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.
CGTMSE was established in 2000 jointly by the Ministry of MSME and SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) to facilitate collateral-free credit...
Critical minerals are raw materials essential for clean energy technologies (EV batteries, wind turbines, solar panels) and defence/high-tech manufacturing....
The Current Account is one of the two main accounts in India's Balance of Payments, the other being the Capital and Financial Account. The Current Account...
Customs duty is a tax levied on goods imported into (or exported from) India under the Customs Act, 1962 and the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The Basic Customs...
India's import duty on gold is composed of three layers. The Basic Customs Duty (BCD) is the primary tariff levied under the Customs Act, 1962. The...
A data centre is a facility housing computer systems, servers, storage infrastructure, and networking equipment for centralised data processing and storage....
The Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020 is India's overarching policy framework for transforming the country into a major defence...
The Directorate General of Shipping is the apex maritime regulatory authority of India under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. It regulates...
The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a recurring climate pattern involving changes in the sea surface temperature (SST) of the central and eastern...
Fertiliser production growth of 3.4% in February 2026 is notable in the context of the government's agricultural policy priorities. India is the world's...
The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003 mandates fiscal discipline. The NK Singh Committee (2017) revised the framework...
Floating solar involves mounting photovoltaic panels on pontoons anchored on reservoirs, irrigation canals, or other inland water bodies rather than on...
FPIs are registered foreign investors permitted to invest in Indian capital markets under the SEBI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations, 2019. The...
GAGAN is a Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) jointly developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Indian Space Research Organisation...
GEAC is the apex body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) responsible for approving the commercial release of genetically...
GOBARdhan stands for Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan. It was launched in April 2018 as a component of Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (SBM-G)...
GAAR is a set of provisions in Chapter X-A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, inserted through the Finance Act, 2012, and effective from April 1, 2017. GAAR...
Global Value Chains describe the cross-border production networks through which goods and services are designed, manufactured, assembled, and distributed...
India's vulnerability to oil price shocks operates through multiple transmission channels. First, the direct import bill channel: higher crude prices widen...
The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) was established in 2022 as a specialised and independent nodal agency within the Digital India Corporation (DIC) under...
India's Current Account Deficit represents the difference between what India earns (exports of goods, services, income receipts, remittances) and what it...
India is the world's third-largest oil consumer and third-largest oil importer, with domestic production meeting only about 12–15% of requirements. Imports...
Energy security refers to the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price. India imports approximately 60% of its LPG requirements...
India's export promotion ecosystem involves multiple institutions: the Department of Commerce (policy), Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT —...
India deregulated petrol prices in June 2010 and diesel prices in October 2014, allowing Oil Marketing Companies (IOC, BPCL, HPCL) to set retail prices...
India's regulatory architecture for genetically modified (GM) crops is among the most stringent in the world, involving multiple ministries and committees....
India's real GDP growth has accelerated over four decades. The pre-reform average (1950-1990) was approximately 3.5% ('Hindu rate of growth')....
India's macroeconomic position going into FY27 reflects a combination of strong growth momentum, moderating inflation, and manageable external vulnerability.
India has a coastline of approximately 7,516 km (mainland: 5,422 km + island territories), 12 major ports and 200+ non-major (state/private) ports, and...
India imports approximately 85-87% of its crude oil requirements, making it the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer. Crude oil and petroleum...
India is the world's third-largest importer of crude oil, meeting approximately 88% of its crude requirements through imports. The structure of these...
India is the 4th largest refiner in the world by capacity. The refining sector is dominated by public sector undertakings (PSUs) under the Ministry of...
India is the world's largest producer and consumer of pulses, accounting for approximately 25-30% of global production and about 27% of global consumption....
India presents a paradox in global semiconductors: it contributes approximately 20% of the world's chip design engineers and houses R&D centres of global...
India's services sector accounts for approximately 55% of GDP and over 50% of export earnings. India is the world's largest exporter of IT/ITeS services...
India's skill development architecture comprises multiple overlapping institutions: NSDC, National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Council for...
India is the world's second-largest wheat producer (after China), with an annual production of approximately 113–115 million tonnes (MT) in recent years —...
India-US energy cooperation has grown significantly since the India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement (2008), which opened the door for nuclear commerce, and...
The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was signed on September 19, 1960, in Karachi between Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayub Khan, with...
The National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) 2011 set a target of raising manufacturing's share of GDP to 25% and creating 100 million jobs by 2022. National...
Inflation can arise from demand-pull factors (excess demand in the economy) or cost-push factors (rising input costs pushing up prices). In India, food...
India's inflation targeting framework mandates the RBI to maintain CPI headline inflation at 4% (target midpoint), with a tolerance band of ±2% (i.e....
Three indicators from PLFS are central to UPSC preparation: Unemployment Rate (UR): The percentage of persons in the labour force who are not employed but...
Kharif crops are sown at the beginning of the monsoon (June–July) and harvested in September–October. They rely almost entirely on monsoon rainfall and are...
The Kharif season runs from June to September (sowing to harvest), coinciding with the southwest monsoon. Major Kharif crops include rice (paddy), maize...
LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) are frequently confused but are chemically and functionally distinct. LPG is a mixture of...
The Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India in 2004 under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. It...
MPEDA is a statutory body established in 1972 under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, headquartered in Kochi. Its mandate is to promote, regulate, and...
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are defined under the MSMED Act 2006 (as amended in 2020): Micro enterprises have investment up to Rs 1 crore...
PLI is the financial implementation arm of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-Reliant India Mission), launched in May 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It...
Merchandise (goods) trade indices comprise two sets of indicators: (1) Unit Value Indices (UVI), which measure price changes in exports and imports —...
Minimum Alternate Tax was introduced in India in 1987 (and later restructured under Section 115JB in 2000) to ensure that companies reporting significant...
MSP is the minimum price at which the government guarantees to purchase farm produce from farmers. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP)...
India adopted the Flexible Inflation Targeting (FIT) framework in 2016 through amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Under this framework, the...
The Monetary Policy Committee is a six-member statutory body constituted under the RBI Act, 1934 (amended 2016). It sets the policy repo rate — the rate at...
Monetary policy transmission refers to the process by which changes in the RBI's policy rate (repo rate) pass through the financial system to eventually...
National Accounts Statistics (NAS) is India's annual compilation of macroeconomic aggregates: GDP, GNI (Gross National Income), NNP (Net National Product)...
NAPS, launched in August 2016, is a scheme to promote apprenticeship training in India by sharing the cost of stipend between the government and the...
The National Food Security Act, 2013 (No. 20 of 2013) converts food security from a welfare intervention into a legal entitlement, making it justiciable — a...
India's national income is computed by the National Statistical Office (NSO), which sits under MoSPI. GDP is estimated using both the production approach...