Endeavor Careers Choicest Blogs: Weekly Current Affairs: February 2022, Week 01

Welcome to the Endeavor Editors’ Weekly Current Affairs Choicest Blog series. Get a weekly roundup – on news from business, economy, markets, policy, and more. A quick capsule format news summary and update to keep you abreast with all the latest current affairs.

1) International News and Global Economy

Russian troops in final stages of readiness add to worries for Ukraine

While the Russian military is not yet capable of mounting a total invasion of Ukraine, portions of its army have reached full combat strength and appear to be in the final stages of readiness for military action should the Kremlin order it, according to an assessment by the Ukrainian military’s high command. Of particular concern to Ukrainian officials is the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. In the last two weeks, Russia has deployed an additional 10,000 troops to the region, including infantry and airborne forces; more ominously, it has put some commands on the highest level of readiness, according to the military’s assessment.

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NATO troop movements in Europe: Will it matter for Ukraine? | DW News

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US warns Russian aggression in Europe to impact China’s interest all over the world

The United States has passed on a clear message to China that a conflict in Europe would also impact China’s interests all over the world, reported NHK News.White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, while speaking to reporters, on Friday, said, “Destabilizing conflict in Europe would impact China’s interests all over the world,” adding “Certainly, China should know that.”This comes at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin held summit talks and affirmed a deeper partnership between their countries.In a joint statement earlier in the day, Russia and China said they oppose further enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and called on the alliance to abandon its ideologically-charged Cold War approach, according to Sputnik.

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China and Russia declare “no limits” to their plan to rival US power – BBC News

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Balochistan flares up as Pakistan Army’s death toll rises sharply

Pakistan’s Balochistan is witnessing a tide of violence as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) continues to carry out terrorist attacks in the province, with recent attacks on security posts in Pakistan that resulted in the death of seven Pakistani soldiers and 13 terrorists. Forty-one soldiers and civilians died in January 2022 and the toll could cross 50 and more.Pakistan is back to the situation where it has to face two insurgencies one in the North West led by the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also known as Pakistani Taliban and the other in South led by Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), reported Al Arabiya.Notably, following the BLA attacks, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry on Thursday issued a threat alert in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in the Panjgur and Naushki districts of Balochistan.

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China using ‘salami-slicing’ technique to alter status quo along LAC, says new report

China is using the “salami-slicing” technique to alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in which it tests the other claimants through aggressive actions, then back off when it meets significant resistance, according to a report. China ‘Land Border Law (LBL)’, adopted in October 2021, came into force on January 1, 2022, amid growing tensions with its neighbours, such as India. The Law, at best seems assertive and provocative. Through LBL, China has asserted that it will “resolutely defend territorial sovereignty and land border”, reported the Policy Research Group (POREG).Moreover, the Chinese Communist Party is also pushing Tibetan nomads into villages in border districts, converting key border prefectures, such as Shigatse and Lhoka into Chinese zones in the ‘Tibetan Autonomous Region’s (TAR)’.China has also undertaken the expansion of border towns in bordering areas of Nepal and Bhutan under the “Salami Slicing” technique.

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US grants sanctions relief to Iran as nuke talks in balance

The Biden administration has restored some sanctions relief to Iran’s atomic programme as talks aimed at salvaging the languishing 2015 nuclear deal enter a critical phase.As US negotiators head back to Vienna for what could be a make-or-break session, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed several sanctions waivers related to Iran’s civilian nuclear activities. The move reverses the Trump administration’s decision to rescind them.The waivers are ultimately intended to entice Iran back to the 2015 deal that it has been violating since former President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed U.S. sanctions. In the short term, the waivers will exempt foreign countries and companies that work in Iran’s civilian nuclear sector from American penalties.

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Omicron variant may not be ‘milder’ itself, US scientists caution

The “milder” outcomes of infection from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 are likely due to more population immunity rather than the virus’ properties, according to researchers in the US.In a perspective article, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers noted that the perceived lower severity of Omicron infections is most likely due to factors related to the level of immunity in infected people.By the fall of 2021, much of the South African population had been vaccinated or probably infected by another variant during earlier waves of the pandemic.The researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the US argue that previous exposure would likely have reduced the severity of a subsequent Omicron infection. The milder symptoms may also be due in part to Omicron’s ability to cause breakthrough infections and reinfections, including in people with stronger immune systems who are better equipped to fight off an infection, they said.

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2) India

Covid update

Third wave to ebb by March: ICMR ADG

Additional director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Dr Samiran Panda has said that the third wave of Covid was likely to wane by February-end in Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal.“The peak of cases encountered in these states will come down to the base level by the end of this month itself. An overall decline in Covid cases in the country is expected by March,” he said.Epidemiologist Dr Chandrakant Lahariya also told TOI that the third wave across the country was expected to end in the next three-four weeks. “With Omicron dominating 90% of the cases and Delta being only about 10%, the rise and fall in cases being witnessed is the trend across the world,” he said. According to the mathematical model-based projection by the ICMR, the entire peak and fall in cases in these states would be achieved within this month. The chromic model developed by the ICMR and Imperial College London projects that India may reach the stage of endemicity of Covid by mid-March this year.

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Indian scientists claim to have designed vaccine against all variants of coronavirus

Indian scientists claim to have designed a universal vaccine that can be effective against all variants of the coronavirus. With new variants of the SARS-COV-2 virus triggering fresh waves of the highly infectious disease, scientists at the Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneshwar have designed a peptide vaccine which they claim could protect against any future variants of the coronavirus.Their research has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Molecular Liquids that is devoted to fundamental aspects of structure, interactions and dynamic processes in simple, molecular and complex liquids.

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Other updates

Lata Mangeshkar, India’s beloved nightingale and the melody queen of Bollywood hits, is no more

Veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar breathed her last in Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital on 6th, at the age of 92. After struggling with a Covid infection, as well as pneumonia for almost a month and recovering from both, the beloved singer, who was often dubbed as the ‘nightingale of India’ succumbed to post covid complications, which led to multi organ failure. Two-day national mourning will be observed in memory of the legendary singer. The national flag will fly at half-mast for two days, as a mark of respect, and Mangeshkar will be given a state funeral.The singer began her career at the age of 13 in 1942 and since then there has been no looking back. Considered as the best female recording artist in India, she received the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, in 2001. Mangeshkar has been the recipient of several other prestigious awards including Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, and Dada Saheb Phalke Award.

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3) Economy

Eurozone inflation hits record 5.1% in January

Consumer prices in the eurozone rose by a record 5.1 per cent in January piling more pressure on the European Central Bank to respond with tighter monetary policy. The new figure defied expectations of a fall in inflation, with economists polled by Reuters expecting a rate of 4.4 per cent. Steeper increases in the price of energy and food were only partly offset by slower growth in prices of manufactured goods, which meant annual inflation rose from its previous eurozone record of 5 per cent in December, Eurostat said.The rising cost of living is likely to dominate the first ECB governing council meeting of the year on Thursday, even if most economists expect the bank to stick to its timetable for keeping interest rates unchanged while it steadily reduces asset purchases over the course of this year.

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Eurozone inflation accelerated to record 5.1% in January

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Imported inflation driven by rising global fuel prices a concern for India: Govt adviser Sanyal

There is a need to be concerned about imported inflation, especially that arising from a rise in global energy prices and supply disruptions, Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal said. He was speaking at a media briefing after the release of the Economic Survey 2021-22.Sanyal, who along with his team, has compiled the Economic Survey, said that while these disruptions have caused an increase in headline retail inflation (that reported through the Consumer Price Index), it has largely remained within the tolerance band of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The government has mandated the RBI to maintain inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) within a tolerance band of two to six per cent, with four per cent as the medium-term inflation target. The target has been set for a period of five years, till March 2026.

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Budget 2022 | A step towards India becoming a $5 trillion economy

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her fourth Union Budget amidst concerns over the recent COVID-19 wave on India’s GDP growth. However, this budget is clearly a step ahead in line with government’s efforts over the past few years to fulfil the vision of making India a $5 trillion economy. The pace of India’s recovery is likely to continue due to the government efforts to bring in structural, fiscal, and infrastructural reforms. The Budget focused on a familiar strategy of driving capital expenditure to boost growth, through higher public spending. The government’s capex infusion of Rs 7.5 lakh-crore in FY22-23 will have a multiplier effect on investment activities in the overall manufacturing sector. Read more to understand the themes in Budget 2022 which will fast-track India’s journey in becoming $5 trillion economy.

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8 To 8.5% growth for new Financial Year, says Economic Survey: 10 Points

India will see an economic growth of 8 to 8.5 per cent for the coming fiscal year, down from 9.2 per cent growth estimated in the current year, the annual Economic Survey predicted a day before the Budget. This is a dip from the 9.2 per cent GDP (Gross Domestic Product) expansion in the current year projected by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The survey says at 9.2 per cent, economic activity has recovered past pre-pandemic levels. Almost all indicators show that the economic impact of the “second wave” in the first quarter was much smaller than that experienced during the full lockdown phase in 2020-21 even though the health impact was more severe, the survey notes.

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4) Markets, Banking and Finance

Amazon surges with record $190 billion gain in value

A day after Facebook owner Meta Platforms suffered the deepest loss of stock market value in history for a U.S. company, Amazon logged the greatest ever one-day increase in value. Shares of the online retail and cloud computing giant surged 13.5% on Friday following its blowout quarterly report, expanding its market capitalization by around $190 billion by the end of trading.That beat Apple Inc’s record $181 billion one-day gain in stock market value on Jan. 28 following the iPhone maker’s own blockbuster quarterly report, according to Refinitiv data.Amazon is now valued at about $1.6 trillion. With Meta Platforms’ stock slipping 0.3% on Friday, its value stood at about $660 billion.Amazon’s shares jumped after the company reported better-than-expected profits late on Thursday and said it was hiking the price of its annual U.S. Prime subscriptions by 17%.Amazon’s surge comes a day after Meta Platforms’ stock market value plunged more than $200 billion in the biggest single-day loss for a U.S. company after the social media giant issued a dismal forecast.

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Meta shares sink more than 20% as Facebook loses daily users | DW News

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Green bonds to be rupee-denominated with long tenure: DEA Secretary

Asserting that the issuance of sovereign green bonds is part of the government’s overall borrowing programme, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth has said these rupee-denominated papers will have long tenure to suit the requirement of green infrastructure projects.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget Speech announced that the government proposes to issue sovereign green bonds to mobilise resources for green infrastructure. “The proceeds will be deployed in public sector projects which help in reducing the carbon intensity of the economy,” she said in the Budget 2022-23.In a post-Budget interview with PTI, Seth said this is part of the overall borrowing for the next financial year. “At this point of time, we are looking at the domestic markets and rupee-denominated…the tenure would be normal like any G-sec tenure. It would be medium to long term but not short term. Fund mobilised will be used in the infrastructure sector, which has a requirement of long-term finances,” Seth said.

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Green Bonds in 2 Minutes

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SBI Q3 Results: Profit surges 62% YoY to Rs 8,432 crore, beats estimate

State Bank of India (SBI) on Saturday reported a 62.26 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in standalone net profit at Rs 8,431.88 crore compared with Rs 5,196.22 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The figure came in higher than Rs 8,200 crore profit estimated by analysts in an ET NOW poll.The bank said strong growth was seen in the personal retail segment, driven by home loans, Xpress credit and other loans. Corporate & SME credit also picked up during the quarter, it said.Gross NPA for the quarter stood at 4.5 per cent, which was lower than 4.9 per cent in the September quarter and 4.77 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

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5) Business

Indian arms of French, Swiss, Dutch cos cannot claim low tax benefit citing tax treaties with other OECD members

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has clarified that Indian branch of French, Swiss and Dutch companies would now not be eligible for low tax rate of 5 per cent while remitting dividends to their overseas parents. Taxpayers from these countries cannot apply for the benefits available under tax treaties with entered into by India with Columbia, Slovenia making use of the ‘most favoured nation’ clause, the board clarified thorough a circular.It said that unilateral decree of a treaty partner does not represent a shared understanding on the applicability of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clause and the third state should be the member of OECD on the date of conclusion of the DTAA (Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement) with India.

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Airtel to spend Rs 1.17 lakh crore on various businesses with subsidiaries over next 5 years

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has plans to spend about Rs 1.17 lakh crore through business transactions with its subsidiaries like Indus Towers, Nxtra and Bharti Hexacom, according to a regulatory filing. The company will hold an extraordinary general meeting of the members of the company on February 26 to also seek their approval for issuing shares to Google for its about Rs 7,500 crore investment in the company to buy 1.28 per cent stake. According to the EGM notice, Bharti Airtel will spend Rs 88,000 crore in business with mobile tower company Indus Towers, Rs 15,000 crore for availing services of datacentre firm Nxtra and transaction of up to Rs 14,000 crore with Bharti Hexacom. Bharti Airtel will invest up to Rs 17,000 crore on transactions with Indus Towers in the next 4 financial years and Rs 20,000 crore in 2025-26, the filing said.

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6) Technology

Spotify faces its Facebook moment as musicians boycott platform over Joe Rogan podcast

Spotify has found itself in hot water over concerns that its popular podcast star, Joe Rogan, is spreading coronavirus misinformation, in a controversy that echoes the crises faced by Facebook and other social media giants in recent years. The music streaming platform is being boycotted by legendary musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who have slammed its decision to continue hosting Rogan’s popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.” The debacle has parallels with the scandals that have plagued Facebook and other tech giants over the years.Facebook, which is now named Meta, faced mass boycotts from major advertisers in 2020 over criticisms that it wasn’t doing enough to tackle hate speech. And a data-sharing scandal in 2018 resulted in hundreds of thousands of users sharing the hashtag #deletefacebook in protest of the social networking site.

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NFT Platform Colexion bags $5 Mntobuild Metaverse capabilities

Since April 2021, the NFT craze has caught the attention of anyone remotely interested in Web 3.0. This includes celebrities — from India and beyond, selling artworks on platforms such as GuardianLink.io, Faze, among others. Amid the growing popularity, one of the most popular celebrities NFT platforms, Colexion — famous for launching the ‘Trump Card’ NFTs — has raised $5 Mn in its seed and private round.The Delhi NCR-based start-up raised $1.8 Mn in the seed round and $3.2 Mn from a private round.Founded in 2021, Colexion is a creative marketplace on the polygon network where fans can buy and trade in digital collectables connected with cricket and entertainment stars. On the platform’s sire, fans can purchase ‘collectable card’ NFTs, including ‘autographed cards’, video moments and other tokens.The start-up hosts 1200+ NFTs from 100+ celebrities and from 10+ countries.

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Budget 2022: Impact on Crypto Investors

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the 2022-23 Union Budget, announced a 30 percent tax on income generated from the transfer of any digital asset, along with a slew of other measures. Watch video to understand its implications.

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India’s digital currency to debut by early 2023

India’s very own official digital currency is likely to debut by early 2023, which will mirror any of the currently available private company-operated electronic wallets, but with a change that it will be a sovereign-backed facility, a top government source said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech last week talked about launching a central bank-backed ‘digital rupee’ soon. The digital rupee blockchain, being developed by the Reserve Bank, would be able to trace all transactions, unlike the current system of mobile wallet offered by private companies. In the case of a digital rupee instead of holding a note you will be holding a digital currency in your phone and it would be with the central bank and from there it would be transferred to any merchant. It is fully backed by the sovereign. In the 2022-23 Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that introduction of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will give a big boost to digital economy.

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RBI to launch its own Digital Rupee in 2022-2023 | Start-up Central

What is a central bank digital currency? Why is it being called a game changer? How will it work? How will our lives change? Here is iSPIRT’s co-founder Sharad Sharma explaining all the basics. Watch his interview to ET.

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Paytm Q3 Results: Loss widens to Rs 778.4 crore

New Delhi, Digital payments and financial services firm One97 Communications, which operates under the Paytm brand, on Friday reported widening of consolidated loss to Rs 778.5 crore in the December 2021 quarter. The company had registered a loss of Rs 535.5 crore in the same period a year ago, according to financial results of the company filed at the BSE.The consolidated revenue from operations of Paytm, however, increased by about 88 per cent to Rs 1,456.1 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 772 crore it posted in the December 2020 quarter.

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Jio invests $15 million in Pranav Mistry’s Two Platforms Inc for 25% stake

Jio Platforms (JPL) has invested $15 million in US tech firm Two Platforms Inc. for a 25% equity stake on a fully diluted basis. The investments come in at a time when Mukesh Ambani led telco is betting big on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and 5G to bring in the next generation of technology-based solutions.Two Platforms is an artificial reality company, with focus on building interactive and immersional AI (artificial intelligence) experiences. Its platform enables real-time AI voice and video calls, digital humans, immersive spaces and lifelike gaming.Two Platforms will work collaboratively with Jio Platforms to fast-track the adoption of new technologies and build disruptive technologies such as AI, metaverse, and mixed realities.

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7) Politics

Both BJP & Congress face rebels’ headache in Uttarakhand, make efforts to get them to giveup

With a week to go for assembly elections in Uttarakhand, both the Congress and the BJP are facing a similar predicament — rebels in their ranks are challenging the parties’ official candidates. While Congress candidates, including its campaign committee head and former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat, are up against disaffected party leaders in nine assembly constituencies, the BJP’s official candidates are facing a similar challenge in a dozen seats, apart from party workers’ resentment in several other constituencies.Although both parties have managed to persuade some rebels who filed nominations against official candidates to desist from contesting, resistance is stiffest in over 20 assembly segments.Rebellion was seen among Congress and BJP leaders who fancied their chances in getting tickets, but were denied official nomination by the parties, as well as sitting MLAs in the BJP who were judged to have performed poorly in pre-poll surveys and were denied tickets.Voting in Uttarakhand will take place on 14 February, with a total of 632 candidates in the fray.

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25% of over 600 candidates in UP polls 1st phase face criminal charges: ADR study of affidavits

Almost 25 per cent of all candidates who have filed affidavits for the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections have criminal records, according to data released by the NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The data further showed that 20 per cent of them have cases of serious crimes, including murder, rape and attempt to murder, pending against them. The findings were released by ADR Wednesday, as part of its Election Watch programme. The association, which said it studied as many as 615 affidavits out of a total of 623 filed by candidates in 58 constituencies, commented that all major political parties continue to give tickets to those with “money and muscle power”, irrespective of criminal records. While 156 candidates of the 615 studied have criminal cases pending against them, 121 (20 per cent) have declared that they are accused in cases of murder, attempt to murder and rape. This, despite the Supreme Court’s repeated efforts to “decriminalise” politics, the NGO pointed out.

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Charanjit Singh Channi is Cong CM Face, Rahul Gandhi Says ‘Punjab needs leader who can understand Poor’

After over an hour of a closed-door meeting, the Congress on Sunday picked incumbent chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief ministerial face of the upcoming Punjab assembly elections. Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi made the announcement at a rally in Ludhiana amid loud cheers, saying, “The CM face of Punjab is Charanjit Singh Channi. We asked Punjab and you have given us the decision. It was a tough decision to make. Punjab needs a leader who can understand the poor, feel their anxiety.” “The whole of Congress will now work towards the vision of transforming Punjab,” Rahul said, inviting Channi to say a few words after the announcement.The Congress, this time, decided to go with a CM candidate with other senior leaders in Punjab insisting on it. Since AAP has picked Bhagwant Mann to be party’s CM face in the state, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as well as the BJP-led alliance have not made any official announcements yet. Punjab polls will be held in single phase on February 20.

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8) Sports

World’s ‘third-largest’ cricket stadium coming up in Jaipur

The world’s third-largest cricket stadium is going to be built in Jaipur, and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the project virtually. BCCI secretary Jay Shah also joined the event virtually. Before the foundation stone laying ceremony, Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) officials performed a ‘bhoomi pujan’. This stadium is being built on the Jaipur-Delhi bypass, as per an official statement. RCA president Vaibhav Gehlot said a target has been set to complete the construction in three years. It will be the second-largest cricket stadium in India and the third-largest in the world, he said, adding that it would seat 75,000 spectators.

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India wins record fifth U-19 cricket World Cup title, beat England by 4 wickets

An utterly dominant India won a record-extending fifth U-19 World Cup title here on Saturday, beating England by four wickets in the final of an extraordinary campaign that was almost derailed by a COVID-19 outbreak. The triumph bore resemblance to the exploits of world-class Indian U-19 teams of the past.Intrepid and industrious in their approach, the starry-eyed Indian players’ success stories also gave a glimpse into the world’s most perfectly calibrated youth structure, which is capable of consistently producing world-class cricketers who are ever ready to take on the biggest of challenges.

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Yash Dhull named skipper of ICC’s ‘Most Valuable Team’ of U-19 World Cup

India’s Yash Dhull has been chosen as the captain of ICC’s ‘Most Valuable Team’ of the U-19 World Cup. Overall, eight nations are represented in the 12-strong line up with champions India leading the way with three players included.Pace is provided by the likes of Josh Boyden, Awais Ali and Ripon Mondol with all-rounders Tom Prest and Dunith Wellalage being the spin options alongside Vicky Ostwal.South Africa’s Dewald Brevis was announced as the Player of the Tournament in West Indies for his record-breaking run haul.

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India announces diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics over Galwan row

Calling Beijing’s move to pick a Chinese soldier involved in the Galwan incident as an Olympic torchbearer “regrettable”, India Thursday said that its envoy will not attend the opening or closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics beginning Friday in Beijing. This, in effect, means that New Delhi will boycott the Olympics at the diplomatic level although it will send an athlete for the event. The Galwan clashes in mid-June 2020 had resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers, including a Colonel, while China had last year admitted to losing at least four of its troops, making it the bloodiest encounter between the two nations in over four decades.

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9) Opinion

Ukraine not joining NATO so why does Putin worry?

At the core of the Ukraine crisis is a puzzle: Why would Russian President Vladimir Putin push Europe to the brink of war to demand the West not do something that it has no plan to do anyway? Russia says NATO, the American-led alliance that has on its hands the biggest European crisis in decades, must never offer membership to Ukraine, which gained independence as the Soviet Union broke apart about 30 years ago. Ukraine has long aspired to join NATO, but the alliance is not about to offer an invitation, due in part to Ukraine’s official corruption, shortcomings in its defence establishment, and its lack of control over its international borders.Putin’s demands go beyond the question of Ukraine’s association with NATO, but that link is central to his complaint that the West has pushed him to the limits of his patience by edging closer to Russian borders. He asserts that NATO expansion years ago has enhanced its security at the expense of Russia’s.

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Ukraine-Russia crisis: Where do we go from here?

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How Budget 2022 will impact the lives of Indian MSMEs

Amid sluggish demand, job losses, and high inflation challenges, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during the Union Budget 2022, took a growth-oriented approach to elevate the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India. The record Rs 1.40 lakh crore gross GST collection in January 2022 — the highest since inception — gave the government the impetus to announce higher capital expenditure for the year, from 5.54 lakh crore to 7.50 lakh crores in FY 22-23, and introduce infrastructure projects that hope to reignite growth. The government’s focus on boosting investments, thereby increasing jobs and consumption, instead of directly announcing any monetary relief or extending freebies to the MSME sector, is a welcome step that will bear fruits in the coming years. Read more to find the key changes that will impact the lives of Indian MSMEs.

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10) Weekly special

Sowing the seeds of change in the agritech industry

There has been a lot of activity in the agritech space in India in recent times. To discuss the growing buzz in the space, Our Food and Aqgromalin come together for an insightful panel discussion at YourStory.

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With that, we come to an end for our Weekly Current Affairs February 2022 -Week1. Hope you have liked it. Write your feedback in the comments below and let  us know if there is anything else you would like us to cover.

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