Daily Current Affairs 5 May 2026

The central government has included 6 strategically located border villages in the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into the second phase of the Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP). The initiative aims to accelerate development and improve living conditions in remote frontier regions. The villages designated under the VVP-II include Bobiya, Kadyala, Gajnal, Karol Krishna, Rathua, and Gujjar Chak.

The RBI has cancelled the banking licence of Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL), effective April 24, 2026. The regulatory action was taken due to persistent non-compliance and material supervisory concerns within the bank.

The RBI has issued the final guidelines titled “RBI (Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) – Registration, Exemptions and Framework for Scale Based Regulation) Amendment Directions, 2026”, applicable to NBFCs that do not use public funds and lack a customer interface.

Effective from July 2026, entities with an asset size under ₹1,000 crore will be classified as ‘Unregistered Type I NBFCs’ and will be exempt from registration with the RBI. All other NBFCs that do not meet this criteria will be categorized as ‘Type II NBFCs’.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Todd McClay have signed the India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (IN-NZ FTA) at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.

Under the IN-NZ FTA, India has secured 100% duty-free access on all 8,284 tariff lines to New Zealand. In return, India has liberalized 70.03% of its tariff lines, which covers 95% of the total bilateral trade value.

New Zealand has opened 118 service sectors with Most Favoured Nation (MFN) commitments across 139 sub-sectors. Furthermore, New Zealand has committed to an investment of $20 billion over a 15 year period in sectors like infrastructure, renewable energy, manufacturing, and startups.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report titled “TRENDS IN WORLD MILITARY EXPENDITURE, 2025” (published as the “SIPRI Fact Sheet April 2026”), India is ranked 5th among the largest military spenders globally in 2025.

The defense expenditure of India reached $92.1 billion, which is an 8.9% increase compared to the preceding year. This expenditure accounts for 3.2% of the total global military spending.

The USA is ranked first with an expenditure of $954 billion, followed by China, Russia, and Germany.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a $70 billion connectivity initiative to integrate power and digital networks across the Asia-Pacific region by 2035. The initiative includes a $50 billion programme named “Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative” to transition from bilateral energy links to a regional power trade framework.

ADB will contribute $25 billion (50% of the funding). By 2035, the project aims to integrate 20 Gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy, construct 22,000 circuit-km of transmission lines, and reduce regional power sector emissions by 15%. It will improve electricity access for 200 million people by focusing on infrastructure.

The “Asia-Pacific Digital Highway” involves a $20 billion investment to bridge the digital divide and facilitate growth driven by AI. By 2035, it targets providing first-time broadband access to 200 million people and enhancing service quality for 450 million others.

The programme aims to reduce connectivity costs by 40% for remote areas. Additionally, a “Centre for AI Innovation and Development” will be established in Seoul, South Korea. The announcement was made during the 59th Annual Meeting of the bank in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Dr Neena Malhotra, Secretary (South) of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), has chaired the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) Deputy Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys for the Middle East and North Africa (BRICS MENA) meeting in New Delhi.

The deliberations focused on the post-conflict reconstruction in Syria, achieving a political settlement in Yemen, and promoting stability and development in Iraq. The representatives also discussed the progress of the political process in Libya and the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. It is to be noted that the participating members have agreed to meet again in 2027 under the chairship of China.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for the Google Cloud India AI Hub in Tarluvada, Visakhapatnam. Valued at $15 billion (₹1.35 lakh crore), it is the largest single Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) project in India.

The facility will be managed by Raiden Infotech India Pvt Ltd (a subsidiary of Google) in collaboration with AdaniConneX (a Joint Venture (JV) between Adani Enterprises and EdgeConneX) and Nxtra by Airtel. The project will be completed over 5 years with a capacity of 1 gigawatt (GW), making it one of the largest AI focused data centers in India.

Sigma Advanced Systems Ltd (SIGD), an Indian aerospace and defence company, has signed a 7-year agreement with the United Kingdom (UK)-based Rolls-Royce for the manufacture and supply of high-precision, safety-critical components.

The contract is valued at ₹3,800 crore (nearly £300 million). The components will be utilized in the global aerospace programmes of Rolls-Royce.

Sahajanand Medical Technologies Ltd (SMT) has secured the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 50001:2018 Energy Management System certification. It becomes the first domestic cardiovascular manufacturing unit in India to adopt a structured international energy management system.

The certification applies to the manufacturing facilities of the company located in Surat (Gujarat) and Hyderabad (Telangana). It is to be noted that ISO 50001 is an international framework that defines requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and enhancing an Energy Management System (EnMS).

Pixxel has partnered with Sarvam to develop and operate the first orbital data centre satellite of India named “Pathfinder”. The 200 kg-class spacecraft is projected to be deployed in orbit by the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2026.

It is to be noted that Pixxel will handle the design, construction, and launch of the satellite, while Sarvam will integrate an AI framework to facilitate on-orbit training and inference through full-stack language models.

The Maharashtra Cabinet has approved the ‘AI Policy 2026’ to foster technological growth and infrastructure development in the state.

The policy aims to attract an investment of ₹10,000 crore and generate 1.5 lakh employment opportunities by 2031. The initiative focuses on the establishment of innovation centres and the implementation of skill training programs to support AI driven economic expansion.

The Government of India (GoI) has appointed Dr R Balasubramaniam and Dr Joram Aniya as full-time members of NITI Aayog.