The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Amazon Seller Services in New Delhi to boost online market access for artisans enrolled under the PM Vishwakarma Scheme. Under the agreement, the e-commerce service will facilitate onboarding of eligible Vishwakarma artisans onto its e-commerce platform, while the Ministry will support them in obtaining necessary approvals, registrations and clearances. It will also promote handmade products through its Karigar initiative, which highlights India’s traditional craftsmanship and supports artisans in adopting digital tools.

The Ministry underlined that the partnership will help artisans enhance product visibility, improve sales, and reach customers across the nation. The PM Vishwakarma Scheme, launched in September 2023, offers end-to-end support including skill training, modern toolkits, credit access and market linkages for artisans engaged in traditional trades such as carpentry, pottery, metalsmithing, tailoring, goldsmithing, locksmithing, toy and doll making, basket and mat making, garland making and cobbler work.

Brookfield Asset Management, the largest commercial real estate owner/operator in the country with assets over $12 billion, is investing a whopping $1 billion to build Asia’s largest global capability centre (GCC) in the tony Powai area of the megapolis.

The 2-million sqft campus will come up on a six–acre plot in Powai which is also the home of the famed IIT Bombay, and is set for 2029 completion. It is expected to create over 30,000 high-skilled jobs and will house a multinational bank's GCC for a 20-years lease, said the New York-based global alternative asset manager, which is the infrastructure arm of the Canadian investment major.

The proposed GCC is being developed through an agreement between the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and a venture led by Brookfield along with its partner BS Sharma.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched the National Makhana Board in Purnea, Bihar - a move first announced in the Union Budget 2025 that the government says will help scale up production, processing and exports of makhana, also known as fox nut. The Centre has approved a development package worth nearly Rs 475 crore for the sector.

What The Board Will Do

The board is expected to focus on raising production standards, improving post-harvest management, introducing new technologies, expanding value addition and strengthening marketing and export linkages. Officials say the body will also support farmer-producer organisations and help makhana farmers access relevant central schemes.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a woman can file a sexual-harassment complaint with the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of her own workplace even if the accused is not employed there.

The judgment was delivered by a bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi, who dismissed an appeal filed by an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer accused of sexually harassing an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer in her New Delhi office.

The bench said the purpose of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act would be diluted if women were forced to approach the ICC of every respondent’s organisation for incidents involving third parties.

The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, marked Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav-2025 with a programme centred on India’s linguistic diversity and the role of languages in national life, here on Thursday.

The CIIL said Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav was observed annually on the birth anniversary of Subramania Bharati, one of India’s nationalist poets and a social visionary, and the event held across the country, celebrates the idea of the Bharatiya Bhasha Parivar, a family of languages that evolved through centuries of mutual influences and coexistence.

The utsav renewed the collective engagement with Indian languages as a living instrument of thought, identity and national cohesion, according to the CIIL.

India will host the first Commonwealth Kho Kho Championship from March 9, 2026, to March 14, 2026, in which more than 24 Commonwealth Nations will participate.

The Commonwealth Sports has approved the sanctioning of the 2026 Commonwealth Kho Kho Championships to be held in India on the dates mentioned earlier.

The participating nations are the Commonwealth countries spread across five continents - Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas - ensuring an actual global participation. The Commonwealth is an association of 56 independent countries with a combined population of 2.7 billion.

State Bank of India (SBI) will take a 50 percent stake in a new company set up to fight digital payment frauds, after getting approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The company, called Indian Digital Payment Intelligence Corporation (IDPIC), is registered as a Section 8 (not-for-profit) company under the Companies Act, 2013. It was incorporated on October 16, 2025. SBI is the initial subscriber and promoter.

According to SBI’s stock exchange filing, the bank will buy 1,00,00,000 (one crore) equity shares of IDPIC at a face value of Rs 10 per share, investing Rs 10 crore in cash. This will give SBI 50 percent of the paid-up share capital of the company.

IDPIC has an authorised share capital of Rs 500 crore and an initial paid-up capital of Rs 20 crore.

The acquisition of SBI’s stake is expected to be completed by December 15, 2025.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Wednesday said it has been recognised as ‘Best Bank in India’ at the “Bank of the Year Awards 2025 – Asia-Pacific“ by The Banker magazine, a Financial Times publication.

The magazine noted that BoB has improved customer experience by expanding the use of its phygital branches, which combine in-person and digital services for customers.

“Users can quickly obtain statements, generate income tax payment certificates and update the nominees named who can gain access to a bank account,” the magazine said on its website.

Sophie Kinsella, the author behind the bestselling Shopaholic series, has died at the age of 55 following an aggressive form of brain cancer diagnosed in 2022. The news, shared through a heartfelt statement on her social media accounts left fans devastated. The official statement reads, “She died peacefully, with her final days filled with her true loves: family and music and warmth and Christmas and joy."

Born Madeleine Sophie Wickham in London in 1969, the writer first made her mark under her real name with The Tennis Party, which she wrote at just 24 while she was working as a financial journalist. She went on to publish six novels as Madeleine Wickham before adopting the pen name Sophie Kinsella, under which she created one of literature’s most iconic modern heroines: Becky Bloomwood.

German automaking giant, BMW Group, on Tuesday, 9 December 2025, announced that the board of directors have appointed Milan Nedeljkovic as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company amid the automaker's electric vehicle (EV) bets to take on rivals like Tesla and other Chinese companies.

The automaker also announced that Nedeljković will assume his role, effective from 14 May 2026, succeeding Oliver Zipse, who has been serving in the role since 2019. After the upcoming board meeting in 2026, Oliver Zipse will leave the BMW board after completing the extended period beyond his retirement age, marking 35 years in the company.

“Milan Nedeljković will assume the role of Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG effective on 14 May 2026. The company’s Supervisory Board took this decision today,” according to a press release on Tuesday.