•  India is now the second largest producer of smartphones in the world only behind China, according to fresh data shared by the Cellular Association with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha and IT Minister Ravi Shanker Prasad, reported news agency PTI.  

• The FTTF (), which has members from industry and government, has set target to create USD 8 billion component manufacturing as result of growth in mobile phone production and create 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs by 2019.  
  

. NASA's next mission to the Red Planet will be the topic of a media briefing at 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. EDT) Thursday, March 29, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The briefing will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

. NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander will study the deep interior of Mars to learn how all rocky planets formed, including Earth and its moon. The lander's instruments include a seismometer to detect marsquakes and a probe that will monitor the flow of heat in the planet's subsurface.

• Several Budget proposals, including the reintroduction of tax on long term capital gains (LTCG) exceeding Rs 1 lakh from sale of shares, will kick in from April 1, the beginning of 2018-19 financial year.
• Besides, other tax proposals like reduced corporate tax of 25 per cent on businesses on a turnover of up to Rs 250 crore and a standard deduction of Rs 40,000 in lieu of transport allowance and medical reimbursement, will come into effect from Sunday.
• While the exemption limit on income from interest for senior citizens has been raised five times to Rs 50,000 per year, that for health insurance premium and medical expenditure has been raised to Rs 50,000 from Rs 30,000, respectively under section 80D of the I-T Act.

. Microsoft Corp on Thursday said Terry Myerson, executive vice president of its Windows and devices business, will be leaving the company amid a major management reshuffle that increases the company's focus on its cloud products.

. The latest transition builds on earlier efforts to unite engineers who work on software with those that oversee hardware. Microsoft is creating two new engineering teams, with one focusing on how consumers use technology and the other on how businesses use cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday launched the GSAT-6A communication satellite using the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F08) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. 

• ISRO said that the GSAT-6A was similar to the GSAT-6. ISRO Chairman K Sivan had told news agency IANS that the GSAT-6A would be followed by the launch of navigation satellite which will be in the next fiscal.

• GSAT-6A will provide a platform for developing technologies such as demonstration of 6m S-Band Unfurlable Antenna, handheld ground terminals and network management techniques. These are useful in satellite-based mobile communication applications.

• The Reserve Bank of India, in a rare move, has imposed a penalty of Rs 58.9 crore on ICICI Bank, for failure to adhere to rules on sale of bonds in the held-to-maturity (HTM) category.

• This is the first instance of a bank being charged with a fine of this quantum for non-compliance of this nature.

•  Anna Hazare, who has been on an indefinite strike in Delhi for a week over his demands for a Lokpal, has broken his fast after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met him today.

• "The Lokpal issue is still pending. Our chief minister is saying the issue will be solved within six months. The government and the public are not separate entities. It is the duty of the government to do good for the people," Anna Hazare said after ending his hunger strike.

. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and South Asian Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) to cooperate on the issue of oil and chemical pollution in the South Asian Seas region.

. As per an official release, the MoU aims to seek cooperation between India and other maritime nations including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Pakistan to protect and preserve marine environment in the South Asian region.

. The Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan was made to facilitate international co-operation and mutual assistance in preparing and responding to a major oil pollution incident in the seas around the Maritime States of Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, which aims to find alien worlds with capacity to harbour life is scheduled to launch on April 16 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

.  On March 15, the spacecraft passed a review that confirmed it was ready for launch, NASA had said 

. The Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed Justice Jawad Rahim, judicial member of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), as its acting chairperson.

. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud said that the new acting chairperson will discharge his duties until a regular appointment is made..

. “Justice Rahim shall discharge the duties of Chairperson (of NGT) for all purposes, including participating in the selection process for filing up vacancies of members, until a regular appointment of a new Chairperson is made,” the bench said.