UPSC CSE Current Affairs — 13 October 2026

SEBI has approved the IPO of Indian Gas Exchange (IGX), India's first gas trading platform. The issue is entirely an offer for sale of 1.67 crore equity shares by promoter Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), meaning IGX itself receives no fresh capital. IGX facilitates spot and forward trading in natural gas, functioning as an exchange under petroleum sector regulation. The approval signals a potential listing that would make IGX a publicly traded gas market infrastructure entity.

Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) is India's first automated, digital natural gas trading platform, launched in 2020. It operates as a gas exchange where buyers and sellers trade natural gas through spot and forward contracts, similar to how IEX operates for electricity. IGX is a subsidiary of Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), which itself is a publicly listed exchange for electricity.

The IPO structure here is critical for exam purposes: it is a pure Offer for Sale (OFS), meaning existing shareholder IEX is selling its stake. No new shares are issued, so IGX gets zero proceeds — all money goes to IEX. This distinction between a fresh issue and an OFS is a recurring SEBI exam concept.

SEBI's role is to vet the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) and issue observations (commonly called 'approval') before any company can proceed with an IPO. SEBI does not guarantee the quality of the issue — it only ensures disclosure norms are met.

For the broader gas market context: India's gas sector is regulated by PNGRB (Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board), while the exchange itself, as a securities market infrastructure, falls under SEBI's purview. Understanding which regulator governs which layer of a market — the commodity versus the exchange — is a classic SEBI exam distinction.

Twenty-eight mutual fund New Fund Offers launched in September 2024 collectively raised over ₹2,700 crore. The top performer was Tata CRISIL-IBX Financial Services 3–6 Month Debt Index Fund, a short-duration debt index product tracking a CRISIL benchmark. Among equity NFOs, six index funds launched included UTI BSE India Sector Leaders, Mirae Asset BSE IT Index, and Axis Nifty500 Low Volatility 50, reflecting continued investor appetite for passive, rules-based investment vehicles across both debt and equity segments.

A New Fund Offer (NFO) is the first subscription window during which an asset management company (AMC) sells units of a newly launched mutual fund scheme to the public — analogous to an IPO for stocks. SEBI regulates all NFOs under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996.

The September 2024 NFO wave reveals two structural trends examiners care about:

1. Passive investing surge: Index funds replicate a benchmark index (Nifty, BSE indices) rather than relying on active fund manager decisions. They carry lower expense ratios and tracking error as key performance metrics. SEBI has progressively pushed AMCs toward passive products to reduce mis-selling risk.

2. Debt index funds: These track fixed-income benchmarks — in this case, CRISIL-IBX indices that measure returns from financial-sector bonds maturing in 3–6 months. They offer more predictable, low-duration credit exposure compared to actively managed debt funds. CRISIL is India's leading credit-rating and index provider, and the IBX (Indian Bond Index) series is widely used as a benchmark in such products.

SEBI's categorisation circular (October 2017, revised periodically) limits AMCs to one scheme per category to prevent proliferation — making NFO launches in niche index categories particularly noteworthy. Understanding NFO mechanics, index fund regulation, and the role of benchmark providers like CRISIL is directly testable in SEBI Grade A examinations.

A State Bank of India research report has recommended a comprehensive overhaul of Priority Sector Lending guidelines to align with Viksit Bharat 2047 goals. Key proposals include expanding PSL coverage to infrastructure and green finance, raising overall PSL targets, and introducing sub-targets for climate-resilient sectors. Currently, PSL mandates 40% of Adjusted Net Bank Credit for most commercial banks, a framework the report argues is outdated relative to India's current development financing requirements.

Priority Sector Lending (PSL) is a directed-credit policy tool through which the RBI mandates commercial banks to allocate a fixed share of their Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit Equivalent of Off-Balance Sheet Exposure, whichever is higher, to sectors deemed nationally important. The current 40% PSL target covers agriculture (18% mandatory sub-target), micro and small enterprises, education, housing, renewable energy, social infrastructure, and export credit, among others.

The SBI report's proposals reflect a tension at the heart of Indian development finance: PSL guidelines were designed primarily in the 1970s–80s to channel credit toward agriculture and the rural poor, but India's financing needs have evolved dramatically. Infrastructure deficit, climate transition, and the Viksit Bharat 2047 ambition require trillions in long-duration, large-ticket lending that current PSL categories neither incentivise nor accommodate.

Including infrastructure and green finance under PSL would, in theory, lower the effective cost of such credit (banks treat PSL as compliance, not additional burden) and scale up flows. Critics, however, argue that large infrastructure projects are not inherently vulnerable borrowers — the rationale for PSL — and that diluting PSL with commercially viable sectors could crowd out smaller, genuinely vulnerable borrowers like marginal farmers and microentrepreneurs.

For exam purposes, understand the transmission mechanism: PSL shortfalls are deposited in RIDF (Rural Infrastructure Development Fund) at NABARD at below-market rates, making non-compliance costly, which incentivises compliance. Any redefinition of eligible categories directly affects NABARD's refinancing pool and rural credit flows.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited Singapore from October 8–11, 2026, meeting senior government officials and financial sector leaders. The visit focused on deepening bilateral financial cooperation, digital payment linkages, and investment flows between India and Singapore. Singapore is one of India's largest foreign direct investment sources and a key ASEAN financial hub. The visit reinforced the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement framework and explored expanding UPI-PayNow interoperability, which was launched in February 2023.

India-Singapore financial relations rest on several institutional pillars worth understanding for competitive exams.

The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), signed in 2005, was India's first such agreement with an ASEAN nation. It covers goods, services, and investment, and is often cited in exam questions about India's trade treaty history.

Singapore consistently ranks among India's top three sources of FDI — a fact examiners frequently test. The city-state channels significant capital into Indian equities, infrastructure, and startups, partly due to its favourable tax treaty with India (though the India-Singapore Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement was revised in 2016 to close capital gains treaty-shopping loopholes).

The UPI-PayNow linkage, operationalised in February 2023, is a landmark in cross-border retail payment interoperability. It allows users in India and Singapore to transfer money in real time using just a mobile number or UPI ID — the first such bilateral system India activated. RBI and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) jointly oversee this mechanism.

For UPSC aspirants, the strategic angle matters: Singapore is India's gateway to ASEAN, and the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (in force since 2010) provides the broader trade architecture. For RBI aspirants, the payment system integration and MAS-RBI cooperation framework are the testable core.

The National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) offers a Term Loan Scheme providing financial assistance to eligible Scheduled Caste beneficiaries to pursue income-generating activities and achieve economic self-reliance. The scheme targets individuals typically dependent on seasonal or wage labour, channelling concessional credit through State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) to support micro-enterprises and livelihood creation, reducing dependence on informal moneylenders and irregular employment cycles.

The NSFDC Term Loan Scheme sits at the intersection of social welfare and financial inclusion — two pillars examiners across RBI, NABARD, and UPSC consistently test. NSFDC, a Government of India enterprise under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, was established in 1989 specifically to provide concessional financing to persons from Scheduled Caste communities living below double the poverty line (target group: income up to ₹3 lakh per annum in urban areas and ₹2.5 lakh in rural areas).

The Term Loan Scheme works through a three-tier delivery chain: NSFDC (apex body) → State Channelising Agencies (SCAs, typically state-level SC finance corporations) → individual beneficiaries. This indirect lending model keeps administrative costs low and leverages existing state infrastructure, mirroring how NABARD channels rural credit through RRBs and cooperative banks.

Concessionally priced credit (interest rates significantly below market) is the core tool. By making capital affordable, the scheme converts seasonal wage labourers — whose income is erratic and collateral is minimal — into micro-entrepreneurs with a stable income base. This addresses the classic credit-market failure for low-income, low-collateral borrowers.

From a UPSC lens, this is a governance instrument targeting the intersection of Scheduled Caste welfare and poverty alleviation, linked to Article 46 of the Directive Principles (promotion of educational and economic interests of weaker sections). From NABARD's perspective, rural SC households accessing farm or off-farm enterprise loans fall within priority sector lending norms. For RBI, NSFDC-backed lending through SCAs intersects with financial inclusion targets and the priority sector obligation on banks.

INS Sahyadri, an Indian Navy stealth frigate, arrived at Vladivostok, Russia, on 10 October 2026 to participate in Exercise INDRA-2026, a bilateral naval exercise between India and Russia. INDRA is a long-running joint exercise series covering anti-piracy, search-and-rescue, and maritime security operations. The exercise reflects India's continued defence engagement with Russia even as India deepens ties with Western partners under its multi-alignment foreign policy.

Exercise INDRA is India's bilateral naval exercise with Russia, conducted alternately in Indian and Russian waters. It sits within the broader India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership, a designation that places Russia at the highest tier of India's bilateral relationships. The exercise tests interoperability in anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, air defence, and humanitarian operations at sea.

INS Sahyadri is a Project 17 Shivalik-class stealth guided-missile frigate, the first class of warships designed and built entirely in India under the 'Make in India' defence production drive. Its deployment to Vladivostok carries both operational and symbolic weight: Vladivostok is the headquarters of Russia's Pacific Fleet and the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway — a city with which India signed a 'sister-city' agreement with Chennai.

For UPSC, the critical static hinterland here is India's multi-alignment posture: India conducts Malabar with the Quad navies, Milan with regional navies, and INDRA with Russia simultaneously. The examiner has repeatedly tested knowledge of which exercise pairs which countries, what ship classes India deploys, and what India's strategic logic is in maintaining diverse defence partnerships. India's 'Act Far East' policy — launched at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in 2019 — also makes this port location specifically exam-relevant.