Daily Current Affairs: 26 February 2025

Current affairs of 26 February 2025: India-EU FTA Talks: Tariffs, Market Access and IMEC; India’s Internet Shutdowns in 2024: SFLC Report; AI and Environment: Carbon Cost of Artificial Intelligence, and 10 more topics. Key facts for every exam, with a quiz.

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In this issue: 13 topics

Banking & Finance

PSB Stake Sale Plan: Five Banks and SEBI’s 25% Norm
RBI Rolls Back Higher Risk Weights on Bank Loans to NBFCs
RBI Microloan Risk Weights Clarified: 75% and 100% Slabs
UCB Irregularities: Why RBI Curbs Have Not Stopped Them
SEBI Derivatives Proposal: Tighter Stock and Index F&O Norms
Tata Capital IPO: $1.7 Billion Listing Plan

Economy

Rupee Falls to ₹87.21 per Dollar: Reasons and RBI Role

International Affairs

India-EU FTA Talks: Tariffs, Market Access and IMEC

Science & Technology

AI and Environment: Carbon Cost of Artificial Intelligence
Ultra Conserved Elements: Poison Exons in DNA

Reports & Indexes

India’s Internet Shutdowns in 2024: SFLC Report
Time Use Survey 2024: Key Findings on Work and Care
Devolution Index for Panchayats: State Rankings and Gaps

Banking & Finance

Economy

1. PSB Stake Sale Plan: Five Banks and SEBI’s 25% Norm

The Centre plans a four-year roadmap to sell stake in five PSBs to meet SEBI's 25% minimum public shareholding norm.
State banks have a waiver until August 2026 to comply with the MPS norm.
Punjab and Sind Bank has the highest government holding at 98.25%; Bank of Maharashtra the lowest of the five at 86.46%.
Offer for Sale is the preferred route because PSBs are already well capitalised.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

2. RBI Rolls Back Higher Risk Weights on Bank Loans to NBFCs

From 1 April 2025 RBI reversed the higher risk weights on bank loans to NBFCs.
The hike of 16 November 2023 added 25 percentage points where weights were below 100%.
Bank lending to NBFCs grew 6.7% YoY by December 2024, down from 15%; overall bank credit growth fell from 20% to 11.2%.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

3. RBI Microloan Risk Weights Clarified: 75% and 100% Slabs

RBI clarified risk weights on microfinance loans, reducing capital requirements for banks.
Loans qualifying as regulatory retail or business loans carry a 75% risk weight, earlier seen as 125%.
Consumer credit microloans outside regulatory retail now carry 100% instead of 125%.
NBFC borrowing from banks fell from 47% before November 2023 to 45%.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

4. UCB Irregularities: Why RBI Curbs Have Not Stopped Them

New India Co-operative Bank was barred from fresh loans over alleged ₹122 crore embezzlement, with withdrawals capped at ₹25,000.
PMC Bank crisis (2019): over 73% of advances were tied to fraudulent HDIL loans.
Deposit insurance was raised from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh, the first revision in 27 years.
India has 1,472 UCBs, making on-site audits hard.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Economy

5. SEBI Derivatives Proposal: Tighter Stock and Index F&O Norms

SEBI proposed that stock derivative position limits be the lower of 15% of free-float market cap or 60 times average daily delivery value.
New index derivatives need at least 14 constituents; top three stocks up to 45% and the top stock up to 20%.
A pre-open session is proposed for current-month futures; feedback was invited until 17 March 2025.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Economy

6. Tata Capital IPO: $1.7 Billion Listing Plan

Tata Capital's board approved an IPO of 23 crore shares, mixing fresh issue and sale by existing shareholders.
Expected size is $1.7 billion, among the biggest IPOs of 2025.
RBI requires upper-layer NBFCs to list by September 2025.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Economy

7. Rupee Falls to ₹87.21 per Dollar: Reasons and RBI Role

The rupee dropped 50 paise (0.57%) to ₹87.21 per US dollar, its biggest fall in over three weeks.
It has fallen 4.31% in FY25 so far and 1.81% in calendar 2025.
RBI settled offshore forward contracts worth $5-6 billion, pressuring the currency.
RBI's net short forward position stood at $67.9 billion in December 2024.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

International Affairs

Economy

8. India-EU FTA Talks: Tariffs, Market Access and IMEC

The 10th round of India-EU FTA talks is set for 10-14 March in Brussels, after a six-month gap.
EU wants lower Indian duties on cars, wines and spirits; India wants better access for pharma, IT services, textiles and agriculture.
Ursula von der Leyen visited India on 27-28 February with commissioners from 21 countries.
India is the EU's 10th largest trading partner; bilateral trade was 120 billion dollars in 2023.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Science & Technology

Environment & Ecology

9. AI and Environment: Carbon Cost of Artificial Intelligence

AI could add $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
Data centres account for about 1% of global CO₂ emissions, expected to double by 2026 (IEA).
Training GPT-3 emitted 552 tonnes of CO₂.
Over 190 countries adopted non-binding AI ethics for sustainability.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Science & Technology

10. Ultra Conserved Elements: Poison Exons in DNA

UCEs are stretches of identical DNA over 200 base pairs, unchanged for about 80 million years in mammals.
Newcastle's David J. Elliott showed a mouse Tra2b UCE works as a 'poison exon' regulating protein output.
Deleting it raised Tra2 protein, killing sperm-producing cells and causing infertility, which explains why mutations are not inherited.

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Reports & Indexes

Polity & Governance

11. India’s Internet Shutdowns in 2024: SFLC Report

India recorded 84 internet shutdowns in 2024, slightly fewer than 2023, says SFLC India.
India leads the world in government-ordered shutdowns, per Access Now.
All 88 communal-violence shutdowns in 2023 and 2024 were in India; Manipur had 54.
Anuradha Bhasin vs Union of India requires shutdowns to meet necessity and proportionality tests.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Health & Social Issues

12. Time Use Survey 2024: Key Findings on Work and Care

Employment participation (ages 15-59) rose to 75% for men and 25% for women in 2024.
Women spend 137 minutes a day on unpaid domestic work versus 88 for men.
The survey covered 1,39,487 households and 4,54,192 individuals aged 6 and above.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Polity & Governance

13. Devolution Index for Panchayats: State Rankings and Gaps

The Devolution Index, by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and IIPA, gauges PRI framework, finances, capacity and accountability.
Devolution to rural local bodies rose from 39.9% in 2013-14 to 43.9% in 2021-22; Karnataka scored highest at 72.23.
Only 10 states have constituted their sixth State Finance Commission.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

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Daily Current Affairs: 26 February 2025

In this issue: 13 topics

Banking & Finance

1. PSB Stake Sale Plan: Five Banks and SEBI’s 25% Norm

2. RBI Rolls Back Higher Risk Weights on Bank Loans to NBFCs

3. RBI Microloan Risk Weights Clarified: 75% and 100% Slabs

4. UCB Irregularities: Why RBI Curbs Have Not Stopped Them

5. SEBI Derivatives Proposal: Tighter Stock and Index F&O Norms

6. Tata Capital IPO: $1.7 Billion Listing Plan

Economy

7. Rupee Falls to ₹87.21 per Dollar: Reasons and RBI Role

International Affairs

8. India-EU FTA Talks: Tariffs, Market Access and IMEC

Science & Technology

9. AI and Environment: Carbon Cost of Artificial Intelligence

10. Ultra Conserved Elements: Poison Exons in DNA

Reports & Indexes

11. India’s Internet Shutdowns in 2024: SFLC Report

12. Time Use Survey 2024: Key Findings on Work and Care

13. Devolution Index for Panchayats: State Rankings and Gaps

Test yourself