Current Affairs

Electronics City Industrial Township Authority is a ‘public authority’, rules commission

Context: The Karnataka State Information Commission has brought the Electronics City Industrial Township Authority (ELCITA) under the purview of the Right to Information Act by declaring it as a “public authority,” and has asked the authority to furnish information within a timeframe in future.

• Stating that though ELCITA does not have an elected body, the commission has said that it has been set up by the government and had all the powers of a local body, including collection of tax. It had been set up under the Karnataka Municipalities Act, and was acting like a town municipality by being responsible for management, finances and development issues.
• The commission has also ordered the ELCITA to appoint assistant public information officer and first appeal authority.
• The recent order by Information Commissioner Rudranna Harthikote came on an appeal by Ganesh Kumar M., who said that the ELCITA was formed through a government gazette without which it cannot exist and questioned the tax collection power if it was a private entity. He had sought details about development works and the tendering process.
• In its defence, the authority cited Supreme Court order in the Thalappalam Cooperative Bank v/s Kerala government and two cases settled by the Madras High Court and argued that it does not fall under the ambit of being a “public authority.”
• However, the commission noted that Electronics City was developed by the Karnataka government-owned KEONICS in 1970 to promote electronic industries that was later transferred to Electronics City Industrial Association for managing the area in 1997.
• The ELCITA was formed in 2013 under Karnataka Municipalities Act 1964 to manage public services such as roads, water supply and cleanliness. Of the total tax collected, which is a responsibility of the government, by the authority, 30% is shared with three village panchayats, it noted.
• Mr. Harthikote has pointed out that any authority formed through a law passed by Parliament or the State legislature or the government order comes under the RTI Act as “public authority” and hence ELCITA also comes under the ambit of the RTI Act.
• While any authority that secures financial aid directly or indirectly becomes a “public authority”, the ELCITA also has government nominees in its management. The order also cites a Madras High Court case in which Tiruppur Area Development Board was declared as “public authority” and brought under the purview of RTI Act. Similarly, the Noida Authority has been declared as a “public authority.”

Source: The Hindu

IMF upgrades India’s growth projection for current financial year from 6.6% to 7.3%

Context: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised upwards its estimate of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the current financial year 2025-26 to 7.3% from its earlier prediction of 6.6%.

• This upward revision, the IMF said in its January 2026 World Economic Outlook update released on Monday, was primarily a reflection of stronger-than-expected growth in the third quarter, and “strong momentum” in the fourth quarter of the financial year.
• “In India, growth is revised upward by 0.7 percentage point to 7.3% for 2025 [FY 2025-26], reflecting the better-than-expected outturn in the third quarter of the year and strong momentum in the fourth quarter,” the report said. “Growth is projected to moderate to 6.4% in 2026 and 2027 as cyclical and temporary factors wane,” it added.

Slower figure

• The IMF’s prediction of 7.3% growth for 2025-26 is just marginally slower than the 7.4% the Union government predicted for the same period.
• For the global economy, the report projects growth to remain “resilient” at 3.3% in calendar year 2026 and at 3.2% in 2027, largely the same as the 3.3% estimated for 2025.
• These forecasts entail a small upward revision for 2026 and no change for 2027 as compared with the predictions made in the October 2025 World Economic Outlook. “This steady performance on the surface results from the balancing of divergent forces,” the report said.

Turbulent times

• “Headwinds from shifting trade policies are offset by tailwinds from surging investment related to technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), more so in North America and Asia than in other regions, as well as fiscal and monetary support, broadly accommodative financial conditions, and adaptability of the private sector.”
• On the inflation front, the report predicted that inflation in India is expected to go back to near-target levels after a decline in 2025 driven by subdued food prices. The Reserve Bank of India’s target for inflation is 4%.

Include digital currency link on BRICS agenda: RBI to govt.

Context: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recommended to the Centre that a proposal connecting the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) of BRICS countries be included on the agenda for the 2026 summit of the grouping, two sources have said.

• The proposal seeks to make cross-border payments easier, in a move that could reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar as geopolitical tensions rise. The RBI’s recommendation builds on a 2025 declaration at the BRICS summit in Brazil, which pushed for interoperability between members’ payment systems to make cross-border transactions more efficient.
• The RBI has publicly expressed interest in linking India’s digital rupee with other nations’ CBDCs to expedite cross-border transactions and bolster its currency’s global usage. It has, however, said its efforts to promote the rupee’s global use are not aimed at promoting de-dollarisation.
• India will host the next BRICS summit later this year. If the RBI’s recommendation is accepted, a proposal to link the digital currencies of BRICS members would be put forward for the first time. The BRICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, among others. The initiative could irritate the U.S., which has warned against any moves to bypass the dollar. U.S. President Donald Trump has previously said the BRICS alliance is “anti-American” and he threatened to impose tariffs on its members.
• While none of the BRICS members have fully launched their digital currencies, all five main members have been running pilot projects.
• India’s digital currency — the e-rupee — has attracted a total of 7 million retail users since its launch in December 2022, while China has pledged to boost the international use of the digital yuan.
• The RBI has encouraged the adoption of the e-rupee by enabling offline payments, providing programmability for government subsidy transfers and by allowing fintech firms to offer digital currency wallets.
• The RBI and the central bank of Brazil did not respond to emails seeking comment. The People’s Bank of China said it had no information to share on the subject in response to a request for comment; the South African and Russian central banks declined to comment.
• For the BRICS digital currency linkages to be successful, elements like interoperable technology, governance rules and ways to settle imbalanced trade volumes would be among the discussion topics, one of the sources said.
• The source cautioned that hesitation among members to adopt technological platforms from other countries could delay work on the proposal and concrete progress would require consensus on tech and regulation.
• One idea that is being explored to manage potential trade imbalances is the use of bilateral foreign exchange swap arrangements between central banks, both the sources said.
• Previous attempts by Russia and Indian government to conduct more trade in their local currencies hit roadblocks.
• Russia accumulated large balances of the Indian rupee for which it found limited use, prompting India’s central bank to permit the investment of such balances in local bonds.
• Weekly or monthly settlements for transactions are being proposed to be made via the swaps, the second source said.