Daily Current Affairs Analysis | 23rd July, 2026 | Shankar IAS Academy | UPSC | Mains 2026

[00:00:04][music] [music] Hi, hello. Welcome to Shankar Sakur's daily current affair analysis for the day 23rd of July. Please like, comment, share and subscribe our YouTube channel and also have the bell icon pressed for instant notifications. Let's see briefly what are the topic for discussion today.

[00:00:29]The first one is the revised index of core industries. So we are going to see what is ICI that is index of core industries. How it has been revised that what are the revision it has been where it where the union government has done basically on the base year and also the different other core industries that have been included in the index and how it is going to contribute to the AP that is index of industrial production.

[00:00:53]The next topic would be on whitebellied aron. White belly iron is nothing but a bird. So we will see what is the status of the bird today where it stands what are its habitates what is status and also how this lowhit hydroelectric project Lohit river that is present in Arnachel how this project is going to affect the habitate of the bird and we'll see a way forward suggested measures to improve it then the third topic would be on smart property cards under the swamitwa scheme scheme we all know that it is a scheme which is for mapping the rural uh rural area rural land for property rights for legal rights. So we are going to see how the scheme is being used by the Delhi government today for produc for giving the small uh smart property cards and what are the significance of this scheme and our next topic would be on India UK comprehensive economic trade agreement.

[00:01:44]So which has come into force on July 15th 2026. So we will see what are the challenges, what are the benefits for India and what are the ch what are the irritants that have been present still in that agreement and how the way forward is going to mitigate all these challenges and it is going to benefit both India and UK in different aspects.

[00:02:05]Finally we will finish our discussion with film focus topics briefly and also we'll have a practice question based on those topics. Moving on let's move to the first topic for the day which is revised index of core industries.

[00:02:18]IC I so recently union government that is ministry of commerce ministry of commerce have revised the ICI's base here and also it has included the other core industry into the basket we will see what are the different uh uh changes that have been bought by the union government in these aspect how the index is going to be significant and what are the changes that is it is going to make it in IIP that is index of industrial production.

[00:02:57]So the news is that union government has released revised series of ICI by updating the base year to 2022 to 23. So earlier the base year was 20112.

[00:03:11]So previous to this change IIIP that is index of industrial production have been uh the base year have been changed for it to 2022 to 23.

[00:03:22]So in line with that this IC is also now updated to this base year and we will see what are the other things that it has been changed. So the index of core industries measures the performance of core industries specifically uh refineries, fertilizers, cement, electricity, natural gas very very much important industries like including coal. So there are eight industries earlier which have been very much important very very much core in the activity that has been covered in this ICI. Now there's the other one has been included. Now it is n which is iron or so. So the iron ore has been included as an other core industry. It is becoming the ninth core industry in this series and earlier IIP which is index of industrial production constitutes 40 to 20 40.27% 27% that is around 40%age of IAP was ICI. So ICI which was basically eight industries and that ICA was within IIP. So this eight industries a growth contribution was around 40%age weightage given in IAP. So IAP is a big big picture and ICI is one among that and now earlier ICI is constituted about 40%age we will we will discuss what is the percentage now it is contributing to IAP after these changes this ICI is released by ministry of commerce as I said which is done monthly which is done monthly by department of economic advisor But you have to note that IIP is released by National Statistical Office NSO. So IP is released by NSO but ICI is released by Ministry of Commerce.

[00:05:28]So this NSO comes ministry of statistics and program implementation that is M O S E. So there is difference in ministries that you need to understand. So IIP is ministry of statistics and program implementation and ICI is ministry of commerce.

[00:05:45]So we'll see what are the changes that has been revised in this ICA. So first one is the base year change that was discussed. The next one is the industrial structure means earlier the base year was different for GDP IAB CPI that is consumer inflation.

[00:06:11]So there there was there was certain changes in this GDP, CPI and AIP. So in line with that there have been structural changes in ICI2. So sector sectoral changes as I said iron ore was introduced and it has been given around 4%age around 4.9% if I'm not 4.9%age weightage is given to iron ore among ICI among ICI there are nine industries now and among nine industries which constitutes 100%age of ICI there are there four percentage or 4.9%age around is given to the new sector or the new core industry that is iron ore so iron ore is basically included with the significant proportions that we can see that is around 5 percentage. So the methodological changes that they have in included or that they have changed in steel production is that now they're going to measure gross output. Okay, not the net output. Earlier there was net output that was measured. Now they're going to measure the gross output in steel production which is a which is the next important step that has been taken. And also in coal sector they're going to only measure the raw coal because when you are going to measure this middling and also the washed coal you're going to double count on the raw coal. So when the double counting is actually indences the actual weightage that has been given to this sector. So in that aspect then coal sector you're going to only measure the raw coal but not the washed coal and also the middling coal. So that those are the methodological changes and with respect to the weightage because since you're adding iron or into this ICA you're going to change the weightage earlier in in ICA refinary products refin refinary products are the highest weightage it has highest weightage around uh 28% and fertilizers at the lowest weightage So earlier refinery was highest, fertilizer was the lowest and in between we had six sectors. Now there is change in weightage. The electricity has been increased from 19.85 to 30.93. Now electricity becomes the highest weight which is important point to note from Pim's perspective because they will be setting a trap over there which was is like it was a refinery or it was electricity. Now as it stands electricity has the highest weightage fertilizers though it has been increased still it stands at the lowest weightage. So there's no change in the lowest weightage but there is change in the highest weightage. The reduced weightage if you see refinary products has been reduced from 28 to 22. So earlier it was 28 and electricity was 19 but now it is 22 and 30. So that is the difference. Refinary products have been decreased and coal has also been significantly decreased.

[00:09:08]and natural gas again there is a significant decrease. So these are the decreased weightage and these are increased weightage. You have to note it note it for your pre perspective.

[00:09:19]So there is a significance of revision what it's as I tell as I told the structure is going to get in par with other indexes like GDP, CPI and AP and it is also going to uh capture the real changes because when you're going to include different sectors when you're going to include new sectors you are going to capture the real changes you're going to increase the weightage for electricity because that is going to that is having a more importance in the production today becoming more core after the introduction of renewable energy as So this iron or electricity inclusion or changes would also mean that you're going to capture the real intent or real production that is going on.

[00:09:58]briefly on IAP just for your understanding. IAP has four components that is mining, electricity, manufacturing and newly latestly they have uh water management, seage, waste management, water. So earlier add three components that is manufacturing, mining and uh electricity. Now they have included the fourth component which is a change in AIP as well which is waste management, water and as well as the seawe. So briefly that is what is about we already discussed it earlier. I'm just putting it around here. That is a significance of revision of ICA we discussed and let's quickly go to epilim based practice question with reference to index of core industries. Consider the following statements. The revised IC series has updated the base year from 20112 to 2022 23. That is absolutely correct. It is also stands for IAP as well GDP as well.

[00:11:13]The iron core has been added as a ninth core industry in the revised series.

[00:11:17]Ninth core industry is absolutely true.

[00:11:19]Earlier there was eight. Now it is ninth core industry. So first statement. First statement one and two should be correct.

[00:11:25]So option B and C would not be the the right answer. Now let's go to the third statement. The index of core industry is released by national statistical office.

[00:11:33]National statistical office comes under ministry of statistics and program implementation.

[00:11:41]So but ICI is actually released by Ministry of Commerce as we discussed.

[00:11:47]So statement three is incorrect. So answer should be A. Let's check.

[00:11:52]Yeah, the answer is A.

[00:11:55]Let's move on to the next topic for the day. Yeah. Moving on. White bellied AON and low hydroelectric project. So in this topic we will we will see what this white bellied AON bird is about. what are its habitat? What is it status and how this project is affecting this species in Arnatachal Pradesh? So this river Lohit river is a left bank tributary to Brahmaputra.

[00:12:28]So briefly about this Loit river is a transpondound river. It is not like it is originating in Sikkim and flowing within India. It is a transboundary river. It originates in Tibet. It flows through Arnachel and it meets Brahmaputra in Assam. So Arnachal Assam.

[00:12:44]So it flows through two states and it is a left bank tributary of Brahmaputra.

[00:12:48]These two points are sufficient for low river. And now government has been uh has proposed an hydroelectric project across this river. So we'll see how it is going to affect this AON bird.

[00:13:01]So what is Aeron species actually? But aon is nothing but a long neck long uh legs kind of birds. So if you if you see in this image you see there's a long neck and long leg. So these birds are specifically uh significant for their stillness and therefore their patience because they wait patiently for when to attack or when to actually retreat. So they are known for this. So such such species are called aon birds and this is one called whitebellied aron. So it's ICN is actually critically endangered status and it is also protected under schedule one in wildlife protection act.

[00:13:43]So it means it is very much significant for protection as it is almost critically endangered since 20 since 2007.

[00:13:56]So its distribution it is not endemic to India. So these are the checkpoints which we will have in the prelim question. It's not endemic to India because it it there is there is its presence is in Bhutan as well as in Myanmar which is neighboring countries.

[00:14:14]So it was historically found in Nepal Sikim and Tista basin but it is now more actually dominated in Bhutan, Myanmar and Arnashra Pradesh.

[00:14:28]So what is its habited? Its habited is basically Himalayan rivers. Fast flowing Himalayan rivers just fast flowing river on one such as Brahmaputra.

[00:14:37]Earlier you saw these. So these are fast flowing Himalayan rivers. So it appetite is basically fast flowing rivers and it lives in elevation up to,500 m. So it it is basically its ability is basically very much niche. This habited itself is niche. Niche in the sense very much specific. It is it has only certain conditions which are very much specific to live. So such conditions are when when it is getting disturbed by these project they're becoming more vulnerable towards extinction. So they are actually in carnivore basically. Yeah. So because they feed on fish mainly on fish and as I said they are going to wait for their opportunity like a crane wait for the opportunity and then feed at the right moment when they need so they aren't in shallow clear waters and waiting motionless as I discussed. So that is habitated and ecologically briefly you have to just know it is Himalayian they live mostly in fast flowing Himalayan rivers at the riparian forest and also at very high elevation of,500 m.

[00:15:43]So what are the threads that we are going to discuss now the proposed project across the loit river which is 1,200 megawatt uh power project which is going to alter the river flow and it is also destroying the feeding habitates.

[00:15:57]When you build a dam, what happens is you're going to store water here. For building a dam, you're going to remove all the sand silt out of here.

[00:16:06]So this this changes the ecology of that place because when the when it is you're going when the birds are going to feed only on shallow waters, you're going to remove the sand for storage of water. So the the fishes or the whatever the bird that feeds on is going to go deep. So it is it is going to affect the birds as well or the irons the white bion and it is also affecting the forest and it is also have an local extension of the species which is very much the effect.

[00:16:38]What are other threats because of this uh project and also because of other human induced threats over there which is fish poisoning, water pollution and unregulated tourism. So these are all related to anthropological causes which is human induced very much human induced and river course alteration is because then it can be natural as well and it it can also be due to this uh building of dam where you're going to change the course of river because of which the certain bird species which cannot migrate immediately are going to face this threat of extinction. So these are the threads these are these are the discussions about the arbited and ecology and also its uh status on IUCN and WPA. We will just see briefly what are the conservation measures. Conservation me measures as as we usually discuss it should be uh it should be very much intuitive because the first one would be the restricting of illegal and mining river modification and also basin level concerns approach for low heat river means you are to have a environment impact assessment earlier EIA.

[00:17:52]So this environment impact assessment should be robust. It should consider also the local people over there. It should consider the uh forest department. It should consider the environment activists. When this envir environment impact assessment is put it on put it on a draft then the people should actually come and uh debate on it and finally they should come with the conclusion where it's balance between the development as well as the species protection and we should always have a regulated tourism and monitor the water quality.

[00:18:25]We should have a Bhutans. We should also follow Bhutan's model which is conservation breeding centers which which can be similar to Bhuton's model not exactly. So this conservation breeding centers can be the other uh uh middle ground where you can bring between the development as well as the protection. So these are the measures which you can briefly mention when you are asked in mains. It should be intuitive because you're going to be uh putting these measures in different different topics which are having similar kind of problems. Let's have a based question for practice with reference to white belly eron. Consider the following statements. It is listed as critically endangered on the IU.

[00:19:06]Absolutely correct since 2007 as we saw it is included in schedule one of WPA act. Yeah, that is also correct.

[00:19:13]Statement one and two should be correct.

[00:19:16]So option A and D will be will either one of them will be correct. It primarily inhabits the fast flowing Malian river system mature repair forest. Yeah that is what its habitat is all about. So that is also correct. It is endemic to India and found only in loit river basin of for this is where the trap is. It is not endemic to India.

[00:19:38]It is also living in Bhutan and my as well. So statement four is incorrect. So automatically option A will be correct.

[00:19:44]That's it.

[00:19:47]Yes, option A is correct. So, let's move on to the next topic. So, moving ahead.

[00:19:54]Smart property cards under the Swamitwa scheme. So, why this is in news? Because Delhi government have recently taken steps to issue property cards for Lal Dora areas. We will see what what is this lal dora areas by covering around 48 villages under this swamas scheme.

[00:20:16]So what is lal dora areas? Lal dora areas is nothing but the village inhabitants. So earlier there were agricultural land during the British period there were agricultural land as well as the village dwellings. So to demarket that there was some there was a line drawn which is called it's called a red line in revenue records.

[00:20:36]So this red line demarcates this village inhabit habitation as well as the agricultural land. This village habitation was called Lal Dora. So basically why now it is been in news because this L dura areas which earlier demarcated during the British time has lot of uh uh problems a lot of uh misrepresentation of the land the ownership rights the legal rights there are lot of other issues which is going around these 48 villages and to to actually resolve that the Delhi government have brought in that they're going to give a property identity card so this card will be through this swamitwa scheme. So we'll briefly see what this swamitwa scheme is about and also how uh what are the significance and how it is going to change the conditions of this lora areas and the properties that have been present there. So yeah moving ahead what are the smart property clause that are been going that are being issued by Delhi government in regards to the Lalora areas. The first one would be the digital ownership. So digital authenticated property ownership documents issued. So basically since uh the earlier time was mostly based on paper and we don't we are not rightly demarcated the areas. Now the digitally mapping the digitally mapping using different technologies will actually help in having a clear ownership rights and also the legal rights which will be helpful for them in different purpose.

[00:22:05]So they're going to give a unique P ID which is property identification number for different uh properties which is there in the 48 villages and also they are going to integrated with the Delhi online registration information system so that it is going to be an holistically present in one database for many other purposes that is moving forward.

[00:22:26]So what is this scheme about scheme? It was introduced in 2020 and importantly it is under ministry of Panchayati Raj.

[00:22:33]Many students used to or many people used to confuse with ministry of rural development.

[00:22:40]It's not ministry of rural development where usually the trap is set for the pre-based question. It is ministry of panchay and it's a central sector scheme which is also an important thing that you need to notice. Central sector scheme is in the sense union government is going to give all the funding give all the support for the scheme and from state government or the union territory there no no such support is required apart from the implementation so it's a central sector scheme and it is objective is to give a legal ownership records legal ownership records to rural households ownership using drone service so you need to understand another keyword which is rural households it is not specific to urban it is specific to rural households where there is uh debate or where there is distinctions in the land ownership.

[00:23:28]What are the key features of this fame scheme? The first one would be drone based mapping mapping. So drone based mapping will give you the clear demarcation of land. It can be of any shape. So the drone can have the capability to demarcate and put it over digitally. drone based mapping property cost for rural households and also reduces the disputes as I was arguing when it is when it is physical or when it is paper based when you don't have records it going to be having it it will be having disputes so it will reduce the disputes and it also strengthens the graay planning so when you have land demarcated when you know what is output from the land the grand panchi can have the have the leverage to actually tax them certain on certain things so when the when the demarcation is right the tax will be and rampage will use will be using the tax for better functioning of village infrastructure. So that are the features for this uh Swamitas king and what is the significance of this property? As I said it is going to give secure land titles. It is going to reduce a uh uh dispute. It is also helping you to get the property loan based on your property and also it will it will provide for better urban planning and and more infrastructural development from you from the grand pangite side. So these are the significance of this property card. It is not specific to L dora areas as well.

[00:24:47]This swami is being successfully implemented in many areas which is giving such old such development in different aspects. So we'll just uh see a practice question based on this scheme. So the first statement is it is implemented by ministry of panay with the technical support from survey of India. That is right. Ministry of punjar should be keely noted. The scheme uses drone based mapping to prepare digital property records in the rural areas. In the rural areas is the key thing. So that is also right. It aims to provide legal property ownership records to our rural households. Yeah, it is going to provide a legal property ownership. That is the main objective of this scheme. So all three statements should be correct.

[00:25:29]Let's check.

[00:25:31]Yes, all three are correct. Let's move on to the next topic. So let's move on to the next topic for the day which is India UK comprehensive economic trade agreement.

[00:25:41]So since the Brexit when UK exited European Union in 2020 there was been more efforts from UK to have bilateral agreements with different countries and one such was India because India is such a important trade partner for UK and since 2022 there have been 14 such negotiations that were going along on with India to have this free trade agreement. So let's see what are this uh pact which has a win-win conditions for India UK what are the challenges in that pact and what are the benefits for India and what is the way forward so moving on so it's an comprehensive economic trade agreement it should be noted because there is something called CA which is comprehensive economic partnership agreement so what's the difference between this partnership and trade there's nothing but the investment the investment that uh that are committed by the countries like for example comprehensive economic Ca with India Ca with EFA countries.

[00:26:44]So these countries are this Iceland, Switzerland the four countries.

[00:26:49]So when they when there is a partnership agreement the countries which are signing an agreement will have an commitment for investment in India for certain period of time but here it is comprehensive economic and trade agreement. So you cannot argue that Ca is greater than Ca or Ca is greater than Ca it can be either way but the only the the commit based on the commitments the name changes. So India's India is CE TA with UK and it has come into force since 15th July 2026.

[00:27:22]It it actually spans into educations, merchandise exports, service exports, uh other other MSME other MSME related activities. So it is a very wide agreement.

[00:27:38]So it it is so it can be briefly set at golden standard golden standard one agreement between India and UK. So we'll briefly see this double contribution convention which has been part of this agreement and also what are the bilateral trade targets that has been set by India and UK for this next century for the next decade that is going to come ahead.

[00:28:03]So what are the key features of CTA? As I said 99%age of India export receives zero duty access. It is not immediate.

[00:28:11]Almost 98%age is immediate and remaining around 1% will be phase wise reduction.

[00:28:22]So around 99%age of India exports receive zero duty to UK. And to be noted India's merchandise exports is around 3%age and service export merchandise service export is 6 to 8% to UK. So UK stands at a very important significant spot for India as well because India's service export is second largest to UK around 6 to 8%age of its services is going to UK.

[00:28:51]So this C also covers services. So it becomes significant for India and the bilateral trade for over 100 million 100 billion is targeted by 2030. At present it is around 50 to 60 billion.

[00:29:07]So just for your reference 1 billion will be around 9,000 crores or around 9,500 crores as today one rupee is uh $1 is around 95 rupees. So they have they have been they have targeted around 100 billion bilateral trade agreement by 2030 and at present is only half around 50 to 60 billion. So here you have to note that India is actually India is actually focusing more focusing more on different agreements with different countries so that it is expanding its its basket of exports so that it is not uh it is not going to face any global shock or global risk when it is particular to certain place.

[00:29:53]So this agreement is one such of that kind and India has well put forward its own uh negotiations and it has gained a lot of things and we will see what are the things that is India has gained from it. So benefits for India the first one is the goods exports. So there is almost zero tariffs for 99 percentage of groups as I said and it is going to benefit most of the MSMES the MSMES in footwear marine products in Andhra Pradesh gems and jewelry from Gujarat Rajasthan textiles leather from Tamil Nadu. So different different MSMES from different parts of India are going to get benefited from this goods export that is merchandise export which comes under merchandise export and the service mobility as I as I argued that service mobility is one such important feature for India's global positioning in trade and since India is mostly service-based economy that is almost 50%age of its GDP coming from service sector directly and indirectly So this service and mobility in the agreement becomes a milestone for India's future trade activities. The next one would be the double contribution convention. I'll briefly explain what is double contribution convention. You would have heard in other current affair analysis as well.

[00:31:17]This is nothing but a social security benefit.

[00:31:24]Like for example, for example, there is a person uh let's say you you are temporary person hired by an Indian company to work in UK. So when you are hired by an Indian company to work in UK, you you should also have a PF that is pro provident fund that is being paid by the employer and by you contributing it to it in India. So you have a PF to be contributed let's say 10,000 from your salary. So this PF you it's a social security benefit for you that helps in pensions and other and other things. So this provident fund is collected by Indian government from you from the on your salary. The UK government what they do is they collect something called national insurance.

[00:32:11]They collect something called national insurance and it is again some let's say 10,000 again and this goes to UK government. But you are going to work temporarily let's say two to three years in UK.

[00:32:24]But what happens is generally UK government have a clause saying that only if you pay the insurance for 10 years you'll be entitled to get the pension benefits but you're already staying only for 2 three years but you're not going to get the benefits. So why do you want to pay that amount? But still Indian workers were paying that amount in UK and this was a this was a pain point in this agreement and this is now argued and removed. Now you don't have to pay the social security benefit or the national insurance that has been given to UK. Now there that has become to zero. Whatever the PF amount that you and your employer has in the in in your agreements, you're going to give it to the Indian government. So it is has reduced the double burden on Indian workers who are temporarily working in uh UK. There are around more than 75 such workers 75,000 such workers who are going to get benefit from it.

[00:33:16]So it is a significant milestone for India's uh negotiations in this comprehensial economic trade agreement.

[00:33:23]Then we have investment. So India's sixth UK six India sixth largest investor and it is also contributing about 5%age of FDI.

[00:33:31]So this agreement will boost more FDI from UK because you are going to have 0% tariffs from India. So when UK companies invest in India, they're going to produce the goods and they're going to import it cheaply for their country. So that in that way this FDI will be increasing and which is going to increase a balance of payments.

[00:33:52]Government procurement pro government procurement is the other benefit that we are that we are to be discussing like when there is something uh some government uh build uh initiative some government infrastructure that is going to get built like airport or maybe port whatever it is the UK government where earlier we were having certain clauses or certain restrictions where they cannot participate in the bidding. Now the UK government is also having the uh chances for bidding and also Indian government is having chances for bidding in UK projects. So that government procurement have been eased in this agreement and education as I said UK for universities are are more promoted to establish their campuses in India. So all around if you see it's goods, service, education, government procurement, investment, technology everything is culminated in this agreement and such that it becomes a gold standard. India is also protected in sensitive sectors because India is more an agrarian economy because still we are more dependent on agricultures.

[00:35:00]Such insensitive sectors should be sensitive sectors should be protected because the people who are more than more than 40 to 50%age of people who are employed in agriculture sector will be more vulnerable when you open this because when the foreign goods become cheap the laborers agriculture laborers the farmers will be most affected in India. So such that India has also India's in that way India has protected the agricultural and dairy um dairy industries.

[00:35:31]It has it has closed the door for such industries and and and also it has put strategic products in protection like for example the gold jewelry and heavy energy fuels are still attracting the custom duties are still attracting the standard tariffs that India has already put. So India India in that in the 1%age or 99%age which India got goods in that one remaining 1%age UK has protected its sensitive sectors. Similarly UK gets benefit around 98.5%age of its goods and in that 1.5%age India has protected its sensitive sectors. It's a give and take agreement.

[00:36:21]So other other things which India's protected is the luxury car segment where luxury cars attracting the tariffs are to luxury cars have been reduced but not to the small cars. So these small cars like for example the Maris the Mahendras. So when the small cars are getting affected so the market the middle class of India will be genuinely affected because such market are mostly mostly focused on such middle- class people and India is more in a transition from middle class to the next class. So those markets are u protected but not the luxury car luxury market has been given a less tariff for UK like the brands like Rolls-Royce.

[00:37:14]So these cars have now will attract less tariffs in India. So again we have bilateral safeguards. So India can restore the standard st standard tariffs whenever there is whenever there is a need or whenever there is a threat to the domestic industries. So there is also a safeguard mechanism that has been present in this agreement. So we see what are the challenges in this agreement or what are the pain points or irritants in the agreements. The first one would be the non-tariff barriers. So non-tariff barriers includes the standards for products like for example the sanitary and cytoanitary products. What is sanitary and cytos conditions are the standards are that whenever you're consuming something let's say a packed food let's say a seafood a marine food or um for the for the matter any the rice whatever that is getting exported from India to UK there are some standards so such standards are high in UK which Indian markets or Indian farmers or Indian exporters cannot meet if they need to meet they have to have to uh spend more on their products so that to meet the standard. So when they start to spend more automatically the products cost becomes more and the exports is getting affected. So such standards are the first main barrier. So for the that is put under the sanitary and cytosanitary rules. So India is India has been arguing with UK to have a similar standard or or to have a standard that benefits both of the countries and it is going to mainly affect the MSMES because they are the one who are who cannot immediately upscale their standards in a short span in time. So that is the first barrier. The second barrier could be the carbon tax. The carbon tax mechanism which is going to come into effect in 2027 says that any carbon intensive sectors any carbon producing sectors which are going to export their products from India to UK they're going to face a tax like for example UK company produces steel with a carbon emission of let's say 10 kgs but similarly Indian company produces the same steel but with the carbon emission of 50 kgs but still since they have the 50 kg carbon emission produced steel. They are not going to have a very sophisticated equipments. The one in UK is going to going to have sophisticated equipments so that they are going to reduce the carbon emissions and their cost would be high. So UK's cost of steel would be let's say 100 per kg since and 1 kg of carbon emissions for producing 100 per kg and 1 kg of carbon emissions they are going to spend let's say 1,000 rupees but India what in what is the case let's say the steel price since the carbon emissions is not a cons that that much of a concern for India India they are not going to maintain a sophisticated or maybe highly technological equipment. So their cost of production will be 80 kg 80 per kg and the emissions will be around 50 kg of CO2.

[00:40:28]So for this they for this production for this let's say they have spent only around 800 rupees in total. So what happened you are going to pollute the environment. By polluting the environment you're going to produce at less price. So since this was a concern they have bought this carbon tax mechanism whenever the carbon emissions are high for a specific related same product you're going to be taxed accordingly. So that is a concern for India and India is going India is actually having negotiating with EU as well on this CBA and with UK as well so that they come into the common ground.

[00:41:07]Then we have low FDA utilization.

[00:41:11]Since I told the MSMES cannot immediately standardize themselves. MSME cannot immediately move from move from mod their level of production to the level of production that UK is needed or the other markets are in need. So that utilization that transition will take time. So that since then the the free trade agreements utilization will be less. So it is it is on honest it is on the burden of the government as well as the uh as well as the other uh chambers like CI these chambers and government actually take step for better utilization of this FDA. We have next challenge that is rules of origin. Since there is dumping issue, dumping from many highly productive countries like China who are dumping the products very cheaply through the other countries. So since there is dumping issue, we have certificate of origin platform ECO.

[00:42:08]So there are strict guidelines, there are strict documents that are need to be uploaded or need to be verified in this platform before the product reaches India. So that is a concern for the exporters from other countries who are who are facing this paperwork or who are facing this uh bureaucratic hurdle.

[00:42:28]That is a that is a uh another challenge that India and UK has is been facing in this agreement. Then there is trade deficit risk. India actually maintains trade surplus with UK which is to be noted.

[00:42:42]trade surplus in the sense India exports more and India in comparison India relatively imports less from UK. India has also trade surplus with US and UK which many of us would have been uh unaware but you should note that India's trade surplus US and UK but not with China. There's significant trade deficit with China. So when the this agreement comes into place there is a there is a chance of trade deficit risk because the luxury products like scotch whiskey the cars which are going to become cheap. So then the trade deficit or then your trade dependence will be increasing on uh on these products from UK automatically your trade value will will be less that will risk your deficit.

[00:43:33]But trade deficit risk is a issue. But it depends when when when the utilization of FDA is actually picking up this will be automatically resolved.

[00:43:42]So what is the way forward? The quality and standard should be should be in on same page that is UK and India should agree with the quality and standards immediately or maybe in a phased manner for different products so that the MSMES who are producing doesn't face any much of the challenge. support MSM with compliance and market access because immediately they cannot export overnight. So you need to you need to make them aware we need to make them aware of what are the opportunities over there what is the market size over there. So such things will be needed and the compliance support should be given to MSMES and we need to increase investment on logistic innovation that is PMTI scheme which is related to this.

[00:44:24]So this logistic cost should be reduced so that imports so that the exports from India is actually more robust. So these are the way forward that needs to be taken into along with the challenges which needs to be mitigated with negotiations whichever we discussed the challenges whatever we discussed. Let's see a mains practice question regarding this. The India UK CTA seeks to balance greater market access with the protection of domestic industries.

[00:44:49]critically examine the opportunities challenges arising from agreements for Indian economy. So you need to say India sees to balance a greater market access with the protection of domestic industry. You need to just give an intro intro on how this India UK agreement is going to help the is going to maintain our export baskets diversification as well as protection of our sensitive sectors. Small intro on that. Then you need to highlight the challenges and also the opportunities in these uh agreements and finally conclude the the way forward that we have discussed. So let's move on to the next topic for the day. Now finally let's move on to the prelims focus topics for the day. So the first one is e-commerce council of India. So e-commerce council of India was launched by internet and mobile association of India in Bengaluru. So what this e-commerce council of India is actually for because when the plat platforms like uh uh Amazon, Flipkart, other platforms like AGO so these platforms these e-commerce plat ecosystem or the ecosystem holders they're coming together for better developing industrial standards for better developed standards as we've been arguing in India UK foreign trade agreement you need to have certain standards to actually harness the full benefits of these trade agreements. So when such standards are required the players the players in the market should come together have have an understanding of standards help the people help others in a maintaining the standards so that there is an healthy competition as well as the better output for the nation. So the in this in this context this is the first national platform of such kind.

[00:46:41]It's bringing 120 billion digital commerce ecosystem. So they worth around 120 billion today and the focus areas mainly is regulation, digital payments and consumer protection. So they're going to have these standards industrial standards on these aspects and they are also going to digitally help adopt the MSMES and also have technology improvement as the AI penetration is been increasing day on day. So they will also be dwelling or they'll also be discussing on what are the technology advancements that can be integrated into their supply chain or integrated into their functioning. So when there is a forum when there's a council to discuss such things so these things can be moving better faster and also widely. So that is an importance of e-commerce council of India where you need to know who has launched it and for what. So we will briefly see what is this internet mobile association of India. So it is it is a premier NPO not for profofit industry body representing the spectrum of India's digital and mobile services.

[00:47:44]So it has been established since 2004.

[00:47:46]So since it is a digital and mobile services major players like Jioel and other other players other telecom players or other players who are giving other related service digital services like Google, Microsoft as well, Amazon, Netflix. So there are different people who are giving digital services. So these people are coming in a unified platform to discuss about what are the tech start what are the domestic needs what are the technological advancements that can be done and what is the standards that can be done and also they will be uh influencing or they will be suggesting the government and what are the policy making that can be better in tune with the global standards for improvement in their own industries. So these are these are the functioning of this NPO that is internet and mobile association of India which has launched the e-commerce council of India. So the next topic would be the financial inclusion index.

[00:48:42]The financial inclusion index you need to know briefly it is it is released by RBI every year.

[00:48:54]So every year and every month as sorry month wise actually so it is released by RPI every month and it has three major components. The first component is usage access and third component is quality.

[00:49:11]So there are 97 indicators which are clubbed into these three components and the first component is usage which is around 45%age of weightage. So usage 45%age of weightage, access 35%age of weightage and quality 20%age of weightage. It was in fact in it was in fact asked in films 2026 about this financial inclusion index and usage actually at the highest weightage. So it is being tested. So you need to know what are the uh core pillars of this financial inclusion index and what what are the different what are the total number of indicators that is 97 indicators. So what this inclusion index does is about this inclusion index is being calculated for all the bank all the scheduled banks like on on their digital transaction insurance savings credit transactions.

[00:50:08]So everything is has been has been parameterized and it and they're going to put and mark or put a score for each one of that and they're going to finally rank it and they're going to say what is your inclusion level? What is the financial inclusion level so in that aspect the index has been raised to 70 in March 2026 which has been 67 in March 2025. So it indicates that the financial inclusion in the market or in the society is increasing and that is that reflects the India's continued progress in expanding financial services. So since this index basically is it is going to show you how much the financial services are inclusive in the society.

[00:50:49]So moving on let's see a practice question related to e-commerce council of India. So it was launched by internet and mobile association of India in 2026.

[00:50:58]So yeah it is going to be correct. It serves as unified industry platform for India's digital commerce ecosystem. Yes, it is going to be correct. And it is a statutory body under Ministry of Commerce and it is not a statutory body.

[00:51:11]It is just a council. It is going to be council where people will come together and discuss and what are the standards they're going to set what are the things that they're going to adopt technologically. So statement three would be incorrect. So the answer should be A. Let's check.

[00:51:25]Yeah, the answer is A.

[00:51:28]Thank you for watching. Please like, comment, share and subscribe our YouTube channel and also have a bell icon pressed. Thank you for watching. We'll meet you again on next interesting session.

[00:51:44]>> [music]