The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed an eight-member panel to study issues related to quantum technology and recommend a roadmap and framework to quantum-secure the Indian financial system.

Anil Prabhakar, professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, will be the convenor of the panel and the FinTech Department of the RBI will provide secretarial support to the committee.

“Quantum technology represents a paradigm shift compared with traditional systems as it leverages the principles of quantum mechanics, such as superposition and entanglement. This enables quantum systems to address complex financial problems such as portfolio optimisation, risk assessment, macroeconomic modelling, etc,” the RBI said while highlighting the introduction of significant risks, particularly the potential to undermine certain existing cryptographic standards.

In a first for Asian equity markets, Taiwan has displaced India to claim fifth place in the global market capitalisation rankings. The rise has been swift and concentrated, fuelled almost entirely by the artificial intelligence-driven surge in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

Currently Taiwan's market cap stands at $4.95 trillion while pushing India to sixth rank with market cap at $4.92 trillion.

The United States remains the world's largest market with a market cap of $77.96 trillion, followed by China and Japan with market caps of $15.57 trillion and $8.67 trillion respectively. Hong Kong ranks fourth with a market cap of $7.26 trillion.

Padma Awards, India's highest civilian honours, are given to recognise exceptional service and contribution across fields such as art, public affairs, literature, medicine, sports, science and social work. Instituted in 1954, the awards are announced every year on the eve of Republic Day. This year, the President has approved 131 Padma awards, including five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri awards.

President Droupadi Murmu will confer the awards in two phases at a Civil Investiture Ceremony to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, beginning Monday. The ceremony will be attended by Vice President C P Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other dignitaries. The remaining awardees will be honoured in a later second phase.

The awards are presented in three categories: Padma Vibhushan for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of a high order, and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field.

India and Russia held discussions on further deepening their military partnership during the 5th Sub Working Group (Land) meeting.

Sharing the details in a post on X, the Indian Army said that the meeting took place under the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC) on Military & Military Technical Cooperation, marking another significant milestone in strengthening defence ties between the Indian Army and the Russian Land Forces.

The post added, "Both sides held productive deliberations aimed at enhancing mutual learning, operational synergy and bilateral military capabilities, further reinforcing the longstanding India-Russia defence partnership."

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is likely to issue Request for Proposal (RFP) to one of the three shortlisted private sector consortium towards the end of this month, having completed legal and other scrutiny to roll out the process of manufacturing five fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

Sources stated that the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA)—the nodal DRDO lab responsible for designing and mentoring the AMCA project—has nearly completed its evaluation of the proposals submitted by the three shortlisted consortia. These bidders include Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), competing independently; a consortium led by Larsen & Toubro (L&T), state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), and Dynamatic Technologies Ltd ; and a tripartite consortium of Bharat Forge, BEML, and Data Patterns.

State oil marketing companies don’t foresee a delay in adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on account of ongoing West Asia tensions and have called upon the government to provide fiscal incentives to make it affordable for airlines.

Globally, SAF is priced three-five times more than conventional aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Incentives like viability gap funding or tax rebates could help lower the cost of production and help oil companies to pass on the benefits to airlines. This would also make it easier for airlines to enter into offtake agreements for SAF, executives of oil marketing companies said on Saturday.

The government has set an indicative target of blending one per cent SAF in jet fuel used for international flights from January 2027. This would increase to 2 per cent and 5 per cent by 2028 and 2030.

China launched the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft Sunday night with three astronauts heading to its space station, including one set to stay in space for a year.

The spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The much-anticipated launch comes as China prepares for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030.

The astronauts on the mission are Zhu Yangzhu, the commander, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, also identified by Chinese authorities as Li Jiaying using the Mandarin transliteration of her name.

Lai, who was born and raised in Hong Kong and has a doctoral degree in computer forensics, is the first astronaut from the city on a space mission.

In a bid to fast-track free trade negotiations, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal landed in Canada on Monday, leading a 150-strong business delegation. The high-profile, three-day visit is the single largest trade delegation India has ever sent to Canada, hinting at a powerful push to ink the long-discussed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) by the end of 2026.

The trade push comes during a period of significant diplomatic and economic renewal between New Delhi and Ottawa, following Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s landmark visit to India on March 2, which effectively thawed bilateral relations and officially established the Terms of Reference for the renewed trade framework.

On the second day of the 2026 Athletics Federation Cup, Gurindervir Singh clinched the gold medal in the men’s 100m event in Ranchi with a new national record timing of 10.09 seconds. He improved his previous personal best of 10.17 seconds and comfortably surpassed the Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 10.16 seconds.

Animesh Kujur secured the silver medal with a timing of 10.20 seconds, while Pranav Pramod took bronze clocking 10.29 seconds. In the men’s 400m event, Vishal TK won the gold medal with a new national record of 44.98 seconds, becoming the first Indian athlete to break the 45-second barrier in the event.

However, he narrowly missed the Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 44.96 seconds by just 0.02 seconds. Rajesh Ramesh claimed the silver medal with a timing of 45.31 seconds, while Jay Kumar bagged the bronze medal after finishing in 45.47 seconds.

Indian track and field seems to refuse to want to take a breather. After the high of Saturday evening, when three athletics records fell in the space of an hour, national marks continued to tumble on Sunday evening at the Federation Cup in Ranchi.

In the space of about 10 minutes, two national records were broken and then equalled in the men’s pole vault.

First, Dev Meena cleared 5.42m to break the national record of 5.41m, set just last month by his training partner Kuldeep Kumar. Dev started to celebrate, but the celebrations were short-lived. In his very next jump, Kuldeep raised the bar by three centimetres and then vaulted the height of 5.45m to reclaim his national record. Then, before the crowd at the Birsa Munda stadium had the time to process what had just happened, Dev charged down the runway and cleared that same mark to equal the national record.