Current Affairs: 3rd October 2025

• Private project plans in first half of fiscalare at a 15-year high

Context: Indian firms alone account for 94% of the ₹9.95 lakh crore announcedby the sector; government and foreign investment proposals slump.

• The value of new project announcements by the Indian private sector surged to nearly a 15-year high in the first half of the current financial year, even as new government projects and those by foreign companies slumped.

• The value of such announcements by the Union government and those of the States fell to at least a 15-year low during the period, while those by foreign companies were at a five-year low.
• Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) shows that the private sector announced projects estimated at ₹9.95 lakh crore in the April-September 2025 period, up 30.4% over the first half of the previous financial year. Of this, it was the Indian private sector that did the heavy lifting. It announced projects estimated at ₹9.35 lakh crore, 94% of the value of the new project announcements in the first half and up 37.5% over the corresponding period of 2024-25. The value was the second highest in the corresponding period of the past 15 years. The highest was in the first half of 2023-24, when it touched ₹9.54 lakh crore.
• However, the data also showed that India’s attractiveness as an investment destination for foreign companies might be diminishing. New project announcements by foreign companies fell to about ₹0.6 lakh crore in the April-September 2025 period, down nearly 28% from the corresponding period of last year.
• This also marks the third consecutive year where foreign announcements have slumped in the first half of the year, and a five-year low for the figure.
• New project announcements by foreign companies had risen to a peak of ₹1.9 lakh crore in the first six months of 2022-23 before declining subsequently.
• The slump in new project announcements in India by foreign companies is not in line with global trends. Data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development show that global foreign direct investment grew by 11% in 2024 over its level in 2023, which itself was 3% higher than in 2022.
• New project announcements by governments — both Central and State — slumped to ₹1.51 lakh crore in the first six months of financial year 2025-26, down more than 71% over their level in the corresponding period of the previous year.
• This level of investment intention was the lowest in at least 15 years, the period for which there is data.
• India’s first helicopter final assembly line in the private sector will come up at Vemagal in Kolar district of Karnataka. The assembly line will be established by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL) to build the Airbus H125 helicopters.
• According to Airbus and TASL, the “Made in India” H125 helicopter will help develop new civil and para-public market segments, and also meet the Indian armed forces’ requirement for a light multi-role helicopter, especially on the icy heights of the country’s Himalayan frontiers. technologies,” according to Airbus and TASL. The delivery of the first “Made in India” H125 is expected in early 2027.

• ANRF’s SARAL to simplify scientific research papers

Context: As part of outreach to make scientific research more accessible, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) — India’s newest science funding agency — has developed a tool called SARAL (Simplified and Automated Research Amplification and Learning).

• This tool, the organisation’s CEO, Shivkumar Kalyanaraman said, would help generate layperson summaries of complex scientific research.
• This meant using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to extract information from research publications to generate “videos, podcasts, posters and presentation”, he said at a meeting organised earlier this week by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The ANRF would focus on harnessing “deep science and engineering” to create “deep tech products and start-ups”, Mr. Kalyanaraman said.
• The organisation would be developing an “AI Science and Engineering Open India Stack” that would significantly influence “drug and chemical discovery, aerospace design, climate and weather and advanced materials and design”, he said.

Funds allotted

• In July, the Union Cabinet approved a ₹1 lakh crore Research Development and Innovation Scheme that intends to provide low interest, long tenure loans to private companies for investment in core research and development.
• The Foundation’s governing council is expected to play a critical role in evaluating which sectors could receive such funds. The ANRF is envisaged as a single-window clearance mechanism for funding research and development for universities and academic institutions. It is also expected to receive about 70% of its budget from private sources. In function, it has absorbed much of the role the erstwhile Science and Engineering Research Board had played in funding scientific research.

• Musk is first to hit $500 billion net worth, Forbes list shows
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk became the first person ever to achieve a net worth of almost $500 billion, propelled by a rebound in the EV firm’s shares and surging valuations of the tech entrepreneur’s other start-ups this year.
• His net worth stood at $500.1 billion as of 4:15 p.m. E.T., as per Forbes’ billionaires index. His fortunes are tied closely to Tesla, where he held a more than 12.4% stake as of September 15. The stock has risen more than 14% so far this year.

• PLI scheme for textile sector likelyto be revised

Context: The textile industry is expecting an announcement soon on a revised Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the sector, with focus on manmade fibre (MMF) textiles.

• Union Minister for Textiles Giriraj Singh recently posted on X, “From expanding opportunities to smoother implementation, the PLI Scheme is now more dynamic than ever.
• “With new reforms, the Ministry of Textiles has made it more flexible, industry-friendly and geared towards ease of doing business, which will help in driving growth in MMF & Technical Textiles to the next level.”
• As per the post, the scheme will include eight new HSN codes for MMF apparel and nine new codes for MMF fabrics. The unit can be set up within an existing firm and the investment criteria is revised to ₹150 crore (part IA) and ₹50 crore (part 2A). Further the incremental turnover needed for sops is 10%.
• Chairman of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry Ashwin Chandran said in a release the significant lowering of investment thresholds and changes in the turnover-linked sop structure would prove pivotal in fast-tracking the growth of Indian textile and apparel sector.
• Durai Palanisamy, chairman, Southern India Mills’ Association, said the scheme will attract investments from MSMEs.

• OpenAI hits $500 billion valuation after share sale to SoftBank, others, sources say

Context: OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has reached a valuation of $500 billion, following a deal in which current and former employees sold roughly $6.6 billion worth of shares, a source familiar with the matter.

• This represents a bump-up from its current valuation of $300 billion, underscoring OpenAI’s rapid gains in both users and revenue.

Sale to consortium

• As part of the deal, OpenAI employees sold shares to a consortium of investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T. Rowe Price, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
• The company had authorized sales of $10-billion-plus worth of stock on the secondary market, the source added. Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer, MGX and T. Rowe Price did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. The share sale adds to SoftBank’s earlier investment in OpenAI’s $40 billion primary funding round.
• The company generated around $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025, about 16% more than it generated all of last year, the Information reported earlier this week. The sale comes at a time when tech giants are competing aggressively for AI talent with lucrative compensation packages. Meta is notably investing billions in Scale AI and poached its 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead its new super intelligence unit.

• Indian-made H125 helicopters to roll out from Kolar in 2027

Context: India’s first helicopter final assembly line in the private sector will come up at Vemagal in Kolar district of Karnataka. The assembly line will be established by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL) to build the Airbus H125 helicopters.

• According to Airbus and TASL, the “Made in India” H125 helicopter will help develop new civil and para-public market segments, and also meet the Indian armed forces’ requirement for a light multi-role helicopter, especially on the icy heights of the country’s Himalayan frontiers. technologies,” according to Airbus and TASL. The delivery of the first “Made in India” H125 is expected in early 2027.