Daily Current Affairs

• Since the first BrandZ India study in 2014, HDFC Bank’s brand value has increased by 377%.
• TCS, despite remaining a global IT powerhouse, recorded slower brand value growth in 2025.
• Overall value growth across India’s top brands dropped to 6% in 2025, compared to 19% in 2024.

• Zomato — Fastest-growing brand for the second year, nearly doubling its value to USD 6 billion (21st spot)
• UltraTech Cement — 7th rank with USD 14.5 billion
• Westside — 38th position with USD 3.3 billion
• Zudio — 52nd rank with USD 2.5 billion

Total brand value of India’s Top 100 brands stands at USD 523.5 billion, roughly 13% of India’s GDP.

• Free Wi-Fi
• Special service counters for students
• Parcel packaging services
• Discounted Speed Post services for document delivery
• Redesign involved contributions from student artists from Miranda House’s Adversity Fine Arts Society

• Part of a larger plan to modernise 46 post offices located on educational campuses across India by January 2026.
• Aligns with the vision of Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya M. Scindia.
• Follows the upgrade of the IIT Hauz Khas Post Office.

• Serving as a hub for adopting, testing, and adapting global best practices to suit Indian audit needs.
• Promoting research and skill development for advanced auditor training.
• Standardising modern financial audit techniques to replace outdated approaches.
• Incorporating data analytics and AI to shift from sample-based audits to complete dataset evaluations.
• Integrating ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) principles into financial audits.

• Theme: “Empowering Rural Innovation for Global Change”
• Schedule:
• Hyderabad: 20–21 November 2025
• Gandhinagar: 5–6 December 2025
• New Delhi: February 2026

The event aims to drive rural development through technology, financial access, and climate-focused solutions.

• New Zealand High Court (Justice John Boldt): Ruled that New Zealand is not obliged to recognise foreign GIs unless they satisfy domestic legal tests. The Fair Trading Act 1986 already protects consumers from false claims.
• Kenya Court of Appeal: Stated that TRIPS mandates GI enforcement through national laws. Kenya’s Trade Marks Act allows GI registration as certification or collective marks — a route Apeda did not fully follow.

• Loss of exclusive market protection for India
• Greater possibility of brand dilution
• Acknowledgement of Pakistan’s parallel claim may influence future joint GI arrangements
• TRIPS sets global minimum standards but leaves enforcement to individual countries

This collaboration aims to enhance sports science research, technology integration, and athlete performance through combined expertise of SAI and IIT Delhi.

• Prize presented by Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party.
• Honours Bachelet’s extensive contributions to human rights, gender equality, and social justice.

• Formation of the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality
• Education and taxation reforms
• Establishment of the National Institute for Human Rights and the Museum of Memory and Human Rights
• Promotion of LGBT rights and introduction of gender-based political quotas

• Happy Birthday (Egypt) — Directed by Sarah Goher; highlights issues of dignity and inequality
• Kadal Kanni (India–Tamil) — Directed by Dinesh Selvaraj; orphaned children search for belonging
• Putul (India–Hindi) — Directed by Radheshyam Pipalwa; 7-year-old coping with parents’ divorce
• The Beetle Project (South Korea) — Directed by Jin Kwang-kyo; symbolising empathy and shared humanity
• The Odyssey of Joy (Kosovo/France) — Directed by Zgjim Terziqi; post-war healing and hope

This collaboration, established in 2022, spotlights child-centric cinema portraying children’s resilience, creativity, and global challenges.

• Acknowledges his performance in One Battle After Another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
• Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi praised DiCaprio for delivering a deeply emotional and powerful performance.
• His collaboration with Anderson — known for films like There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread — is generating strong awards-season anticipation.

• Under existing RBI regulations, only UCBs with net worth above ₹50 crore are eligible for digital operations.
• This restricts more than half of India’s 1,462 UCBs from providing digital banking despite collectively holding ₹5.5 trillion in deposits.

• NUCFDC, which became a mid-layer NBFC in February 2024, is developing a centralised digital ecosystem for UCBs.
• Has introduced digital solutions like Sahakar Digipay and Sahakar Digiloan.
• Small UCBs cannot currently utilise them because of regulatory barriers.
• CEO Prabhat Chaturvedi emphasised that smaller UCBs should be allowed full digital functionality under a secure framework.

• SEBI had earlier reduced the minimum SIP amount to ₹250 to boost small retail investment.
• Exclusions: Debt funds, high-risk thematic/sectoral schemes, small-cap, and mid-cap categories.
• Due to high processing charges, Choti SIP instalments will be permitted only through NACH or UPI AutoPay channels.

• RTAs will monitor only the first three Choti SIP registrations per investor (based on PAN) that qualify for subsidised transaction costs.
• Over 150 Choti SIPs have already been identified since March.
• Upgraded RTA tracking systems will go live by the end of this month.

• Supports CBFC’s mission to digitise and simplify India’s film certification process.
• CBFC Chairman Prasoon Joshi explained that the multilingual feature is optional but intended to ease certification for films released in multiple languages.
• Filmmakers can now upload all language versions of a film through one unified application.
• Each film approved via this module will be issued a Multilingual Certificate listing all authorised language versions.

• Marks a rare case of an Indian commodity exchange taking direct ownership in a foreign exchange platform.
• NCDEX CEO Arun Raste confirmed board approval for investing 70 million Sri Lankan rupees (approximately ₹24 crore).
• NCDEX will gain representation on the CSEDEX board upon regulatory clearance.

NCDEX will help Sri Lanka build technical infrastructure, product frameworks, regulatory guidelines, and training systems, as the country currently lacks a commodity or derivatives exchange.

• It is the second satellite under the Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission, following the launch of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich in November 2020.
• Joint Implementation: NASA, ESA, EU, EUMETSAT, NOAA, supported by French space agency CNES, funded by European Commission.

Together, Sentinel-6B and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will monitor 90% of Earth’s oceans, gathering vital data on global sea levels, atmospheric temperatures, and humidity.

• Announced at the 7th India Manufacturing Show (IMS) 2025 in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• Under ISRO’s commercialisation programme, 50% of PSLV manufacturing has been transferred to industry partners led by HAL and L&T.
• NSIL has signed an agreement with the HAL-L&T consortium to produce five PSLV-XL rockets end-to-end.

This mission represents the first complete industry-driven PSLV build, enabling ISRO to allocate more resources toward advanced scientific missions and research.