Business

February, 2026: Currently, instructions on customer appropriateness and suitability and other related matters in the context of insurance agency business have been issued to Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks) and Housing Finance Companies. Upon a review, it has been decided to issue comprehensive instructions on advertising, marketing and sales of financial products and services (including third-party products and services) to all banks and NBFCs, which shall include various aspects related thereto, such as activities of Direct Sales Agents…

India Highlights Strengthened Organic Regulatory Framework and India–EU Trade Momentum at BIOFACH 2026 India marked a significant presence as the “Country of the Year” at the inaugural of BIOFACH Germany 2026, the world’s leading trade fair for organic products, held on 10 February 2026 at Nuremberg, Germany. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, is organising India’s participation with a prominent and high-impact presence, highlighting the country’s…

A Guide for Meaningful Participation India is set to host the India AI Impact Summit from February 16-20, 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, bringing together governments, industry leaders, researchers, startups, students and citizens from across the world. The Summit is envisioned as a pivotal global platform to shape a future-oriented agenda for inclusive, responsible and impactful AI and aims to move beyond high-level discussions and deliver tangible outcomes that can support economic growth, social development and sustainable use of…

Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and the National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (CSIR-NIScPR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 10 February 2026 at INSA, New Delhi, to promote collaborative activities on science communication and evidence-based science policy research and strengthen evidence-based policymaking in India.   The programme began with welcome remarks by Dr. Brajesh Pandey, Executive Director, INSA. Dr Akhilesh Gupta, Former Senior Advisor, Department of Science and Technology (DST), outlined the genesis and rationale of the MoU and emphasised the importance of…

The Department of Posts (DoP), Ministry of Communications, Government of India, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE), India’s leading stock exchange, to enable the distribution of mutual fund products through India Post’s extensive postal network. The Department of Posts, using its vast network of over 1.64 lakh post offices across the country, will work with NSE, which has a strong online system for handling mutual fund transactions that…

NHAI received an overwhelming response from the bidders for the implementation of 111 km long six-lane Access Controlled Greenfield Capital Region Ring Road (Bhubaneswar Bypass) project in Odisha. Bids were invited by NHAI for construction of the project in three packages and all packages received encouraging participation from the bidders. Package-I of the project received 23 bids, Package-II drew 25 bids, while Package-III received 16 bids, reflecting robust competition and keen interest from the participants across all packages. The bids…

 Chirag Paswan, Minister of Food Processing Industries, today visited the ongoing PLASTINDIA 2026, one of the world’s leading plastics exhibitions, being held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, from February 5–10, 2026. During his visit, the Union Minister released the Plastic Industry Status Report 2025 and presented awards to the winners of the Startup Search Initiative, developed by the Plastindia Foundation in collaboration with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP). Addressing industry stakeholders, Shri Chirag Paswan emphasised the need to minimise wastage…

REC Limited, a Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Power and one of India’s leading NBFCs, has been honored with the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Green Urja and Energy Efficiency Award. REC received the Gold Award under the category “Excellence Award for Financial Institutions in Green Energy and Energy Efficiency.” The award was received on behalf of REC by Sh. Kuldeep Rai, Executive Director (Renewables) and Sh. Arun Kumar Chaturvedi, HoD (Renewables) during the 14th Green Energy Summit…

The Ministry of Power today announced the release of Version 0.3 of the India Energy Stack (IES) Architecture and Strategy documents, marking another step in the development of a digital public infrastructure for India’s power sector. The India Energy Stack aims to create a common digital framework that helps different stakeholders — including utilities, system operators, market participants, innovators, and consumers — securely exchange data and interact using shared standards and protocols. This approach is intended to improve coordination, transparency,…

February 2026: The Reserve Bank has released the results of January 2026 round of its bi-monthly urban consumer confidence survey (UCCS). The survey collects current perceptions (vis-à-vis a year ago) and one year ahead expectations of households on general economic situation, employment scenario, overall price situation, own income and spending. The latest round of the survey was conducted during 02nd January to 11th January 2026, covering 5,933 respondents across 19 major cities. Highlights: i. Consumer confidence for the current period…