Current Affairs: 25 October 2026

On 24 October Kotak Mahindra Bank reported consolidated net profit of ₹5,645 crore for July–September 2026 (Q2 FY27), against ₹4,468 crore a year earlier. Standalone profit rose 29% to ₹4,212 crore and net interest income grew 16% to ₹8,459 crore. The net interest margin, however, fell from 4.54% to 4.31%. The bank said this was because it raised about ₹55,344 crore of FCNR(B) deposits under the RBI's special swap facility, which reduced the share of low-cost CASA funds. Gross NPAs improved to 1.04% from 1.39%. MD Ashok Vaswani said the RBI's recent repo hike would start to lift loan rates in Q3 and be fully felt in Q4.

Exam angle: NIM is net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets. FCNR(B) deposits are foreign-currency term deposits (1–5 years) held by NRIs, and the bank, not the depositor, bears the exchange risk. The RBI opened its 2026 FCNR(B) swap window on 8 June and stopped taking fresh deposits under it on 31 August. See Bank business models and NIM and Monetary transmission mechanism.

IDFC First Bank's net profit for the September 2026 quarter rose to ₹1,045 crore from ₹352 crore a year earlier, helped by lower provisions and strong growth in loans and fees. Net interest income rose 21% to ₹6,184 crore. Loans, including credit substitutes and FCNR(B)-backed lending, grew 30% to ₹3.5 lakh crore. The NIM slipped to about 5.6% from 5.9% in the June quarter, partly because of loans made to attract FCNR(B) deposits.

Exam angle: IDFC First Bank was formed in December 2018 by merging IDFC Bank with the NBFC Capital First. Provisions are profits set aside against expected loan losses, so lower provisions raise net profit. See NPAs and bad loans.

AU Small Finance Bank's net profit rose 53% to ₹858 crore in Q2 FY27, from ₹561 crore a year earlier. Its NIM rose to 5.8% from 5.5%, and net interest income grew about 32% to ₹2,820 crore. The gross NPA ratio fell to about 2% and the net NPA ratio to 0.8%. Deposits grew about 29% to ₹1.7 lakh crore. The bank is converting into a universal bank: the RBI gave in-principle approval on 7 August 2025, the first such approval for a small finance bank.

Exam angle: Under the RBI's April 2024 framework, an SFB that wants to become a universal bank needs, among other things, a five-year track record, a stock-exchange listing, a net worth of at least ₹1,000 crore and NPAs within set limits. SFBs must lend 75% of adjusted net bank credit to priority sectors. AU SFB has its headquarters in Jaipur. See Small finance and payments banks and Priority sector lending.

SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on 24 October that the regulator is reviewing its frameworks for short selling and for securities lending and borrowing (SLB) to improve liquidity and price discovery. SEBI is also building a market-making framework for corporate bonds, which have about ₹61 lakh crore outstanding, to boost secondary-market trading. Other plans include compliance rules for stockbrokers graded by their size and risk, and extending automated give-up/take-up to custodial clients such as PMS and AIFs. He spoke at a brokers' convention in Mumbai.

Exam angle: In short selling, an investor sells shares they do not own, expecting to buy them back cheaper later. In India this must be backed by borrowing through SLB, because naked short selling is not allowed. The short-selling framework dates from 2007 and SLB from 2008. SEBI was set up in 1988 and given statutory powers by the SEBI Act, 1992.

In a notification issued on 24 October, the Department of Revenue reimposed anti-dumping duties of US$460–681 per tonne on certain titanium dioxide imports from China. The duty is valid for five years. The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) recommended it in final findings dated 3 August 2026, after a fresh investigation found that dumped imports had injured domestic producers. An earlier duty, imposed in May 2025, was withdrawn after the Calcutta High Court ordered the case to be reconsidered on a petition by the Indian Paint Association.

Exam angle: The DGTR, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, investigates and recommends anti-dumping duties. The Finance Ministry imposes them under Section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Titanium dioxide is a white pigment used mainly in paints, plastics and paper.

Research firm Omdia estimates that Chinese brands held 68% of India's smartphone market in July–September 2026, down from 71% the previous quarter and 75% a year earlier. Counterpoint Research put their share at 67%, the lowest since early 2019. Total shipments fell 20–26% year on year to about 35.8 million units, a decade low, because record memory-chip prices pushed up phone prices and led makers to cut budget models. Indian brands' share rose to 7%, their highest since late 2018.

Exam angle: The PLI scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing, launched in 2020, aims to make India a global hub for mobile-phone production. Counterpoint and Omdia are private market-research firms, not government sources.

Official Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2025 put India's egg output at 149.11 billion in 2024-25, up 4.44%, with per capita availability of 106 eggs a year (up from 62 in 2014-15). Andhra Pradesh produces about 18% of the total, followed by Tamil Nadu, Telangana, West Bengal and Karnataka. Industry experts quoted by ET estimate 2025-26 output at about 15,700 crore (157 billion) eggs. More than 90% are sold loose, and premium eggs make up less than 3% of the market.

Exam angle: The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, releases the Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics. The 2025 edition came out on National Milk Day, 26 November. India is the world's second-largest egg producer after China.

The Finance Ministry has notified the annual licensing policy for opium poppy cultivation for the crop year that began on 1 October 2026. To qualify for an opium gum licence, a farmer must have delivered a minimum morphine yield of 4.4 kg per hectare in 2025-26, up from 4.2 kg in last year's policy. ET reports that the bar will rise to 5.9 kg per hectare in 2026-27 for licences in 2027-28. For unlanced poppy straw, the qualifying yield stays at 800 kg per hectare. Reports also say the policy allows cultivation on leased land.

Exam angle: Opium poppy is grown under licence only in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Cultivation is regulated under the NDPS Act, 1985, and the Central Bureau of Narcotics, headquartered in Gwalior, issues licences. The crop supplies alkaloids such as morphine for medicines.

Protests against the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project turned violent at Pasighat, East Siang district, on the night of 23–24 October, after a 12-hour bandh. Protesters set fire to an NHPC office, a police station and police vehicles. They also vandalised the homes of MLAs Ninong Ering and Oni Panyang and of BJP state president Kaling Moyong. The protesters are demanding the release of 10 people detained during the bandh. Chief Minister Pema Khandu appealed for peace and said public consensus would remain central to the project.

Exam angle: The project, of about 11,000 MW, is planned by NHPC on the Siang river, which is called the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet and becomes the Brahmaputra in Assam. The Centre sees it partly as a strategic answer to China's planned Medog dam upstream.

On 24 October the Ministry of Home Affairs appointed Dr Sajjan Singh Yadav, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, as Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir. He takes charge on 1 November, or on the date he joins if that is later. He succeeds Atal Dulloo, who retires on 31 October. Yadav was serving as Additional Chief Secretary and CEO of the Delhi Jal Board.

Exam angle: J&K became a Union Territory with a legislature on 31 October 2019 under the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019. Manoj Sinha is the Lieutenant Governor and Omar Abdullah the Chief Minister.

Brazil holds its presidential runoff on 25 October 2026 between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth term, and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro led the first round on 4 October with about 47.5% of valid votes to Lula's 44.7%, but polls this week showed the race nearly level. The winner's term begins on 5 January 2027.

Exam angle: Brazil's capital is Brasília and its currency is the real. Brazil is a founding member of BRICS and hosted COP30 at Belém in 2025.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal ended the Germany leg of his visit on 23–24 October. He said German companies now see India as a base for manufacturing, R&D and innovation, not just as a market, and that many plan to double or triple their India business within three to five years. He met companies including Siemens Healthineers, Bayer, Fresenius, Volkswagen, Skoda and Bertelsmann. He proposed licensing arrangements for technologies the two countries develop together, and noted that India has more than 2,100 global capability centres (GCCs). The visit continues in the Netherlands until 27 October.

Exam angle: Germany's capital is Berlin and its currency is the euro. Germany is India's largest trading partner in the European Union. A GCC is an offshore unit of a multinational that handles technology, R&D or business functions.

At Hagley Oval, Christchurch, on 24 October, India chased down New Zealand's 180/5 with one ball to spare and won by four wickets. They had been 70/5 in the 11th over. Tilak Varma made an unbeaten 51 off 26 balls and Nitish Kumar Reddy hit the winning runs in his 26 not out. NZ captain Mitchell Santner took 4/21 and Glenn Phillips made 70. India lead the five-match series 2–0.

Exam angle: Hagley Oval is in Christchurch, on New Zealand's South Island. Mitchell Santner captains New Zealand's white-ball sides.

P. V. Sindhu beat Japan's Hina Akechi 21-10, 20-22, 21-16 in the French Open (Super 750) semifinal in Paris on 24 October. In the final on 25 October she meets South Korea's world No. 1 An Se Young, who has won all 10 of their previous matches. It is Sindhu's second Super 750 final of 2026, after she won the Japan Open in July.

Exam angle: Sindhu won Olympic silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020, and she was world champion in 2019. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur.

At the Silicon Valley Open (PSA Gold) in California, 18-year-old Anahat Singh beat Egypt's Nour El Sherbini, an eight-time world champion, in the round of 16, and then Salma Hany in the quarterfinal. That gave her a first semifinal at PSA Gold level. She lost the semifinal to Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam, who had also beaten her in the 2026 Asian Games final. In July 2026 Anahat became the first Indian to win the World Junior Squash Championship.

Exam angle: Squash makes its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Games. The PSA (Professional Squash Association) runs the professional tour.

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, 20, starts the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, Austin, on 25 October with 340 points, 102 ahead of teammate George Russell. He clinches the title there if he wins and Russell finishes ninth or lower and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) fifth or lower. He would be the youngest champion in F1 history and the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953.

Exam angle: Sebastian Vettel, who became champion in 2010 at 23, is currently the youngest F1 world champion. The FIA governs Formula 1.

On 13 October Formula 1 announced a 10-year deal for an African Grand Prix at a new circuit in Bugesera, south of Kigali, Rwanda, expected from the early 2030s. It will be the first F1 race in Africa since South Africa in 1993. India hosted three Grands Prix (2011–2013) at the Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida. A NITI Aayog task force headed by programme director Yugal Kishore Joshi is working on the tax and customs problems that ended the race. ET reports that the Adani Group, which took over the circuit with other Jaypee Group assets, is the likely promoter. Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said he hopes F1 can return by 2028.

Exam angle: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) won all three Indian Grands Prix. Rwanda's capital is Kigali. India's motorsport body is the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).