The Reserve Bank on Tuesday announced the names of the winners of the third edition of its Global Hackathon with the themes 'Zero Financial Frauds' and 'Being Divyang Friendly'.

The hackathon received an enthusiastic response with 534 proposals, of which 39 were received from teams outside India, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brazil, Morocco, among others.

The 28 finalists presented their solutions to an independent jury which selected the winners based on several parameters, including comprehensiveness, innovation, feasibility, scalability and compliance.

The winners of the hackathon were FPL Technologies; Xaults Technologies; Epifi Technologies; NapID Cybersec; H Vision India (Hasin Vaidya); Rupya Darshini (Parthiban R, Jebaraj V and Gobika S); and VisAst (Krimisha Deore).

In a significant development, India and the U.S. announced cooperation on co-production of U.S. sonobuoys for Undersea Domain Awareness (UDA) for the Indian Navy, a high-end technology that allows tracking submarines in the deep seas and oceans.

This is the latest in a series of cooperation measures between the two countries as both grow wary of the rapid expansion of Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean Region.

“Welcoming the advancement of discussions between Ultra Maritime (UM) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) to enhance undersea domain awareness through a first-of-its-kind partnership on co-production of U.S. sonobuoys in support of the U.S. and Indian defence industrial bases,” said a fact sheet ‘The U.S. and India Committed to Strengthening Strategic Technology Partnership’ issued on January 6 at the end of U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit to India on the aspect of deepening defence innovation and industrial cooperation.

Bharat Heavy Electricals said that it has successfully commissioned two units of the 6?170 MW Punatsangchhu-II Hydroelectric Project (PHEP-II) in Bhutan.

The said project was executed under a bilateral agreement between the Government of India and the Royal Government of Bhutan. PHEP-II is a greenfield hydroelectric project located in the Wangdue district of Western Bhutan.

The Francis Turbine installed at the site is designed to operate at a rated head of 241 meters, which is the highest for any Francis Type Hydro Turbine in Bhutan. Upon the full commissioning of all six units, the expected annual power generation will be 4,357 gigawatt-hours.

Uttar Pradesh government has announced a relief measure for the villagers of Uttar Pradesh under the Jal Jeevan Mission, waiving 10% community contribution for ‘Har Ghar Nal’ scheme. The state government will bear the community contribution for the Har Ghar Nal scheme.

Under the scheme, villagers were required to contribute 10% of the capital cost for providing tap water connections to every household. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath emphasized that this expense should not burden the common people.

A total of 40,951 schemes worth Rs 1,52,521.82 crore (1.52 lakh crore) have been approved under the Jal Jeevan Mission in Uttar Pradesh, with the centre and state sharing Rs 71,714.68 crore each. As per the estimate, the state government has relieved villagers of the Rs 9,092.42 crore community contribution by allocating Rs 2,000 crore in the current financial year’s budget. It will benefit 2.33 crore families across the state.

The Government of Uttar Pradesh has launched a new initiative aimed at transforming the state’s agricultural ecosystem, in collaboration with Google Cloud India. The Uttar Pradesh Open Network for Agriculture, powered by Google’s Gemini framework and Beckn Protocol, will provide reportedly millions of farmers with a comprehensive, digital platform offering services like agricultural advisory, credit, mechanisation, and market linkages.

Designed as a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), the network will look to enable farmers to easily access vital services through voice commands in multiple languages, including Hindi, Bangla, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, and Punjabi.

Punjab’s New and Renewable Energy Sources Minister Aman Arora has said that 663 more solar water pumps for agricultural use will be installed within the next few months. Work on the installation of 2,356 solar pumps has already been on since last month. He said this will not only reduce fuel costs but also lead to zero carbon emissions, promoting more sustainable farming practices.

The Minister declared that a subsidy of 60% is available for general category farmers and 80% for Scheduled Caste (SC) farmers for installing solar pumps. In dark zones (over-exploited groundwater blocks), these pumps will be installed for farmers who already have microirrigation systems.

He has directed the Punjab Energy Development Authority (PEDA) officials to make all-out efforts to achieve the set target of installing 20,000 agricultural solar pumps in the State for the welfare of the farmers and the environment.

Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said that the company will invest $3 billion in India in cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and skilling over the next two years, including the establishment of new data centers.

The company will also help train 10 million people over the next five years with AI skills in the country.

“India is rapidly becoming a leader in AI innovation, unlocking new opportunity across the country. The investments in infrastructure and skilling we are announcing today reaffirm our commitment to making India AI-first, and will help ensure people and organisations across the country benefit broadly,” Nadella, who is currently visiting India, said at the Bengaluru leg of Microsoft AI Tour.

The AFC Asian Cup 2027 will take place from January 7 to February 5 across three cities in Saudi Arabia—Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al Khobar, the AFC announced on Tuesday.

In Riyadh, five stadiums will host the matches, including King Fahd Sports City Stadium, King Saud University Stadium, Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud University Stadium, Kingdom Arena, and Al Shabab Stadium. In Jeddah, King Abdullah Sports City and Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadiums have been confirmed, while a state-of-the-art venue is set to be built in Al Khobar, completing the world-class infrastructure for the tournament.

Saudi Arabia was named the host nation for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup in 2023, marking the first time the country will host the prestigious tournament.

India’s GDP growth is projected to slow sharply to 6.4% in FY25, down from 8.2% in FY24, according to the first advance estimates released by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The slowdown in the first advance estimates highlights a more tempered pace of economic activity and indicates that the economy could grow at the slowest pace in four years.

"Real GDP has been estimated to grow by 6.4% in FY 2024-25 as compared to the growth rate of 8.2% in Provisional Estimate (PE) of GDP for FY 2023-24. Nominal GDP has witnessed a growth rate of 9.7% in FY 2024-25 over the growth rate of 9.6% in FY 2023-24," said the NSO data.

Realty firm Signature Global Ltd announced on Tuesday the appointment of Sanjeev Kumar Sharma as its chief financial officer (CFO).

"Pursuant to the recommendation of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and approval of the Audit Committee, Mr Sanjeev Kumar Sharma has been appointed as chief financial officer and key managerial personnel of the company wef 7th January, 2025," said the company in its stock filing.

Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, a Chartered Accountant since 1997, brings nearly 30 years of expertise in financial planning and analysis (FP&A), mergers and acquisitions (M&A), investor relations, financing, reporting, taxation, and strategic decision-making. He has extensive experience across diverse sectors, including real estate, asset management, oil and gas, manufacturing, and banking.