October 2025
In short: India's schemes, budget and infrastructure this month — distilled for SI/Constable Prelims.
Current Affairs — India › Economy & Infrastructure · 18 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu
Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.
October 2025's economy digest — the draft National Labour Policy, wheat MSP hike, India Maritime Week's port milestones, Google's $15 billion Vizag AI data centre, RBI's banking reforms, and the first-ever National Household Income Survey.
Vizhinjam International Seaport, Kerala — India's first deep-water transshipment hub, a headline India Maritime Week 2025 milestone · Ganesh Mohan T / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
October 2025 — At a Glance
October 2025 was a busy month on the economic front — a draft National Labour Policy (Shram Shakti Niti 2025), a 6.59% wheat MSP hike, India Maritime Week's port announcements, Google's largest-ever India investment, and a series of RBI banking reforms all landed within weeks of each other.
1. Schemes, Missions & Sectoral Policy
Draft National Labour Policy — Shram Shakti Niti 2025
- What — Ministry of Labour & Employment's draft policy shifts the ministry's role from 'regulator' to 'facilitator', built around the National Career Service (NCS) as India's Digital Public Infrastructure for Employment.
- Key elements — A Unified Labour Stack integrating EPFO, ESIC, e-Shram and NCS; targets 35% women's labour-force participation by 2030; implemented in 3 phases through 2030+.
- Builds on — The government's consolidation of 29 central labour laws into 4 codes — Wages, Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety, and Social Security.
PM-SETU — ITI upgradation scheme
- What — PM-SETU (Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs) — a ₹60,000 crore centrally sponsored scheme on a hub-and-spoke model: 200 hub ITIs linked to 800 spoke ITIs.
- Rollout — Phase 1 identifies 15 hub-and-spoke clusters; co-financed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank; strengthens 5 National Skill Training Institutes including one in Hyderabad.
Agriculture — MSP, Pulses, e-NAM & irrigation
- Wheat MSP — Raised 6.59%, from ₹2,425 to ₹2,585/quintal for the 2026-27 marketing year; wheat-production target for 2025-26 set at a record 119 million tonnes.
- Pulses mission — Mission for Atmanirbharta in Pulses (2025-26 to 2030-31, ₹11,440 crore) — targets 310 lakh hectare area, 350 lakh tonne production, 1,130 kg/ha yield by 2030-31.
- e-NAM expansion — 9 new commodities added, taking tradable commodities on the National Agriculture Market to 247.
- Per Drop More Crop — States/UTs now get flexibility to exceed the earlier 20%/40% fund-allocation cap for micro-irrigation water-harvesting infrastructure.
- World Food Day 2025 — 16 October, marking FAO's 80th anniversary; theme 'Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future'; India ranks 1st in milk & millets production, 2nd in fish, fruit & vegetables.
Logistics, skilling, coal & manufacturing initiatives
- LEAPS 2025 — DPIIT's Logistics Excellence, Advancement, and Performance Shield — benchmarks and rewards excellence across India's logistics sector, building on PM GatiShakti and the National Logistics Policy 2022.
- NSQC 44th meeting — National Skills Qualifications Committee (under NCVET) approved 210 skill qualifications across sectors, aligned with the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF).
- Coal sector digitisation — Ministry of Coal launched Koyla Shakti (mine-to-market value-chain dashboard) and CLAMP (land acquisition, compensation & R&R portal) for the coal PSU sector.
- ECMS approvals — MeitY approved 7 Electronic Components Manufacturing Scheme projects (5 in Tamil Nadu, 1 each in Andhra Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh); ₹5,532 crore investment, cutting the import bill by ₹18,000-20,000 crore/year.
- Fare se Fursat — Alliance Air's fixed/static fare pilot on select tier-2/3 regional routes, under the UDAN scheme umbrella — runs till December 2025.
- Bharat Taxi — A cooperative-driven national ride-hailing platform, promoted by NCDC, IFFCO, AMUL, KRIBHCO, NAFED, NABARD and others, integrated with DigiLocker/UMANG.
2. Infrastructure, Ports & Mining
India Maritime Week 2025
- What — 4th edition of India's premier maritime event, Mumbai, theme 'Uniting Oceans, One Maritime Vision'; PM Modi outlined the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 (port-led development, shipbuilding, logistics, skill-building).
- Port milestones — Vizhinjam Port (India's first deep-water transshipment hub) operational; Kandla launched India's first megawatt-scale green-hydrogen facility; JNPT doubled capacity; new Vadhavan mega port, Maharashtra, announced.
- Decade of transformation — Inland-waterway cargo up 700%; operational waterways up from 3 to 32; ₹70,000 crore committed to boost shipbuilding capacity; Indian seafarers up from 1.25 lakh to 3+ lakh.
Other port, shipping & mining developments
- VLGC Shivalik — India's 3rd Very Large Gas Carrier (82,000 CBM, South Korea-built), inducted under the Indian flag at Visakhapatnam Port by the Shipping Corporation of India.
- Green Hydrogen Hubs — 3 ports formally recognised under the National Green Hydrogen Mission: Deendayal Port (Gujarat), V.O. Chidambaranar Port (Tamil Nadu), Paradip Port (Odisha).
- State Mining Readiness Index — Ministry of Mines' new SMRI ranks States on auction performance & sustainable mining; Category A top-3: Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat.
- Network Survey Vehicle — NHAI to deploy sensor-equipped NSVs across 23 States to survey 20,933 km of National Highways for pavement condition.
- TRAI's digital radio plan — Phase-1 digital radio rollout to cover 13 major cities including Hyderabad; 15-year authorisation period; simulcast mode mandatory for new broadcasters.
3. Finance, Banking & Markets
RBI's banking-regulation reforms
- Payments Regulatory Board — RBI's new 6-member PRB replaces the earlier BPSS for regulating all payment systems, under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
- Floating-rate & gold-loan rules — Banks can now reduce floating-rate loan spreads before the 3-year lock-in ends; gold/silver-backed working capital loans extended to industrial (not just jewellery) use.
- IPO/loan-against-shares limits — IPO-financing lending limit raised from ₹10 lakh to ₹25 lakh per individual; loan-against-shares limit raised to ₹1 crore from ₹20 lakh (first revision since 1998).
- Integrated Ombudsman Scheme — Now extended to cover State and Central co-operative banks as well, under the 2021 Scheme.
Other financial-sector developments
- GIFT City FCSS — The Foreign Currency Settlement System launched at GIFT City, IFSC — places GIFT City among select global centres (Hong Kong, Tokyo, Manila) able to settle foreign-currency transactions locally.
- NPCI Tech Solutions — NPCI's new subsidiary NTSL joins NBBL, NIPL and NBSL as its 4th arm — a fintech innovation incubator.
- FIDC — SRO for NBFCs — RBI granted self-regulatory organisation status to the Finance Industry Development Council for the NBFC sector.
- Stablecoins — Finance Minister signalled countries must 'prepare to engage' with stablecoins, even as RBI continues piloting its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
- Sveriges Riksbank Prize (Economics Nobel) — Awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for explaining innovation-driven economic growth and 'creative destruction' — the mechanism by which old technologies are replaced by new ones.
4. Data, Reports & Investment
Google's $15 billion Visakhapatnam AI data centre
- What — Google to invest $15 billion (₹87,520 crore) over 2026-30 for an AI hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh — its largest-ever investment outside the US — with Adani Group and Bharti Airtel as partners.
- Scale — Includes India's first gigawatt-scale data centre, a new international subsea cable gateway, and is projected to create 20,000-30,000 total jobs in Andhra Pradesh.
National Household Income Survey
- What — MoSPI will conduct India's first-ever pan-India household income survey in February 2026 — earlier 1950s/60s attempts were discontinued; India has income data on consumption but not income distribution.
- Design — A Technical Expert Group chaired by economist Surjit S. Bhalla guides survey design; will inform welfare targeting, tax design and inequality measurement.
Other reports & data releases
- Farmer suicides (NCRB 2023) — 10,786 farmers/agricultural workers died by suicide in 2023 (6.3% of all suicides) — roughly one every hour; Maharashtra highest at 38.5%; slightly down from 11,290 in 2022.
- Annual Survey of Industries — MoSPI released ASI results for FY 2023-24, tracking manufacturing output, value-addition, employment and capital formation across States.
- NITI Aayog — Tax Certainty paper — First paper in NITI's Tax Policy Working Paper Series, addressing foreign-investor concerns on Permanent Establishment and profit-attribution ambiguity.
- AI job-creation roadmap — NITI Aayog's *Roadmap for Job Creation in the AI Economy* warns of tech-sector job displacement by 2031, but sees potential for 4 million new AI-era jobs in 5 years with the right re-skilling.
- Deep-sea fisheries report — NITI Aayog's *Blue Economy* report: India is the 2nd-largest fish producer (8% of global output); its EEZ has an estimated deep-sea yield potential of 7.16 million tonnes, largely unexploited.
- Global debt & Sevilla Forum — At UNCTAD16, Geneva, the Sevilla Forum on Debt was launched; global public debt hit 102 trillion in 2024, with developing countries paying 921 billion in interest.