Current Affairs: 8–14 October 2026

On 9 October 2026 the RBI issued a notification (RBI/2026-27/290) under Section 42(1) of the RBI Act, 1934. It raised the minimum CRR balance that scheduled banks must hold on every day of a reporting fortnight from 90% to 99% of the requirement, with effect from the fortnight beginning 16 October 2026. The CRR rate itself is unchanged at 3% of NDTL. The RBI cited a review of current liquidity conditions, and the move leaves banks almost no room to dip below the requirement on individual days.

On 10 October 2026 the RBI issued A.P. (DIR Series) Circulars No. 25 and 26, "to ensure orderly functioning of the foreign exchange market". Under them, users may no longer rebook any cancelled INR forex derivative contract, whether deliverable or non-deliverable, though rollovers on maturity are still allowed. The amount up to which users can hedge without proving an underlying exposure falls from USD 100 million to USD 5 million. The same cut applies to exchange-traded currency derivatives across all recognised exchanges taken together. Users must also give an undertaking that the same exposure has not been hedged with another bank.

The 10 October package also created the Foreign Exchange Risk Reserve (FERR). For every INR forex derivative contract with a notional value above USD 2 million, Authorised Dealer banks must keep 20% of the rupee equivalent of the notional amount with the RBI in cash. The reserve applies to contracts that hedge current-account exposures in which the user buys foreign currency against the rupee. The RBI followed up with FAQs on the FERR on 15 October.

On 10 October 2026 the RBI announced a special window to meet the entire daily dollar requirement of three public sector oil marketing companies: Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. The RBI sells the dollars to them through designated banks. The facility started on 12 October 2026 and runs until further notice. Taking the oil importers' large dollar demand out of the market reduces pressure on the rupee.

On 9 October the RBI announced an open market operation (OMO) sale of Government of India securities for ₹25,000 crore. The auction was held on 13 October and the full amount was sold. The largest amounts were ₹9,415 crore of the 7.18% GS 2033 and ₹8,430 crore of the 6.10% GS 2031. Cut-off yields ranged from 7.14% to 7.39%. Earlier, on 8 October, a 29-day variable rate reverse repo (VRRR) auction absorbed ₹79,655 crore at 5.49%, against a notified amount of ₹2 lakh crore.

On 14 October 2026 the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved 10955230 Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings, as the strategic buyer of a 60.72% stake in IDBI Bank. Of that stake, 30.48% comes from the Government and 30.24% from LIC. The price is ₹81 a share, or ₹52,878.08 crore in total. The Government keeps 15% and LIC keeps 19%. The Finance Ministry calls the deal a "strategic restructuring" of the bank, and it still needs RBI approval before it closes.

On 9 October 2026 the RBI said it had cancelled the Certificates of Registration (CoR) of 13 NBFCs. It also said 10 other NBFCs had surrendered their CoRs, so their registrations were cancelled too. These 10 included Vivriti Capital and HCL Corporation, which surrendered because they exited NBFC business, became unregistered Core Investment Companies or Type I NBFCs, or merged. All the cancellations were made under Section 45-IA(6) of the RBI Act, 1934.

On 12 October the National Statistics Office (MoSPI) released the September 2026 data. CPI inflation, on the new base year 2024=100, was 5.54%, up from 4.83% in August. Food inflation (CFPI) rose to 7.74% from 5.97%. Rural inflation was 6.08% and urban 4.88%. The reading is well above the RBI's 4% target and close to the upper tolerance limit of 6%.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry released provisional WPI data on 14 October 2026. WPI inflation, on base 2022-23, was 11.39% in September, up from 9.92% in August. By group, fuel and power was 25.85%, manufactured products 9.76%, primary articles 8.67% and the WPI food index 8.66%. The main drivers were mineral oils, crude petroleum and natural gas, food articles and basic metals.

According to the RBI's Weekly Statistical Supplement of 9 October 2026, India's foreign exchange reserves were US$734.6 billion on 2 October 2026, down US$12.95 billion in a week. Foreign currency assets were US$604.7 billion, gold US$106.4 billion and SDRs US$18.7 billion. The reserves are well below the record of US$785.7 billion set on 4 September 2026, as the RBI has been selling dollars to support the rupee.

The IMF released its October 2026 World Economic Outlook on 13 October. It projected India's growth at 7.0% for both FY2026-27 and FY2027-28. The FY27 forecast is 0.6 percentage points higher than in the July update. On a calendar-year basis it projected 7.4% growth in 2026. It expects India's consumer price inflation to rise to 5.0% in 2026, and global growth to be 3.1% in 2026.

The 57th GST Council meeting was held on 8 October 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. It recommended removing arrest powers under GST by omitting Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017, and raising the threshold for prosecution from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore. It also recommended a minimum tax amount of ₹10,000 before a show cause notice can be issued, and the removal of several input tax credit restrictions under Section 17(5). In principle, it approved an optional simplified scheme for small consumer-facing businesses with turnover of up to ₹5 crore.

On 14 October 2026 the Union Cabinet approved continuing the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) for five years, from 2026-27 to 2030-31, with an outlay of ₹53,428 crore. The scheme will be renamed Pradhan Mantri Samajik Sahayata Yojana, and the old-age pension will become Pradhan Mantri Vridhavastha Pension Yojana. For the disability pension, the disability threshold drops from 80% to 40% and the minimum age requirement is removed. The scheme is expected to cover about 3.20 crore beneficiaries in all 36 States and UTs.

On 14 October 2026 the Cabinet also approved a Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equal to 78 days' wages for 11,40,770 non-gazetted railway employees, at a cost of ₹2,009.61 crore. The maximum payable to each employee is ₹17,951. The Railways cited record freight loading of 1,670 million tonnes in 2025-26.

On 11 October 2026 Administrator Praful Patel declared Lakshadweep a fully literate Union Territory at a function in Kavaratti. All 1,113 non-literate adults identified in the initial survey passed the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Test (FLNAT).

On 10 October 2026 the Centre appointed Prakash Rajpurohit, a 2010-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, as Deputy Election Commissioner until 8 April 2030. He was previously Joint Secretary in the Department of Defence Production. He replaces Sanjay Kumar, who was repatriated to his parent cadre in August 2026.

On 8 October 2026 the Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to the Canadian author Anne Carson, "for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature".

On 9 October 2026 the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to Navanethem "Navi" Pillay of South Africa, "for her efforts to promote peace and international law". She was born in Durban into a family of Indian Tamil origin. She has served as a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

On 12 October 2026 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Robert E. Hall of Stanford University and Michael Woodford of Columbia University, "for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation". Their models help explain how central banks and governments can smooth out booms and recessions.

On 12 October 2026 French President Emmanuel Macron named Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour. The award recognises his role in India–France economic ties and in telecommunications and digital infrastructure. The insignia is due to be presented at the French Embassy in New Delhi on 28 October 2026.

On 9 October 2026, at the 153rd IPU Assembly in Arusha, Tanzania, Milton Dick, Speaker of Australia's House of Representatives, was elected President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union for 2026–2029. He won 182 votes, against 124 for Azerbaijan's Sahiba Gafarova. He succeeds Tulia Ackson of Tanzania. An Indian parliamentary delegation led by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh attended the Assembly.

The 16th meeting of the India–UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) was held in New Delhi on 12 October 2026. It was co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and the UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade. It was the first JETCO since negotiations on the India–UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) began in January 2022. The two sides reviewed early trade under the CETA and agreed to exchange annual data on how businesses use it. The 17th JETCO will be held in the UK in 2027.

On 8 October 2026 the Indian Coast Guard conducted the 12th National Maritime Search and Rescue Exercise (SAREX-2026) off Paradip, Odisha, under the National Maritime Search and Rescue Board. The scenario was a mass rescue after a passenger aircraft carrying 228 people ditched at sea and hit a container vessel. Thirty-two observers from 30 countries watched the exercise.

On 10 October 2026 Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, launched Yard 3040 'Shreyas', the third of the four Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPVs) it is building for the Indian Navy. Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar was the chief guest. The 11-ship NGOPV programme was contracted in March 2023, with seven ships at Goa Shipyard and four at GRSE. Each ship is about 113 m long and displaces about 3,000 tonnes.

Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on 11 October 2026. He started from pole and led every lap. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) finished second and championship leader Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) third. It was Verstappen's first win in Singapore, and he also won the sprint race that weekend.

WWF and the Zoological Society of London released the Living Planet Report 2026 on 8 October. It found that monitored wildlife populations fell by an average of 73% between 1970 and 2022, based on 35,803 population trends covering 5,790 vertebrate species. Freshwater populations fell most (85%), followed by terrestrial (69%) and marine (59%) populations. By region, Latin America and the Caribbean fell 95% and Asia-Pacific 49%.

The Global Hunger Index 2026, reported on 14 October, ranks India 100th of 122 countries with a score of 24.1, in the "serious" category. India ranked 102nd last year. Child stunting in India has fallen from 50.0% in 2000 to 29.3%, but child wasting remains high. South Asia scores 23.5, against a world score of 18.1.

The Indian Air Force celebrated its 94th anniversary on 8 October 2026, with the main parade and flypast at Air Force Station Hindon, Ghaziabad. On 6 October the government had named Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit the 29th Chief of the Air Staff. He will succeed Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh on 31 October.

World Mental Health Day was observed on 10 October 2026 on the theme "Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change", announced by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH). The theme calls for the experiences of people living with mental health conditions to shape policies and services.