December 2025
In short: India's schemes, budget and infrastructure this month — distilled for SI/Constable Prelims.
Current Affairs — India › Economy & Infrastructure · 19 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.
A dense economic month — 100% FDI opened in insurance, the World Inequality and Global Value Chain reports, Numaligarh Refinery's Navratna status, the Shyok Tunnel and near-complete railway electrification, RBI's OMO/dollar-swap and Financial Inclusion Strategy, the MGNREGA-replacing VB-GRAMG Act, and the IndiGo flight-disruption crisis.
IndiGo Airbus A320-232 (VT-IFI) at Hyderabad — IndiGo's on-time performance crashed after new FDTL crew-rest norms exposed a pilot shortage, December's dominant aviation story · Oleg Yunakov / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
1. December 2025 — Month at a Glance
December 2025 was a heavy month for reform and reports. Parliament passed the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Bill raising FDI in insurance to 100%, and the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act replaced MGNREGA with a 125-day wage guarantee. Numaligarh Refinery became India's 27th Navratna CPSE, the BRO inaugurated 125 border-infrastructure projects including the strategic Shyok Tunnel, and Indian Railways neared 99.2% electrification. The RBI announced fresh liquidity measures and its 2025-30 Financial Inclusion Strategy, while global reports — the World Inequality Report, the WTO's Global Value Chain Report, and the FAO's land-and-water report — all featured India prominently. IndiGo's flight-disruption crisis, triggered by new crew-rest norms, dominated aviation news.
2. Insurance, Finance & Global Reports
Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Bill, 2025 — 100% FDI in insurance
- What — Parliament passed the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025, amending the Insurance Act 1938, LIC Act 1956 and IRDAI Act 1999; raises the FDI limit in Indian insurers from 74% to 100%.
- Other key changes — Net-owned fund for foreign reinsurers cut from ₹5,000 crore to ₹1,000 crore; IRDAI Chairperson gets search/seizure powers; a new Policyholders' Education and Protection Fund is created; LIC gets autonomy to open zonal offices.
World Inequality Report 2026, Global Value Chain Report 2025
December 2025 — global economic reports and India| Report | Key India-relevant finding |
|---|
| World Inequality Report 2026 (World Inequality Lab, 3rd edition) | Global top 0.001% (fewer than 60,000 people) own 3x the wealth of the bottom half. In India, top 10% capture 58% of national income and hold ~65% of wealth; female labour participation only 15.7%. |
| Global Value Chain Report 2025 (WTO, 5th biennial edition) | Cross-border value-added trade is ~46.3% of world trade (2024). India has risen into the top 10 value-adding economies, with 2.8% of global Domestic Value Added in exports, driven by IT/business-process services. |
RBI liquidity measures & financial-inclusion push
December 2025 — finance & banking roundup| Item | Key fact |
|---|
| OMO purchases + dollar-rupee swap | RBI to conduct Open Market Operation purchases worth ₹1 trillion and a 3-year, $5 billion dollar-rupee buy/sell swap to inject liquidity and buffer against rupee depreciation. |
| National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) 2025-30 | RBI's second NSFI (after 2019-24), crafted with the Technical Group on Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy (TGFIFL); shifts to an ecosystem approach spanning regulators, ministries and livelihood missions. |
| 'Your Money, Your Right' campaign | Nationwide drive (launched Oct 2025, 3A framework — Awareness, Accessibility, Action) to help people recover unclaimed financial assets (~₹78,000 cr bank deposits, ~₹14,000 cr insurance); ~₹2,000 crore already returned via 477-district camps. |
| Raajmarg Infra Investment Trust (RIIT) | SEBI approved registration of RIIT, sponsored via NHAI's Raajmarg Infra Investment Managers; InvITs let retail/institutional investors buy units of completed, revenue-generating infrastructure — low-risk since ≥90% of net cash flows must be distributed. |
3. Infrastructure, Energy & Industry
Shyok Tunnel and 125 BRO border-infrastructure projects
- What — 125 Border Roads Organisation (BRO) projects — 28 roads, 93 bridges worth ₹5,000 crore — were inaugurated across Ladakh, J&K and 7 states, improving last-mile connectivity and military mobility.
- Shyok Tunnel — A 920-metre tunnel on the Durbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie Road along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, providing all-weather connectivity to an area of the 2020-2024 India-China military standoff.
Indian Railways nears complete electrification
- What — Indian Railways is 99.2% electrified on its broad-gauge network; electrified over 33,000 route km between 2019-2025 (15+ route km/day).
- Comparison — The UK has electrified 39%, Russia 52%, China 82% — India now leads long-established rail systems; the push supports IR's net-zero by 2030 goal.
Energy, industry & GI crafts — compact roundup
December 2025 — infrastructure, energy & industry glossary| Item | Key fact |
|---|
| Numaligarh Refinery — Navratna status | Assam's 3 MMTPA refinery (Oil India 69.63% stake) becomes India's 27th Navratna CPSE; FY 2024-25 turnover ₹25,147 crore, net profit ₹1,608 crore; Navratna status permits up to ₹1,000 crore/project investment without Centre's approval. |
| Dulhasti Stage-II Hydropower (260 MW) | Run-of-the-river project on the Chenab in Kishtwar (J&K), NHPC-developed at ₹3,277 crore; part of accelerated Indus-basin hydro projects after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty post-Pahalgam attack. |
| Colliery Control Rules amended | Removes the requirement of prior mine-opening permission from the Coal Controller's Organisation (CCO); approval authority shifts to the coal company's own board, expected to cut mine-operationalisation time by up to 2 months. |
| National Test House (NTH) — NHAI MoU | NTH (est. 1912, under Dept. of Consumer Affairs), India's largest multidisciplinary testing lab, empanelled as an NHAI-recognised lab for highway construction quality testing. |
| Global Capability Centres (GCCs) | India hosts 1,700+ GCCs (Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, NCR); combined revenue jumped 40.4bn (FY19) to 64.6bn (FY24), employing 19 lakh people; projected $105 billion by 2030. |
| Narasapuram Crochet Lace Craft (GI tag) | GI-tagged craft from West Godavari (AP), praised by the PM in Mann Ki Baat; origin traced to 1844 near Dummugudem (Telangana); exports crossed ₹150 crore this fiscal year; ~15,000 women directly involved. |
| GI Tag for 5 Tamil Nadu products | Five Tamil Nadu products received Geographical Indication recognition this month, adding to the state's roster of traditional crafts and produce with protected regional identity. |
4. Rural Development, Agriculture & Welfare Schemes
VB-GRAMG Act replaces MGNREGA
- What — The Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) [VB-GRAMG] Bill received President's assent, repealing MGNREGA; enhances the statutory wage-employment guarantee from 100 to 125 days/year per rural household.
- Structure — Works originate from Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs), consolidated into a Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack; funded 90:10 (NE/Himalayan states) or 60:40 (others); mandates AI-enabled dashboards and biometric-authenticated digital governance.
Agriculture, health-pricing & scheme evaluations — compact roundup
December 2025 — rural, agriculture & welfare glossary| Item | Key fact |
|---|
| State of World's Land & Water Resources 2025 (SOLAW) | FAO's biennial report (theme: *'The potential to produce more and better'*): agriculture must produce ~50% more food/feed/fibre by 2050 vs 2012; over 1.6 billion hectares of land degraded from poor land-use. |
| Marginal farmers largely outside cooperatives | Parliament was informed that a large share of India's marginal and small farmers remain outside the formal agricultural cooperative credit network, limiting their access to institutional credit and inputs. |
| PM Internship Scheme (PMIS) — poor uptake | Despite exceeding its 1.25 lakh target with 1.65 lakh offers (top-500 companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs), only 33,300 (20%) accepted; ~6,618 dropouts, mainly over location mismatch and the 12-month duration. |
| Non-scheduled drug prices — House panel warning | A Parliamentary Standing Committee flagged profiteering on non-scheduled drugs (NPPA cannot fix launch prices; up to 10%/year price rise allowed) — e.g. Cetirizine markups of 953%; urged a Trade Margin Rationalisation policy. |
| CAG findings on PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) | A CAG audit flagged shortfalls in PMKVY implementation — gaps in placement tracking, training-quality monitoring, and utilisation of allocated skill-development funds. |
| SAMPANN | DoT's online pension system (launched 2018) now services 1 lakh+ telecom pensioners via the Controller General of Communication Accounts, with e-PPO, online grievance redress and faster reconciliation. |
5. Reports, Global Standing & Industry Roundup
IndiGo's flight-disruption crisis
- What — IndiGo (60%+ of India's domestic air traffic) faced mass cancellations/delays after the final phase of DGCA's revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms — tighter weekly rest, capped night landings — exposed an acute crew shortage.
- Impact & response — On-time performance fell from 84.1% (Oct) to 67.7% (Nov 2025); DGCA approved a one-time exemption from parts of the FDTL norms for A320 pilots to aid recovery.
India's global standing — indices, loans & partnerships
December 2025 — global standing glossary| Item | Key fact |
|---|
| Global Indices for Reforms and Growth (GIRG) | Government initiative tracking 26 global indices (economy, development, governance, industry) published by 16 agencies; coordinated by NITI Aayog's DMEO, allocated to 17 nodal ministries. |
| Pax Silica — India not included | A new US-led strategic initiative on the silicon/AI supply chain (members incl. US, Japan, S. Korea, UK, UAE, Australia) did not include India; India could join later, as it did with the 2022 Minerals Security Partnership (2023). |
| India-ADB $2.2 billion loan | Five loans signed, incl. PM-SETU skilling (846m), rooftop-solar (650m), Assam health infra (398.8m), Chennai Metro (240m) and Meghalaya agri-livelihoods ($77m) projects. |
| IFAD-India Day | IFAD hosted IFAD-India Day in Rome, showcasing 36 rural development projects worth USD 4.4 billion (incl. USD 1.5bn from IFAD directly) across states like Meghalaya, Maharashtra, J&K and Uttarakhand. |
| Draft Content Syndication Policy, 2025 | Prasar Bharati floated a policy to monetise/license Doordarshan-Akashvani content to third-party platforms via flat-fee, revenue-sharing or minimum-guarantee models, overseen by a Syndication Review Committee. |