Frameworks, indices and policy instruments that explain the economic news. 283 concepts, each with its definition, key details and a timeline of every news story that touched it.
Launched in October 2021, PM Gati Shakti is a digital platform and planning framework that integrates infrastructure projects of 16 ministries under a...
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), launched in December 2018 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, provides direct income...
The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) is the apex advisory body on agricultural pricing policy in India. Initially set up as the...
Achieving net zero requires unprecedented capital mobilisation. The NITI Aayog study quantifies the investment gap between current policy trajectories and...
The DGCA is India's apex civil aviation regulator, functioning under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. It derives its authority from the Aircraft Act, 1934...
FCNR(B), or Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) deposit, is a term-deposit account that Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) can...
India's FDI framework for e-commerce distinguishes between two business models, and this distinction is central to how much foreign capital is permitted.
A hydrogen fuel cell generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Unlike internal combustion engines, the only...
IMD is India's national meteorological service, established in 1875 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. It is the apex body responsible for weather...
India runs a structural current account deficit (CAD), importing more than it exports in goods. The deficit is partly bridged by services trade surplus (IT...
The NFSA converted the right to subsidised food into a statutory entitlement. It covers up to 75% of rural and 50% of urban population — approximately 81.35...
Approved by the Union Cabinet in January 2023, the National Green Hydrogen Mission is spearheaded by MNRE with a budget of ₹19,744 crore through 2029-30....
A Producer Price Index (PPI) measures prices from the seller's/producer's perspective at first point of sale, excluding taxes and transport margins. It is...
Remittances — money sent home by Indians working abroad — are a critical component of India's external sector. They form part of the 'secondary income' in...
The repo rate (repurchase agreement rate) is the rate at which the RBI lends short-term funds to commercial banks against government securities as...
The rupee's exchange rate is determined by supply and demand for dollars in the forex market. Supply of dollars comes from: exports of goods and services...
A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographically defined area within a country's borders where more liberal economic regulations apply than in the rest of...
iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) was launched in 2018 under the Department of Defence Production (DDP), Ministry of Defence. It is a startup and...
AIFs are privately pooled investment vehicles that collect funds from investors for investing in accordance with a defined investment policy. SEBI's AIF...
This Act is India's dedicated statute for taxing and penalising undisclosed foreign income and assets held by residents, operating separately from the...
Coal gasification converts coal or lignite into synthesis gas (syngas) — a mixture primarily of hydrogen (H₂) and carbon monoxide (CO), with traces of...
Compressed Biogas (CBG) is biogas — primarily methane (CH4) produced from anaerobic digestion of organic waste — that has been purified and compressed to...
Credit rating agencies (CRAs) — principally Fitch Ratings, Moody's, and S&P Global — assess the creditworthiness of sovereign borrowers and the likelihood...
The DLI Scheme, launched as part of ISM in December 2021, specifically targets semiconductor design, which is the highest value-added segment of the chip...
The DBT Mission was launched in January 2013 under the Cabinet Secretariat to reform the delivery of government subsidies and services. DBT routes benefits...
ENSO refers to a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon involving periodic fluctuations in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and atmospheric pressure across the...
El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) — a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon centred on the tropical Pacific Ocean. Under...
ENSO is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon in the tropical Pacific that alternates between three phases: El Niño (warm), La Niña (cool), and neutral. It...
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, is the world's single most important oil and gas chokepoint. Approximately 20-21% of global...
The Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 (issued under the Environment Protection Act, 1986) is the primary regulatory instrument requiring...
India's Ethanol Blending Programme was initiated in 2003 with a modest 5% blending mandate. The National Policy on Biofuels (2018, amended 2022) set the...
The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003 is the cornerstone of India's fiscal discipline framework. Budget 2026-27's debt-to-GDP anchoring...
GST is a comprehensive indirect tax on the supply of goods and services, replacing a fragmented system of central and state levies (excise duty, VAT...
India's energy transition — moving from fossil fuel dominance toward renewable energy — is the single largest component of its decarbonisation strategy, and...
India's GDP is measured by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). GDP at market prices...
India's manufacturing sector contributes approximately 16–17% of GDP, well below the government's target of 25% under the Make in India initiative (launched...
India's renewable energy expansion is driven by its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. India's updated NDC (August 2022)...
India's electricity system is shifting rapidly from coal-dominated to diversified low-carbon sources. Non-fossil capacity includes solar, wind, hydropower...
India's Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector is the backbone of the economy, contributing 30.1% of GDP, 35.4% of manufacturing output, and 45.73% of...
The MPC was constituted under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (as amended in 2016) as a six-member committee tasked with fixing the benchmark policy...
The National Green Hydrogen Mission was approved by the Union Cabinet on January 4, 2023, with an initial outlay of ₹19,744 crore. The mission aims to make...
The National Monetisation Pipeline is a framework for generating revenue from government-owned brownfield (existing) infrastructure assets by transferring...
Northeast India comprises eight states (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Sikkim) connected to mainland India...
The PLI scheme, launched in 2020-21, provides financial incentives to manufacturers in 14 key sectors (including electronics, pharmaceuticals, automobiles...
Understanding the legal and procedural architecture of the Union Budget is essential for Mains GS2.
WPI and CPI often diverge because they measure different things in different markets. WPI measures prices before retail margins, taxes, and transportation...
Artificial intelligence in agriculture encompasses applications in crop health monitoring (using satellite imagery and sensors), yield prediction, pest and...
AERB is India's nuclear regulatory authority, constituted on November 15, 1983 under Section 27 of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962. Its mandate is to enforce...
The Balance of Payments is a comprehensive account of a country's economic transactions with the rest of the world over a period, comprising the Current...
Traditional pharmaceuticals (small-molecule drugs) are synthesised through chemical processes — aspirin, paracetamol, antibiotics. Biologics, in contrast...
India's foreign exchange reserves are managed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. The reserves...
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures changes in the price level of a weighted basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. In India...
CAFE norms are fleet-level fuel efficiency standards that require automotive manufacturers to ensure the average fuel consumption across all vehicles they...
Critical minerals are defined as those with high economic importance and high supply concentration risk. For India, 30 minerals have been designated as...
The Current Account is one of the two main components of a country's Balance of Payments (BoP), the other being the Capital and Financial Account. The...
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) was incorporated in 2006 to build and operate high-capacity freight rail corridors. The two...
To cluster defence manufacturing capacity and attract investment, the government established two Defence Industrial Corridors (DICs) — one each in Uttar...
India's Digital Agriculture Mission (approved by the Union Cabinet with an outlay of ₹2,817 crore) and the AgriStack initiative represent the government's...
India introduced DBT in fertilisers in 2018, replacing the previous system of subsidies paid directly to fertiliser companies. Under DBT, the subsidy is...
DGTR is India's single national authority for administering all trade remedial measures, including anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties (CVD), and...