3 October 2026 · Daily Current Affairs

Banking and RBI

Governor: resilience today is not immunity tomorrow

3 October 2026 | RBI Governor at the Kautilya Economic Conclave, via Hindu BusinessLine

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra told the Kautilya Economic Conclave on 3 October 2026 that the domestic financial system is resilient, supported by healthy balance sheets of banks and NBFCs, but that 'today's resilience may not necessarily imply tomorrow's immunity'. He outlined five priorities for policymakers.

He said financial stability should focus on strengthening the system's ability to withstand and contain shocks, not on preventing them, so that financial services continue under severe stress. He flagged a new generation of systemic risks that are increasingly exogenous, cross-border and interconnected, and said the next crisis may start from a geopolitical event, a cyber-attack or a technology failure rather than a bank.

On innovation, he said artificial intelligence and tokenisation can improve efficiency but must not undermine trust. He named sound institutions, settlement finality, singleness of money and financial integrity as properties to preserve. Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister P K Mishra spoke at the same event and said resilience is not free.

Exam takeaway: Financial stability is about containing shocks, not preventing every shock.

Quick revision: Governor: five priorities; risks may start outside banks; singleness of money.

Banking and RBI

RBI stays cautious on crypto, backs underlying technology

3 October 2026 | RBI Governor, via The Hindu (PTI)

Governor Malhotra said India supports innovation in distributed ledger technology and tokenisation but is cautious about cryptocurrencies because of concerns over monetary sovereignty, monetary policy and capital flows. He spoke at the Kautilya Economic Conclave.

He linked the concern to the 'singleness of money' and said domestic payments are already fast, cheap and convenient, so the bigger challenge is cross-border payments, where other solutions including central bank digital currencies could be explored.

Exam takeaway: RBI separates the technology (supported) from cryptocurrencies (cautious approach).

Quick revision: RBI: back DLT and tokenisation, cautious on crypto; singleness of money.

Banking and RBI

Cassette swap: Board can delegate monitoring to executives

3 October 2026 | RBI notification RBI/2026-27/273, via TeamLease RegTech

RBI issued notification RBI/2026-27/273 on cassette swaps in ATMs. In partial modification of paragraph 3 of the earlier circular, it says a bank's Board may delegate monitoring of the progress of cassette swap implementation to a Committee of Executives of the bank.

The change is limited to who monitors progress. The notification reference is DCM (RMMT) No. S 2107/20-02-002/2026-27.

Exam takeaway: The change is about delegation of monitoring, not about the cassette swap itself.

Quick revision: Cassette swap: Board may delegate monitoring to a Committee of Executives.

Economy and Finance

SEBI chairman: examining expiry settlement and position limits

3 October 2026 | SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, via Moneycontrol

SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said India needs markets that mobilise capital, manage risk and inspire trust. After introducing the Closing Auction Session (CAS), he said SEBI is examining concerns about the settlement price framework for derivatives on expiry days.

CAS uses a call-auction window at the end of the trading day to execute buy and sell orders at a single equilibrium price, instead of deriving closing prices only from a volume-weighted average price. Pandey also said SEBI is examining position limits for non-agricultural contracts to improve liquidity and depth without weakening risk controls, and that in some agricultural commodities a phased approach could let a contract mature before physical settlement becomes mandatory.

Exam takeaway: CAS sets one closing price by call auction; it replaces reliance on VWAP alone.

Quick revision: SEBI: CAS reviewed; non-agri position limits; phased physical settlement.

Government Schemes

Green Energy Corridor III: transmission and curtailment details

3 October 2026 | Times of India

Green Energy Corridor Phase III will create 51,126 circuit kilometres of transmission lines and nearly 229 GVA of transformation capacity to evacuate 135 GW of renewable energy across States and Union Territories, with an outlay of nearly Rs 1.9 lakh crore. Central financial support is Rs 54,082 crore, which helps offset intra-state transmission charges.

More than 8,000 GWh of renewable energy was curtailed in the first quarter of 2026-27 because of inadequate transmission. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy secretary said about 70 per cent of the scheme is greenfield or new projects awarded through tariff-based competitive bidding.

Exam takeaway: Curtailment means renewable power that could not be used because the grid could not carry it.

Quick revision: GEC-III: 51,126 ckm; 229 GVA; 8,000 GWh curtailed in Q1.

Carried forward: Cabinet approved on 30 September 2026. These details were reported on 3 October.

National and International Affairs

President clears Gujarat and Assam UCC Bills

3 October 2026 | Hindustan Times

President Droupadi Murmu gave assent to the Gujarat and Assam Uniform Civil Code Bills, 2026, taking the number of States with a codified common personal law to three, with Uttarakhand. Assam's bill was cleared on 29 September and Gujarat's on 17 September. Gujarat's law was published in an extraordinary gazette dated 1 October.

The laws require marriage registration, prohibit polygamy and bigamy, and give sons and daughters equal property rights. The Gujarat code, passed on 24 March after an eight-hour debate, exempts the Scheduled Tribe population. State governments will now notify rules, after which the laws take effect.

Exam takeaway: Presidential assent is not commencement: the law comes into force after rules are notified.

Quick revision: UCC: Gujarat and Assam assented; third and second after Uttarakhand.

National and International Affairs

India-Russia consultative meeting: 70,000 skilled workers

3 October 2026 | External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, via The Hindu (PTI)

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar briefed a parliamentary consultative committee on India's engagement with Russia on 3 October 2026. He said Russia has agreed to take around 70,000 Indian skilled workers this year, especially in construction and logistics, according to people familiar with the meeting.

He spoke of a shared ambition to expand trade in a balanced way, with more Indian exports to Russia in seven areas: auto, pharma, food, marine products, engineering goods, chemicals and textiles. On energy, he said India's priority is to protect Indian consumers and keep multiple sources of supply. He also set out India's stance on the Ukraine conflict and support for dialogue.

Exam takeaway: Remember the figure and the two sectors named: construction and logistics.

Quick revision: India-Russia: 70,000 skilled workers; seven export areas.

National and International Affairs

Goyal meets US firms during US visit

3 October 2026 | PTI via News18

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held bilateral meetings with senior officials of several US companies, including Target, Mondelez International, Aon, Cognition and Archer Daniels Midland, and discussed investment opportunities in India. He is in the US until 5 October.

Goyal said he discussed opportunities for Target to expand sourcing from India under Make in India, and the strengths of India's talent and startup ecosystem with Cognition.

Exam takeaway: A ministerial visit with company meetings is about investment promotion, separate from the trade agreement talks.

Quick revision: Goyal in US to 5 Oct; met Target, Mondelez, Aon, Cognition, ADM.

National and International Affairs

Project-75(I) submarines near final decision

3 October 2026 | Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, via Business Today

Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said Project-75(I) is at the final stage and has been submitted for a decision by the competent authority. The programme covers six diesel-electric attack submarines with air-independent propulsion, to be built in India with German technology partnership, in a deal worth more than Rs 80,000 crore.

Mazagon Dock Limited and Germany's Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems are expected to lead, with Indian private-sector participation, under the Strategic Partnership model.

Exam takeaway: Not yet approved: the file is with the competent authority for a decision.

Quick revision: P-75(I): six AIP submarines; MDL with TKMS; decision pending.

Appointments, Awards and Important Days

RBI appoints Sudhakar Malli as Executive Director

3 October 2026 (effective 1 October 2026) | Reserve Bank of India, via ETCFO (IANS)

RBI appointed Sudhakar Malli as Executive Director with effect from 1 October 2026. He was Chief General Manager-in-Charge of the Department of Supervision and will look after the Department of Supervision (Supervisory Assessment).

He is a career central banker with about three decades of experience in supervising banks, NBFCs and co-operative banks, has about five years of supervisory experience overseas, and holds a BTech in Mechanical Engineering and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. RBI had earlier appointed Suman Ray in September and Monisha Chakraborty in August as Executive Directors.

Exam takeaway: Appointments questions ask who, what post, which department and from when.

Quick revision: Malli: ED, RBI, from 1 Oct; supervision.

Appointments, Awards and Important Days

CBI gets two Special Directors

3 October 2026 (cleared 1 October 2026) | Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, via BW Businessworld

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared the elevation of AYV Krishna and Venugopal N, both Additional Directors in the CBI, to Special Director on 1 October 2026, according to a DoPT order. The posts are upgraded temporarily from Level 15 to Level 16, and the upgradation is personal to each officer.

AYV Krishna is a 1995-batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre and will hold the post until 31 May 2030, his superannuation date. Venugopal N is a 1995-batch IPS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, with a tenure to December 2027.

Exam takeaway: The upgrade is personal to the officers, not a permanent change to the post.

Quick revision: CBI Special Directors: AYV Krishna, Venugopal N; ACC 1 Oct.

Reports, Indices, Science and Technology

India's first free-space quantum key link, 5.56 km

3 October 2026 (trial on 27-28 September) | QNu Labs, BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar, via GK24

QNu Labs, BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar demonstrated India's first free-space quantum key distribution link, 5.56 km long, in a night field trial between BISAG-N and IIT Gandhinagar on 27 and 28 September. The work falls under the Ministry of Electronics and IT.

The link kept the quantum bit error rate below 5 per cent and generated secure keys at 230 to 260 bits per second. The keys were fed into BISAG-N's post-quantum cryptography platform Vedic Kavach, which encrypted and decrypted test messages end to end, using QNu Labs' hardware QKD device Armos.

Exam takeaway: Quantum key distribution shares encryption keys using quantum signals; here it ran through open air.

Quick revision: First free-space QKD in India: 5.56 km; Vedic Kavach.