NABARD Grade A Current Affairs — 15 October 2026

The Union Cabinet approved continuation of the PM-KISAN scheme beyond its current phase ending in 2026. Under PM-KISAN, eligible farmer families receive ₹6,000 per year in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 directly into their bank accounts. The scheme, launched in February 2019, uses Direct Benefit Transfer to reach small and marginal landholding farmers. Its extension signals the government's commitment to income support as a distinct pillar of agricultural policy alongside price and input subsidies.

PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) is a Central Sector Scheme — meaning it is 100% funded by the Government of India with no state share required. This is an important distinction from Centrally Sponsored Schemes where states co-fund. The scheme was launched on 24 February 2019 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, with an initial retrospective effective date of 1 December 2018.

The core mechanism is Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): ₹6,000 per year is paid in three instalments of ₹2,000 each, credited directly to the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of eligible farmer families. The implementing ministry is the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Eligibility was originally limited to small and marginal farmers (landholding up to 2 hectares), but was later universalised to all farmer families irrespective of land size, with certain exclusions (income taxpayers, government employees, institutional landholders, etc.).

For RBI and NABARD aspirants, the DBT mechanism is the key angle: it bypasses intermediaries, reduces leakage, and is linked to financial inclusion goals — every beneficiary must have a bank account, reinforcing the Jan Dhan ecosystem. For NABARD, PM-KISAN intersects with agricultural credit flow data and rural household income stabilisation. For UPSC, the scheme illustrates the shift from price-support-centric to income-support-centric agricultural policy, reflecting the recommendation of the Dalwai Committee on doubling farmers' income.

The Reserve Bank of India is proposing to expand the Consolidated Account Statement (CAS) — currently used for mutual funds and shares — to include fixed deposits and bank deposit accounts. This move would give investors a single unified statement showing all their financial holdings across banks and capital market instruments. Currently, CAS is issued by depositories like CDSL and NSDL for securities. The RBI's extension aims to improve financial transparency and help investors track dormant or forgotten deposits.

The Consolidated Account Statement (CAS) is a periodic statement that aggregates an investor's holdings across multiple financial instruments and institutions into one document. It was introduced by SEBI for the capital markets segment, where depositories CDSL and NSDL issue a monthly CAS to investors holding mutual fund units and demat securities. The PAN (Permanent Account Number) is the common identifier that links all these holdings.

Currently, bank fixed deposits sit outside this framework — a depositor with FDs in five different banks receives five separate statements, making it easy to lose track of deposits. Unclaimed deposits in Indian banks have been a persistent regulatory concern; the RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund holds thousands of crores from unclaimed accounts.

By proposing to bring FDs and bank deposits under CAS, RBI aims to create a unified financial snapshot. This mirrors the broader regulatory trend toward financial data interoperability — seen also in the Account Aggregator (AA) framework under NBFC-AA regulations, which allows consent-based financial data sharing across banks, insurers, and mutual funds.

For the exam, the key conceptual distinction is regulatory jurisdiction: SEBI oversees CAS for capital market instruments (MFs, equities, ETFs) through depositories, while RBI governs the banking side (FDs, savings deposits). The proposed expansion would require coordination between both regulators, making it a cross-regulatory initiative. The DEA Fund, unclaimed deposit norms, and the Account Aggregator ecosystem are all closely related concepts that examiners in this domain routinely test.

Parliament passed the MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in August 2026, updating the MSMED Act of 2006. The amendment revises the investment and turnover thresholds that classify enterprises as Micro, Small, or Medium. These limits had remained largely unchanged for years despite inflation and business growth. The revision aims to bring more enterprises under the formal MSME umbrella, expanding access to priority sector credit, government procurement quotas, and welfare schemes targeted at smaller businesses.

The MSMED Act, 2006 is the foundational legislation governing India's MSME sector, which contributes approximately 30% of GDP, over 40% of exports, and employs more than 11 crore people. The Act classifies enterprises into Micro, Small, and Medium categories based on investment in plant and machinery (for manufacturing) and turnover — a dual-criterion system introduced by the Atmanirbhar Bharat reforms in 2020, which replaced the earlier single-criterion (investment-only) model.

The 2026 Amendment updates these classification thresholds upward, meaning businesses that previously fell outside the MSME definition can now qualify. This matters across multiple policy dimensions:

1. Priority Sector Lending (PSL): RBI mandates that commercial banks direct 40% of Adjusted Net Bank Credit to priority sectors. MSMEs form a significant sub-target. More enterprises qualifying as MSMEs means expanded PSL eligibility, directly relevant to RBI and NABARD aspirants.

2. Government Procurement: Public procurement policy reserves 25% of orders for MSMEs (with 4% earmarked for SC/ST entrepreneurs). Revised thresholds expand the pool of eligible suppliers.

3. Credit Guarantee: CGTMSE (Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises) provides collateral-free lending guarantees. Threshold changes affect which firms can access this facility.

4. Udyam Registration: Enterprises must register on the Udyam portal to access MSME benefits. The amendment aligns registration criteria with new limits.

For UPSC aspirants, the governance angle — how definition changes affect scheme reach and delivery — is the key thread to follow.