Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Bart De Wever held talks in New Delhi on September 4, 2026, to double trade and expand defence and clean-energy cooperation.

Key Highlights:
1. They targeted doubling trade in five years and announced a fast-track investment mechanism. Belgium was India’s 18th-largest FDI source with USD 4.2 billion from April 2000 to December 2025.
2. India appointed a defence attaché in Brussels and signed MoUs for indigenous manufacture, co-design and co-production of military hardware.
3. Agreements covered renewable energy, critical-mineral processing and recycling, and semiconductor technology.
4. Belgium’s capital and currency are Brussels and Euro; Brussels hosts NATO and EU headquarters.
5. De Wever was the first Belgian PM to visit India in nearly two decades; India’s latest-quarter GDP growth was 7.8%.

NABARD and IMD signed an MoU on August 31, 2026, to integrate climate data for rural finance and agriculture.

Key Highlights:
1. Weather data will be freely accessible to farmers, financial institutions, policymakers and researchers.
2. IMD’s open-source platform will supply real-time weather and climate insights for data-led farm and rural-finance decisions.
3. Climate data will improve financial products and rural policy interventions.
4. NABARD was established July 12, 1982, under the 1981 Act on B. Sivaraman Committee recommendations; based in Mumbai, it is apex regulator for regional rural and apex cooperative banks.
5. IMD was founded in 1875, is based in New Delhi under the Earth Sciences Ministry and handles observation, forecasting and seismology.

A 31-member Joint Parliamentary Committee was constituted on September 3, 2026, under Sanjay Jaiswal to examine the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026.

Key Highlights:
1. The panel has 21 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha members, appointed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
2. It includes 14 BJP and 5 Congress members, besides representatives of JD(U), TMC, DMK, SP, NCP and TDP.
3. Its report is due by the last day of the first week of Parliament’s Winter Session.
4. The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 25 and referred to the committee on August 12.
5. It proposes tighter oversight of NGOs and foreign funds and a designated authority to manage and dispose of assets after cancellation of an FCRA licence.
6. FCRA was enacted in 1976, replaced by the 2010 law and is administered by the Home Ministry.
7. A JPC is an ad-hoc body for a specific purpose or Bill, generally has Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members in a 2:1 ratio and dissolves after submitting its report.

India observed National Sports Day on August 29, 2026, honouring Major Dhyan Chand’s birth anniversary and promoting Fit India.

Key Highlights:
1. The Legislative Department and Department of Legal Affairs held a two-day meet on September 1–2 at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi.
2. More than 300 officers and officials, including Vidhi Sahitya Prakashan and Official Languages Wing staff, participated.
3. Events included women’s cricket, men’s leather- and tennis-ball cricket, 100-metre race, ball throw, tug of war and lemon race.
4. The September 2 felicitation distributed trophies and medals through Additional Secretary Dr Manoj Kumar and Joint Secretaries including Renu Sinha.
5. National Sports Day annually recognises athletes and coaches and active, disciplined living.
6. Dhyan Chand won Olympic hockey gold in 1928, 1932 and 1936. Fit India was launched in 2019 from New Delhi to make activity and sport part of daily life.

DRDO and the University of Hyderabad secured a patent on September 4, 2026, for next-generation solid rocket propellant BAM-H24.

Key Highlights:
1. DRDO and the university’s Advanced Centre of Research in High Energy Materials jointly developed it.
2. BAM-H24 is rich in boron, hydrogen and nitrogen and gives high energy for solid propulsion.
3. Its impact and friction resistance improves handling and storage, while chemical and thermal stability exceed traditional fuels.
4. The named inventors are Muddamarri Hanumantha Rao and Muralidharan Krishnamurthi.
5. It is intended for advanced aerospace and defence systems.
6. DRDO was founded in 1958 under the Defence Ministry in New Delhi; the central university began in 1974 in Hyderabad; ACRHEM is their multidisciplinary high-energy-materials collaboration.

India and Canada held annual Foreign Office Consultations in New Delhi on September 2, 2026, to strengthen strategic and economic cooperation.

Key Highlights:
1. They target CAD 70 billion, about Rs. 4.65 lakh crore, in bilateral trade by 2030.
2. They resolved to conclude CEPA by end-2026 and showed readiness for Bilateral Investment Treaty talks.
3. The meeting at Hyderabad House was led by Secretary (East) Rudrendra Tandon and Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Thangaraj.
4. The first Finance Ministers’ Economic and Financial Dialogue involved Nirmala Sitharaman and Francois-Philippe Champagne.
5. CEPA covers goods, services, investment and intellectual property and seeks broad customs-duty reduction.
6. The External Affairs Ministry conducts foreign relations from South Block; Edwin Lutyens designed Hyderabad House, used for state banquets and visiting dignitary meetings.

NHAI announced Green Highways Excellence Awards 2026 winners on September 3, 2026, recognising sustainable practices in national highway projects.

Key Highlights:
1. Categories were avenue plantations, median plantations and plantations on land parcels such as clover leaves, interchanges and toll plazas.
2. Avenue awards: Chilakaluripet Bypass NH-16, Andhra Pradesh first; Vadodara–Kim Expressway, Gujarat second; Gagariya–Bakhasar NH-925 and Satta–Gandhav NH-925A, Rajasthan third.
3. Hyderabad–Yadgiri NH-163 won median plantations; Jamtha Clover Leaf Oxygen Bird Park on NH-44, Nagpur won land-parcel plantation.
4. There were 86 nominations, including 36 median entries; 15, five per category, reached final evaluation. Suitability, diversity and native species were assessed, with survival rate carrying greatest weight.
5. Instituted in 2025 under Green Highways Policy 2015, the awards support greening. The policy involves communities, farmers and private sector and reserves 1% of highway project cost for planting and maintenance.
6. NHAI is a New Delhi statutory body under the Road Transport and Highways Ministry, established by the NHAI Act 1988.

BPCL and the Centre for Science and Environment signed an MoU on September 2, 2026, for biofuels and circular-economy work.

Key Highlights:
1. They will work on biomass use, waste-to-resource solutions and the circular value chain.
2. Focus includes compressed biogas ecosystem, feedstock assessment, sustainable biomass chains and waste-management pilots.
3. Research covers fermented organic manure, digestate, bio-CO2 and DDGS by-products.
4. They will identify carbon-credit opportunities in large bioenergy projects.
5. BPCL is a Mumbai Maharatna PSU under the Petroleum Ministry, founded in 1952 as Burmah Shell Refineries; CSE is a New Delhi public-interest research and advocacy body founded in 1980.

Tamil Nadu announced an Olympic City and Motor Sports City on September 3, 2026, to build international-standard sports infrastructure.

Key Highlights:
1. Olympic City will have world-class arenas, a High Performance Training Centre and accommodation for athletes and coaches, preparing athletes for national and international events.
2. Motor Sports City will host Formula 1, 2, 3 and 4 racing and train young motorsport talent.
3. The projects seek global automobile and racing companies and growth in tourism, jobs and allied sectors.
4. Tamil Nadu’s State game is Kabaddi, animal Nilgiri Tahr and bird Emerald Dove; it hosts M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, among India’s oldest cricket grounds.

ISRO launched EOS-05, India’s first dedicated geo-imaging satellite, on GSLV-F17 from Sriharikota on September 4, 2026.

Key Highlights:
1. EOS-05 operates from geosynchronous orbit, weighs about 2,367 kg and is the heaviest payload carried by a GSLV so far.
2. The three-stage GSLV-F17 is 51.7 metres tall, has a lift-off mass of 420.5 tonnes and a 4-metre composite ogive fairing.
3. Its stages comprise an S139 solid core with four L40H liquid strap-ons, a GL40HT liquid stage and a CUS15 indigenous cryogenic upper stage.
4. It entered GTO with 171 km perigee, 31,026 km apogee and 19.28-degree inclination.
5. This was GSLV’s 19th flight and Sriharikota’s 107th launch mission.
6. ISRO was established on August 15, 1969, succeeded INCOSPAR, is based in Bengaluru and works under the Department of Space.
7. GSLV is a fourth-generation vehicle using an indigenous third-stage cryogenic engine; Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota has two operational pads for PSLV, GSLV and LVM3.

GIFT IFSC Banking Units disbursed USD 52.82 billion of USD 54.02 billion sanctioned under RBI’s special swap facility by August 31, 2026.

Key Highlights:
1. Twenty IFSC Banking Units handled the mobilisation. Total FCNR(B) deposits were USD 127.23 billion and GIFT units funded about 41%.
2. Units disbursed USD 11.62 billion in ECBs from April–August; monthly value rose from USD 1.54 billion in April to USD 3.54 billion in August.
3. Indian banks raised USD 11.12 billion through IFSC bond listings in April–August, with USD 9.17 billion in July–August.
4. RBI opened the swap facility in June 2026 for FCNR(B), ECB and overseas foreign-currency borrowings. The FCNR(B) window closed August 31; the other two remain open through December 31.
5. IFSCA was formed in April 2020 under the 2019 Act in Gandhinagar as unified IFSC regulator. GIFT City is India’s first operational smart city, multi-service SEZ and first IFSC.
6. FCNR(B) lets NRIs and OCIs hold fixed deposits in foreign currency.

Smriti Mandhana became women’s international cricket’s leading run-scorer against Hong Kong in the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup at Dubai on September 3, 2026.

Key Highlights:
1. She passed Mithali Raj’s 10,868 and reached 10,880 runs in her 303rd innings.
2. Her 18th international hundred surpassed Meg Lanning’s record of 17.
3. She made 124 off 64 balls, breaking Chamari Athapaththu’s Asia Cup record of 119 and recording India’s highest WT20I individual score.
4. Her 93 fifty-plus scores equalled Mithali Raj’s world record.
5. The leading totals were Mandhana 10,880, Mithali Raj 10,868, Suzie Bates 10,740, Charlotte Edwards 10,273 and Stafanie Taylor 10,007.
6. Mandhana is the first Indian woman with centuries in all three formats, fastest woman to 10,000 runs in 280 innings, owns 37 WT20I fifty-plus scores and is the first Indian with multiple WT20I hundreds.

SEBI registered Zerodha Corporate Advisors as a merchant banker on September 1, 2026.

Key Highlights:
1. Filed on April 27, 2026, the registration has perpetual validity.
2. It permits IPOs, FPOs, rights issues and related advice.
3. With 248 registered merchant bankers on August 31, Zerodha became the 249th.
4. Revised minimum net worth is Rs. 50 crore for Category I, up from Rs. 5 crore, and Rs. 10 crore for Category II; underwriting is capped at 20 times liquid net worth.
5. SEBI became statutory on April 12, 1992, is based in Mumbai and regulates primary and secondary securities markets.
6. Zerodha is an IFSCA-registered broker-dealer in GIFT City and also operates asset management, Zerodha Capital lending and proprietary investments.

GeM and the Textiles Committee signed an MoU in Mumbai on September 3, 2026, to promote government procurement of recycled and upcycled textiles.

Key Highlights:
1. The Commerce Ministry’s GeM and Textiles Ministry’s Committee will formalise a Waste-to-Value-to-Market ecosystem.
2. They will turn textile waste into value-added goods, research markets and set technical specifications.
3. GeM will create dedicated categories, online market links and seller onboarding for small upcyclers.
4. A hub-and-spoke model uses the Committee’s offices for outreach and capacity building.
5. MSMEs, women and artisans are beneficiaries, supporting Make in India and AatmaNirbhar Bharat.
6. The Textiles Committee is a Mumbai statutory body under the 1963 Act; GeM was launched in August 2016 as the Commerce Ministry’s one-stop online public-procurement portal.

Lahore was designated the SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital for 2026–27 at the 26th Council of Heads of State meeting in Bishkek on September 5, 2026.

Key Highlights:
1. The meeting was chaired by Kyrgyzstan while Pakistan held the rotating presidency under the theme Turning Vision into Action: Connectivity, Innovation and Shared Prosperity.
2. Previous capitals were Varanasi 2022–23, Almaty 2023–24, Qingdao 2024–25 and Cholpon-Ata 2025–26.
3. Tourism chiefs decided on Lahore in April 2024.
4. The annual title promotes people contact, tourism and the presiding member’s heritage.
5. SCO was founded in 2001, is headquartered in Beijing, has 10 members including India and Pakistan since 2017, and marked 25 years in 2026.