India’s first maritime lender, Sagarmala Finance Corporation, plans to raise funds through the ‌country’s maiden blue bond on September 28, its top executive ⁠said.

The lender aims to raise 600 crore ($62.62 million), including a greenshoe option ‌of 500 crore, through the sale of 10-year bonds, ‌a provisional term sheet ‌showed.

Blue ⁠bonds are a debt instrument ⁠used to finance sustainable water and marine projects, including clean water, recycling, shipping, sustainable fishing, ocean energy ‌and mapping.

The proceeds will be used for maritime sector lending, greenfield port projects, funding coastal road network ‌and more, Managing Director L.V.S. Sudhakar Babu told Reuters late on Monday, adding that the funds ⁠will be used within the current financial year.

The global stage is set for the WorldSkills Competition 2026, starting September 22, in Shanghai. Representing Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat, India’s largest-ever delegation—a 70-member Team Skill India contingent—will showcase its expertise across 63 skill categories at what is widely celebrated as the 'Olympics of Skills'.

For the first time, India will compete in 11 cutting-edge, future-ready domains, including Drone Technology (Unmanned Aerial Systems), Software Testing, and Dental Prosthetics.

Jindal Steel has joined hands as the Official Sponsor to empower these young skill champions representing the nation on the global stage.

India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana became the first women’s cricketer to complete 11,000 international runs during the Asian Games final against Sri Lanka at Korogi Sports Park on Tuesday.

Mandhana came into the final with 10,987 international runs — 788 in Tests, 5,411 in ODIs and 4,788 in T20Is — and needed 13 runs to reach the landmark.

She achieved the milestone in the third over after India opted to bat first. Mandhana began with two fours in the opening over before hitting a six to complete 11,000 international runs.

The achievement comes shortly after Mandhana became the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket across the three formats, surpassing former India captain Mithali Raj’s tally of 10,868 runs during the recently concluded Asia Cup.

Jay Meena won the bronze medal in men’s singles at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, becoming the first Indian to win an Asian Games medal in soft tennis.

Meena’s historic run ended in the semifinals, where he lost to Japan’s Takuya Kurosaka 3-5, 1-4, 1-4, 4-1, 6-4, 1-4.

The Indian had earlier beaten the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit in a thrilling seven-game quarterfinal, winning 4-3 (0-4, 4-2, 2-4, 4-2, 5-3, 2-4, 7-5) to assure India of its first medal in the sport at the Asian Games.

The bronze adds to Meena’s steady rise on the international soft tennis circuit.

Fintech major PhonePe on Tuesday (September 22, 2026) announced that it has secured in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for two key operating licences, marking its first international expansion footprint.

The in-principle approval covers retail payment services and card schemes (RPSCS), as well as stored value facilities (SVF), the company said in a statement.

The digital payments firm will now work towards obtaining final approval before commencing commercial operations in the United Arab Emirates.

India has reaffirmed its commitment to combating Viral Hepatitis and eliminating Hepatitis B and C as public health threats by 2030. Addressing a side event of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, organised by the UN Group of Friends to Eliminate Hepatitis, Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava highlighted India’s comprehensive, people-centred response across prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and care.

The Health Secretary said India has strengthened interventions across the continuum from antenatal screening and Hepatitis B immunisation to free diagnosis and treatment, safe blood transfusion services, counselling and rehabilitation support for people who inject drugs. She emphasised the importance of sustained global cooperation, equitable access to prevention, testing and treatment, and stronger health systems to accelerate progress towards the 2030 targets.

The Centre has amended the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, requiring packages of soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, other cosmetics and toiletries to display a symbol indicating whether the product is of vegetarian or non-vegetarian origin.

Under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Fourth Amendment Rules, 2026, notified on September 21, products of vegetarian origin must carry a green dot, while products of non-vegetarian origin must carry a red or brown dot. The symbol must appear at the top of the principal display panel of the package. The requirement applies to soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, other cosmetics and toiletries. The amendment came into force on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have announced the renewal of their existing cooperation till 2032.

The decision was made at the recently concluded International Space Summit in Paris, where the chiefs of the two space agencies signed a pact extending their long-standing cooperative agreement. At the summit held on September 9 and 10, the signatories confirmed and reaffirmed long-term commitment by both Europe and India to expanding cooperation in space.

Some of the recent engagements between the European and the Indian space agencies have been for missions Aditya-L1, Proba-3, and the upcoming Chandrayaan-5, to name a few.

According to Josef Aschbacher, Director General, ESA, the renewed agreement will help both the space agencies pursue “greater ambitions together while delivering tangible benefits for our citizens and economies “.

England fast bowler Mark Wood has retired from international cricket with immediate effect, bringing the curtain down on a career repeatedly disrupted by injury.

Wood, 36, made his England debut in 2015 and went on to claim 119 wickets in 38 Tests. He was part of the side that regained the Ashes on home soil that year and later played key roles in England’s major white-ball triumphs.

The Durham paceman took 18 wickets during England’s 2019 World Cup-winning campaign and was also part of the squad that lifted the 2022 T20 World Cup. He finished with 80 wickets in 70 ODIs and 54 in 38 T20Is.

The government has mandated compulsory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for smartphone screen protectors, requiring entities to secure regulatory approval before selling such products in India.

The move is expected to curb sales of low-quality smartphone screen protectors and help domestic manufacturers like Optiemus Infracom, which has started production in India.

"The provisions of Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021, shall apply to the goods or articles as specified in column 2 (Screen Protectors for smartphones), added to the schedule of the said order by virtue of this notification, for conforming to the corresponding Indian standard as specified in column 3 IS 19348:2025), with effect from 1st April, 2027," a notification dated September 21 said.