop, PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, PM Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, and Kisan Credit Card.

— At launch, Bharat-VISTAAR’s chatbot will be available in two languages: English and Hindi. Similarly, the voice-based AI Assistant—Bharati—will initially be available in Hindi and English. BharatVistaar will be available 24 hours a day as a ‘digital agriculture expert.

#12. India’s pharmaceutical sector

— Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Biopharma SHAKTI scheme as part of the Union Budget 2026, aiming to make India a global manufacturing hub for biopharma.

— India’s pharmaceutical exports include AYUSH and herbal products, surgicals, bulk drugs, drug intermediaries, drug formulations and biologicals.

— India’s pharmaceutical sector is the third-largest in the world, meeting about 20% of global demand for generic medicines, and exported to 191 countries in FY ‘25. Over 50 per cent of these exports are directed to highly regulated markets such as the US and Europe.

— India is a global leader in low-cost vaccine supply, supplying the majority of the world’s diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DPT), Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and measles vaccines.

— In FY25, the sector’s annual turnover reached ₹4.72 lakh crore, with exports growing at a CAGR of 7 per cent over the last decade (FY15 to FY 25).

#13. National Pension Scheme (NPS)

— NPS was introduced by the Central Government to help the individuals have income in the form of pension to take care of their retirement needs.

— The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) regulates and administers NPS under the PFRDA Act, 2013.

— All Central Government employees joining on or after January 1, 2004, are covered under the NPS scheme, except for those in the armed forces and are also extended to the employees of Central Autonomous Bodies from the said date.

— It is also available to all State Government employees/employees of State Autonomous Bodies, if the respective State/UT opted for it.

— NPS can be voluntarily adopted by the corporations for their employees and contributions are made to the NPS account as per the terms of employment.

— NPS voluntary model is available to all the citizens of India including those residing abroad, between the age of 18 and 70 years.

#14. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

— Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are funds that track indices such as Sensex, Nifty, etc. When you buy units of an ETF, you actually buy units of a portfolio that tracks the performance of the index. ETFs just reflect the performance of the index they track.

— Unlike regular mutual funds, ETFs trade like a common stock on the stock exchange and the price of an ETF changes as per the trading in the market takes place. The trading value of an ETF depends on the net asset value of the underlying assets that it represents.

— ETFs, generally, have higher daily liquidity and lower fees than mutual fund schemes. The ETFs cannot be bought or sold in fractions unlike mutual fund units.

#15. Bilateral trade

(i) India-New Zealand trade

— India signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with New Zealand, securing full tariff elimination on all Indian exports to New Zealand, while reducing tariffs on 95% of New Zealand’s imports into India. As per the agreement, Wellington has also “committed” to invest $20 billion in India over the next 15 years.

— The Commerce Ministry said India has offered tariff liberalisation on 70.03% of tariff lines covering 95% of bilateral trade value, while keeping 29.97% of tariff lines excluded to protect India’s sensitive sectors. It said the FTA provides duty-free access for 100% of India’s exports to New Zealand, covering all tariff lines.

India-NZ trade

— In FY26, India’s exports to New Zealand stood at $711 million, largely comprising aviation fuel, textiles, pharma and machinery. Imports included raw materials, scrap metals, coal and farm-linked inputs totalling $587 million.

— New Zealand said it is the “first country to secure preferential access for apples” in any Indian FTA, and the first kiwifruit exporter to secure tariff-free access for kiwifruit plus a 50% tariff reduction outside quota.

(ii) India-UAE

— The UAE is India’s fourth-largest source of India’s oil imports, behind Russia, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. India depends on imports to meet over 88% of its oil demand and around half of its natural gas demand. The country depends on imports to meet around two-thirds of its LPG requirement.

— The UAE is investing across 11 gigawatts of solar, wind, and storage projects in India through its global climate investment vehicle Altérra, which is the world’s largest private climate investment fund. The fund has a $30-billion commitment from the UAE, and aims to mobilse further investments of up to $250 billion by 2030.

(iii) India-EU trade

— The EU is India’s second-largest commercial partner, accounting for goods worth €120 billion in 2024, or 11.5% of overall trade. India is the EU’s ninth largest trading partner, accounting for 2.4% of total EU trade in goods in 2024, well behind the United States (17.3%), China (14.6%), and the United Kingdom (10.1%). Over the previous decade, trade between the EU and India has surged by about 90%.

— The EU’s biggest imports from India are machinery and appliances, chemicals, basic metals, mineral goods, and textiles. The EU’s biggest exports to India are machinery and appliances, transportation equipment, and chemicals.

— India now maintains a surplus. Since 2020, India has constantly had a trade surplus with the EU. Prior to 2020, India ran a trade deficit in 2018, where India’s exports were ~€40 billion while imports were ~€41 billion, resulting in a trade deficit.

#16. Nationalisation of banks in India

— Initially, banks with deposits of Rs 100 crore were listed for nationalisation. It then emerged that some important banks, like Dena Bank, with deposits of Rs 98 crore, would be left out. The limit was thus lowered to Rs 50 crore.

— The criterion of Rs 50 crore deposits was itself based on the then prevalent RBI classification of banks into two categories—banks with deposits of Rs 50 crore and above, and banks having deposits of less than Rs 50 crore.

— On July 19, 1969, an Ordinance was promulgated to nationalise 14 major banks with deposits exceeding Rs 50 crore with immediate effect. The Ordinance was signed by the Vice President, VV Giri, who was then also the acting President.

#17. Agriculture

(i) Orobanche

— The mustard is also a crop increasingly susceptible to infestation by Orobanche aegyptiaca.

— This is a parasitic weed that attaches to the roots of mustard plants and extracts nutrients, carbon and water from them. By depriving the host crop of these, it causes wilting, yellowing and stunted growth of the plants and, thereby, lower mustard seed yields.

(ii) Coffee in India

— Indian coffee exporters have benefitted from global ending stocks for 2024-25 depleting to their lowest since 1999-2000, mainly courtesy of subpar crops in Brazil and Vietnam, the world’s biggest producers of arabica and robusta varieties respectively. India mostly exports robusta beans and powder used in instant coffee and espresso blends. Tobacco exports have similarly got a boost from output shortfalls in Brazil and Zimbabwe.

— In India, Karnataka leads in production followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

— The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) welcomes the UN General Assembly’s passage of a resolution designating October 1 as International Coffee Day.

(iii) Rice production

— The Union Agriculture Minister said that India had surpassed China to become the world’s largest rice producer in 2024-25. India produced around 150 million metric tonnes while China produced 145.28 million tonnes in that year.

— India currently accounts for around 28% of global rice production. A decade ago, however, India’s rice production was 104.4 million metric tonnes while China’s was 148.5 million metric tonnes — pointing to a steady growth in India output and a stagnation in China’s.

— A significant jump in area and production came in just the last five years. In 2019-20, the area under paddy was 43.66 million hectares and rice production was 118.87 million metric tonnes. In 2024-25, these figures increased to 51.42 million hectares and 150 million metric tonnes. Consequently, India’s share in the global output also increased from 21.95% in 2011 to 28% in 2024.

(iv) Unified Portal for Agricultural Statistics (UPAg)

— “Unified Portal for Agricultural Statistics (UPAg) is an advanced agricultural data management platform designed to generate crop estimates and integrate with other systems generating Agriculture Statistics such as Price, Trade, Procurement, Stock etc. It serves as a centralized hub for near real time information on crop production, market trends, pricing, and other vital agricultural data.” Hence, statement 3 is correct.

— “UPAg is not exclusively for crop production estimates; it also integrates various agricultural statistics such as price, trade, procurement, and stock.”

(v) AgriStack

— In her Budget Speech on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the launch of Bharat-VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources), a multilingual AI tool to integrate the AgriStack portals and the ICAR package on agricultural practices with AI systems.

— AgriStack is a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the farm sector, an initiative under the Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), and was approved by the Union Cabinet in September, 2024.

— The AgriStack comprises three foundational registries or databases in the agriculture sector: the Farmer Registry, Geo-referenced village maps and the Crop Sown Registry, all created and maintained by the State Governments or Union Territories.

— Each farmer is issued a unique digital identity (similar to Aadhaar), with details of their landholding and crops grown per area.

#18. External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs)

— External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) are commercial loans made by qualifying Indian firms to recognised non-resident lenders, which are controlled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

— They provide a substantial funding source for capital development and modernisation, with recent data indicating that total outstanding ECBs will be around $190.4 billion as of September 2024, mostly for infrastructure and industrial projects.

#19. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

— The Government says that about 27.08 lakh candidates across 38 sectors have been trained in skills, ranging from beauty and wellness, food processing and handicrafts to aerospace and aviation, under the flagship Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 4.0.

— Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship outcome-based skill training scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The objective of this skill certification and reward scheme is to enable and mobilize a large number of Indian youth to take up outcome based skill training and become employable and earn their livelihood.

— PMKVY does not guarantee employment, especially not government jobs. The scheme focuses on skill training, certification, and improving employability.

— PMKVY provides short-term skill training and certification, not academic degree programmes.

#20. ‘CHAKRA’ — Centre of Excellence (CoE)

— The country’s largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI), launched CHAKRA — Centre of Excellence (CoE) for financing eight sunrise sectors, including renewable energy, advanced cell chemistry and battery storage. Other sunrise domains are data centre infrastructure, smart infrastructure, electric mobility, green hydrogen, semiconductors and decarbonisation.

— With CHAKRA, SBI is strengthening its institutional capability to understand emerging sectors, design specialised financing solutions and partner with the ecosystem to enable projects that meaningfully contribute to the nation’s development journey.

#21. Light Water Reactors (LWRs)

— Light Water Reactors form a mainstay of the global n-program; these use light water, enriched uranium, and have simpler design, lower construction cost, economies of scale, and high thermal efficiency.

— LWRs currently account for over 85% of the civil nuclear reactor capacity in the world. Because LWRs employ normal water as both a coolant and a moderator, their design and engineering are simpler than those of heavy water reactors.

— LWRs use ordinary water, and they need enriched uranium as fuel, whereas PHWRs are regarded for fuel versatility and the potential to run on natural uranium.

#22. Pax Silica

— Pax Silica is a US-led strategic initiative to counter China’s dominance in new age sectors. It aims to reduce what the US calls “coercive dependencies” and protect materials and capabilities “foundational to artificial intelligence”, and “ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale”.

— Pax Silica aims to build a secure supply chain ranging from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing and semiconductors.

— Eight countries that Pax Silica brought together, each of which had something to offer. Japan and South Korea have technology and manufacturing expertise, the Netherlands has a stranglehold over specialised chipmaking lithography machines that are extremely hard to substitute, Australia is a repository of critical minerals while Singapore is a global transhipment hub. Israel, the UK, and the UAE are innovation centres that have all made visible progress in fostering AI expertise and ramping up supporting infrastructure.

#23. Balance of Payments (BoP)

— The Balance of Payments (BoP) is a statistical statement that systematically records a nation’s economic transactions with the rest of the world over a specific period, including merchandise, services, and capital transfers. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) compiles and releases the official BoP statistics.

— BoP data is currently released for every quarter, with the current account balance (CAB) being the most keenly-watched figure. The CAB denotes the net of payments made and received by Indians for the trade of goods and services with the rest of the world and the flow of remittances, and other similar payments, in and out of the country.

#24. Central Pay Commission (CPC)

— The Central Pay Commission is a committee established by the Government of India under the provisions of Article 309 of the Constitution. Its primary mandate is to review and recommend changes in the salary structure, allowances, and pension schemes of central government employees, including defence personnel, and to ensure that their compensation remains fair and in tune with the changing economic conditions.

— The first Pay Commission was established in January 1946, even before independence, to rationalise the pay structure of colonial civil services and to ensure parity between different grades of government employment. Since then, India has constituted seven Pay Commissions, approximately once in every decade.

— The 8th CPC will benefit almost 50 lakh central government employees and nearly 65 lakh pensioners. Unlike the Centre, states aren’t bound by CPC recommendations but also cannot ignore them.

#25. Important Terms in News

(i) Windfall Tax

— A Windfall Tax is a higher tax levied by the government on specific industries that generate unexpected and above-average earnings as a result of global and geopolitical events beyond their control.

— India enacted the Windfall Tax in July 2022 to restrict oil firms’ unusual gains following the spike in crude oil prices caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. However, the tax was repealed on December 2, 2024.

— The windfall tax helps the government recoup losses from financial crises by taxing industries that have made unexpectedly large profits.

(ii) Prediction markets

— Prediction markets are platforms where users trade contracts tied to the outcome of real-world events, ranging from elections and policy decisions to commodity prices and even geopolitical developments.

— Prices on these platforms fluctuate based on demand, effectively reflecting the crowd’s collective assessment of the probability of an event occurring.

(iii) Repo rate

— The interest rate the central bank pays commercial banks when they park their excess cash is called the reverse repo rate.

— When the RBI wishes to boost economic activity, it lowers repo rates. This allows commercial banks to reduce both the interest rates they charge (on loans) and the interest rates they pay on deposits. This, in turn, encourages people to spend money because keeping their savings in the bank now pays back a bit less, while businesses are encouraged to take out new loans for new investments because new loans now cost a little less.

— When the RBI seeks to limit inflation, it raises the repo rate. Banks must thus pay more interest to borrow from the RBI, resulting in higher interest rates for their borrowers.

(iv) Gini coefficient

— The Gini Coefficient ranges from 0 to 1 (or 0 to 100 when expressed as a percentage). It does not take negative values under standard measurement.

— A lower Gini coefficient indicates a more equal distribution of income or wealth within a population, meaning a smaller gap between the rich and poor.

— As per the all-household Gini measure, Kerala has the highest Gini coefficient at 90, followed by Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, each with a Gini coefficient of around 80. Karnataka and Rajasthan have the lowest Gini coefficient of below 65, the paper stated.

(v) Rebasing

— Rebasing is the process of updating the base year using revised and improved data to reflect the current structure of the economy.

— The year 2022-23 was chosen as the new base year because it reflects the most recent “normal” year following the disruptions in 2019-2021. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on 2019-20 and 2020-21, causing temporary distortions in consumer trends and industrial output.

— The base year is revised on a regular basis to account for fundamental changes in the economy and to improve the accuracy of economic forecasts. Such updates enable methodological modifications and the incorporation of more comprehensive and dependable data sources. Rebasing allows GDP and associated indexes to better reflect the impact of developing sectors, price movements, and technological and productivity gains.

(vi) Capital market intermediaries

— The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened guidelines that govern lending activities of banks to capital market intermediaries (CMIs) such as brokers, mandating that “all credit facilities to CMIs shall be provided on a fully secured basis”. This means that for a bank to provide a Rs 100 loan to a broker, the broker must provide collateral equalling that amount to the bank.

— Capital market intermediaries are regulated entities—including brokers, merchant bankers, custodians, and depositories—that facilitate the issuance, trading, and settlement of securities.

(vii) debt-to-GDP ratio

— The debt-to-GDP ratio is a metric that compares a country’s public debt to its gross domestic product (GDP). The debt-to-GDP ratio will be contingent upon nominal GDP growth, which forms the basis of the ratio, along with the government’s borrowing and repayment obligations. The increase in the government’s financial burden in the years to come will also be a factor once the 8th Pay Commission recommendations get implemented.

(viii) Central counterparties (CCPs)

— The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Union (EU’s) financial markets regulator and supervisor, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for exchange of information for the recognition of central counterparties (CCPs).

Central counterparties perform two main functions as the intermediary in a market transaction — clearing and settlement — and guarantee the terms of a trade. CCPs do not eliminate market or price risk; they only manage counterparty default risk.

(ix) Venezuelan Crude Oil

— The Venezuelan crude is classified as a heavy sour crude—heavy because it is thicker and denser than the lighter crude oil grades, and sour because of its high sulphur content.

— Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but accounts for less than 1 per cent of global production.

(x) Credit societies

— Credit societies are regulated by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, and not by the RBI. They can accept deposits only from its members and lend only to its members. They can’t issue cheques payable to the public or offer full banking services like online fund transfer.

(xi) Headline inflation

— Headline inflation measures the overall rise in prices across all goods and services in an economy and is closely tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks the cost of a fixed basket of items.

(xii) Stablecoins

— The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) warned that widespread adoption of stablecoins, or fiat-backed cryptocurrencies, could pose significant risks to the country’s monetary sovereignty and financial stability. The RBI has urged other countries to prioritise central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) over privately issued stablecoins to ensure financial stability.

— “The RBI maintains a cautious stance on crypto assets, including stablecoins, prioritising sovereign digital infrastructure to safeguard monetary sovereignty amid global shifts and preserve financial stability,” the RBI said in its Financial Stability Report (FSR).

— Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that maintains a steady value by being pegged to fiat currencies, commodities, or financial instruments, with the goal of providing a less volatile alternative to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

— There are four main types of stablecoins: fiat-collateralized, commodity-backed, crypto-collateralized, and algorithmic. Each uses a different mechanism to keep prices stable; several may be found on big cryptocurrency exchanges.

(xiii) Unclaimed deposits

— Balances in savings and current accounts that remain inoperative for ten years, as well as term deposits not claimed within ten years from their maturity date, are classified as unclaimed deposits.

— Unclaimed amounts are subsequently transferred by banks to the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

(xiv) Quick commerce

— Quick commerce (q-commerce) refers to the rapid delivery of goods ordered online, usually between 10 minutes and 30 minutes. The three largest q-commerce companies in India — Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart — together receive approximately 4.3 million orders every day.

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