9 April 2026 · Daily Current Affairs

Banking and RBI

RBI issues guidelines for faster cross-border inward payments

9 April 2026 | Reserve Bank of India circular RBI/2026-27/08

On 9 April 2026 the RBI issued 'Guidelines to facilitate faster cross-border inward payments' (RBI/2026-27/08) to all scheduled commercial banks. It cites the RBI's Payments Vision 2025 and the G20 roadmap for cheaper, faster, more transparent and more accessible cross-border payments, and targets delay at the beneficiary bank.

Banks must inform customers immediately on receipt of an inward message, or at the start of the next business day if it arrives after operating hours. Banks should reconcile and confirm credit in the nostro account near real time or at intervals that should normally not exceed one hour. They must endeavour to credit payments received during foreign exchange market hours on the same business day.

Banks may set up straight-through processing for crediting individual residents, based on risk assessment and FEMA compliance, and should offer digital interfaces for foreign exchange transactions. The directions take effect six months after the circular. They are issued under Section 10(2) read with Section 18 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

Exam takeaway: A nostro account is a bank's account held with a foreign correspondent bank in foreign currency.

Quick revision: RBI 9 Apr 2026: faster inward cross-border credit; hourly nostro reconciliation.

Government Schemes

Cabinet approves Nutrient Based Subsidy rates for Kharif 2026

8 April 2026 (carried forward) | Press Information Bureau (Department of Fertilizers)

Carried forward from 8 April 2026: the Union Cabinet approved Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for the Kharif season 2026 (1 April to 30 September 2026) on Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) fertilisers, including DAP and NPKS grades.

The tentative budgetary requirement is about Rs 41,533.81 crore, around Rs 4,317 crore more than Rs 37,216.15 crore for Kharif 2025. The government makes 28 grades of P&K fertilisers available at subsidised prices, and the NBS scheme has been in force since 1 April 2010.

Daily Excelsior, reporting the Cabinet briefing, said the nitrogen subsidy was set at Rs 47.32 per kg, phosphate at Rs 52.76 per kg, sulphur at Rs 3.16 per kg and potash held at Rs 2.38 per kg, with DAP's retail price held at Rs 1,350 per 50-kg bag.

Exam takeaway: The NBS scheme fixes per-kilogram subsidy on nutrients, not on a fertiliser product.

Quick revision: Kharif 2026 NBS: about Rs 41,534 crore, up Rs 4,317 crore.

Appointments, Awards and Important Days

Sanjay Khanna named Chairman and MD of BPCL

9 April 2026 | Press Trust of India, via NewsDrum

PTI reported on 9 April 2026 that Sanjay Khanna has been named Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), described as India's second-largest state-owned fuel retailer. He was Director (Refineries) and had held additional charge as CMD after G Krishnakumar superannuated on 30 April 2025.

In a stock exchange filing, BPCL said the appointment, conveyed in a letter dated 9 April 2026 from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, is effective 9 April 2026 until his superannuation on 31 May 2029 or until further orders. Khanna is a chemical engineering graduate of NIT Tiruchirappalli and holds a postgraduate degree in finance management from the University of Mumbai.

Exam takeaway: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas conveys the appointments of heads of oil PSUs.

Quick revision: BPCL CMD: Sanjay Khanna from 9 Apr 2026.