Monthly current affairs for June 2026

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has constituted a 7-member Working Group on AI (WG-AI) to guide insurance companies regarding the adoption, governance, and oversight of AI technologies.

The WG-AI is chaired by Prof. Sandeep K Shukla, Director of the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad. Deepak Gaikwad, General Manager (GM) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at IRDAI, has been appointed as the member-convener of the group.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) has signed a 5-year agreement with Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services Ltd to launch and distribute co-branded credit cards.

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) has signed an MoU with the IIT Hyderabad to advance research and innovation in next-generation communication technologies.

Under this collaboration, C-DOT is establishing a Centre of Excellence (CoE) at the campus. This marks the 4th CoE established by C-DOT, following those at IIT Kanpur, IIT Gandhinagar, and IIT Roorkee.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) with the Grassroots Research And Advocacy Movement (GRAAM).

The partnership facilitates the engagement of two research fellows under the Embark India Development Fellowship (EIDF) proposal.

The 5th edition of the "Burgundy Private Hurun India 500" report, a collaboration between Axis Bank's Burgundy Private and Hurun India, values the 500 most valuable non-state-run companies in India at $3.4 trillion.

Reliance Industries Ltd is the most valuable company in India, followed by HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel. The Tata Group is the leading conglomerate, with 14 companies valued at ₹24.9 lakh crore. Bharti Airtel is the top wealth creator over a 5-year period, adding ₹7.64 trillion in value.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is the most valuable unlisted firm in India, with a valuation of ₹4.86 lakh crore. The report also featured 5 Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises as new entrants, with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ranked as the most valuable franchise at ₹20,850 crore, followed by Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Rajasthan Royals, and Punjab Kings.

PM Narendra Modi has visited Slovakia and was honoured with 'The Order of the White Double Cross (1st Class),' the highest national award of the country, by President Peter Pellegrini. This marks the 33rd global honour for the PM.

Both countries have elevated their bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership (CP). PM Modi and his counterpart Robert Fico formalized 11 agreements focusing on strategic cooperation, innovation, and technology.

Both nations agreed to establish a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter-Terrorism to enhance security and launch a Consular Dialogue mechanism. They also announced the establishment of the first-ever Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Chair in AI at the Technical University of Kosice in Slovakia.

The Ministry of Defence has granted permission to the Musi Riverfront Development Corporation Ltd (MRDCL) to use 83.814 acres of defence land under the Artillery Centre in Hyderabad.

The land, valued at ₹533.42 crore, has been allocated for the Gandhi Sarovar Project at Bapu Ghat, Hyderabad, under the Equal Value Infrastructure (EVI) Policy.

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has inducted its first indigenously constructed Air Cushion Vehicle (ACV), designated H-561, at the Rassaim shipyard facility in Goa.

The vessel, built by the Goa-based Chowgule & Company Pvt Ltd (CCPL), is made of marine-grade aluminium and contains over 50% indigenous content. The ACV can accommodate up to 42 personnel and an 8-tonne payload, with a maximum speed of 45 knots.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group (WBG), has pledged $371 million to Sify Infinit Spaces Ltd (SISL), a subsidiary of Sify Technologies Ltd.

The financing will support the development of AI-ready, energy-efficient Data Centre (DC) infrastructure in Navi Mumbai and Chennai.

SpaceX has agreed to acquire Anysphere, the parent company of the AI coding assistant Cursor, in an all-stock transaction worth $60 billion.

The AI model 'Claude Fable 5' from Anthropic has been suspended globally, just 3 days after its launch. This action follows an unprecedented export control directive issued by the US government.

The 5th edition of the Indian Space Congress (ISC) 2026 was held in New Delhi. During the event, India's first digital repository of space-sector capabilities, named 'Indian Space Industry E-Catalogue', was launched.

Developed by the Satcom Industry Association (SIA)-India, it serves as a platform for capability discovery, collaboration, and business development within the Indian space ecosystem.

Additionally, two reports were released: 'Building India's On-Orbit Servicing and Refuelling Ecosystem: Policy, Partnerships, and Pathways Forward' (developed in collaboration with OrbitAID) and 'India's Strategic Opportunity in Space-Based Compute Infrastructure' (developed in partnership with TakeMe2Space).

The Department of Financial Services has approved the appointment of Rajendra Kumar Saboo, the Executive Director (ED) of UCO Bank, as the MD & CEO of the bank with additional charge. He will hold this position from June 19, 2026, to August 2026. He succeeds Ashwani Kumar.

Harsh Vardhan, the President of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA), has been honoured with the Global Prestige Award at the House of Lords in UK.

The award was presented under the theme 'Visionaries of Change: Charting the Course to Viksit Bharat 2047'. It is to be noted that he was elected as the youngest President in the history of the BCA in 2025.

Vice President CP Radhakrishnan has released a book titled "VIP Culture in India: Power, Privilege and the Distance from Democracy".

The book is authored by Nabam Rebia and co-authored by Sandeep Kumar, incorporating references to the civilisational and intellectual traditions of India.

Union Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu has inaugurated India's first hub-and-spoke flight service, designated as Air India flight 1111, at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

Launched under Air India's 'Easy Connect' initiative, the service provides connectivity to 17 international destinations.

Union Minister Amit Shah has launched 4 digital policing applications at the 26th All India Fingerprint Conference in New Delhi. The applications are National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)-Abhigyan, Criminal Procedure Identification (CrPI), e-Prosecution 2.0, and e-Forensics 2.0.

These applications are designed to strengthen the Integrated Criminal Justice System (ICJS) by leveraging AI for biometric identification, forensic integration, and digital prosecution management.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has approved financial assistance of ₹150 crore for India's first private-sector 91 Kilo Litres Per Day (KLPD) Hybrid Second-Generation (2G) Ethanol Biorefinery, located in Dhanaura, Uttar Pradesh.

The assistance is provided through the Centre for High Technology (CHT) under the PM JI-VAN (Jaiv Indhan- Vatavaran Anukool fasal awashesh Nivaran) Yojana. The biorefinery produces sustainable 2G ethanol using agricultural residues.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has inaugurated the world's first hydrogen production facility utilizing a Copper–Chlorine (Cu–Cl) thermochemical cycle at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu.

The facility is powered by nuclear heat derived from a Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR). The Cu–Cl cycle is a multi-step chemical process that splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen through the application of high-temperature thermal energy.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has awarded the IndiaAI Fellowship to 7 Computer Science Engineering (CSE) students at Chandigarh University.

Each recipient will receive financial assistance of ₹1 lakh for innovative projects using AI and Machine Learning applications.