BRICS Adopts New Delhi Declaration, Retail Inflation at 4.82%, SEMICON India Opens, Yudh Abhyas Begins & Anant Nag Gets Dadasaheb Phalke Honour

The week of 12–18 September 2026 was dominated by the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, new inflation and export data, major semiconductor and defence initiatives, and important developments in sports and the environment. India also signed the Kishau Multipurpose Project agreement, PM Vishwakarma completed three years with 30 lakh registrations, the EPFO mandatory wage ceiling was raised to ₹25,000, and veteran actor Anant Nag was named recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2024.

Master Weekly Highlights

🇮🇳 National Affairs

• The Kishau Multipurpose Project agreement was signed on 15 September by the participating states. The project envisages a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam on the Tons River, with storage capacity of 1,562 million cubic metres. About 90% of the financial burden is to be borne by the Union Government and 10% by partner states.
• The project is expected to irrigate around 97,000 hectares and generate about 1,476 million units of clean hydropower.
• PM Vishwakarma completed three years on 17 September. The scheme had achieved its target of 30 lakh registered beneficiaries, while around 24.50 lakh beneficiaries had received Basic Skill Training.
• PM Vishwakarma was launched on 17 September 2023, covers 18 traditional trades and has an outlay of ₹13,000 crore for FY 2023–24 to FY 2027–28.

🌍 International Affairs

• The 18th BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi on 12–13 September under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”
• Leaders adopted the BRICS New Delhi Declaration, reaffirming cooperation under the political-security, economic-financial and cultural/people-to-people pillars.
• On the sidelines, India and China discussed border peace, trade concerns, market access and people-to-people engagement; both sides reiterated the importance of a long-term approach to bilateral relations.
• India and Malaysia reviewed cooperation in trade, defence, semiconductors, digital economy, energy, fintech and education. Malaysia also agreed to the establishment of an Indian Consulate General in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
• At the India-UAE meeting, the two sides noted plans by UAE’s International Holding Company for an US$11.5 billion integrated greenfield aluminium project in Odisha.

💰 Economy & Banking

• India’s CPI-based retail inflation was 4.82% in August 2026, compared with 4.45% in July. Rural inflation was 5.23% and urban inflation 4.31%.
• Food inflation based on the Consumer Food Price Index was 5.95%. The current CPI series uses 2024=100 as its base.
• August 2026 WPI inflation stood at 9.92%, up from 9.78% in July. The WPI series uses 2022–23 as the base year.
• India’s combined merchandise and services exports during April–August 2026–27 were estimated at US$399.27 billion, up 15.55% year-on-year. Merchandise exports alone were US$215.91 billion.
• The Union Cabinet raised the EPFO mandatory wage ceiling from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 per month, effective from 17 September 2026. The change is expected to bring more than 51 lakh additional employees under mandatory EPFO coverage.

🛡️ Defense & Security

• The 22nd India-US Joint Military Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2026 began on 15 September at Auli in Uttarakhand and Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan.
• Each side fielded about 600 personnel. Training focuses on mountainous and semi-mountainous operations, Integrated Battle Groups, drones, autonomous systems and multi-domain warfare.
• The Indian Air Force conducted its first Dronathon 2026 at Pokhran from 14–16 September. More than 20 defence companies, MSMEs, startups and innovators demonstrated unmanned and counter-unmanned technologies.
• At the VIMARSH DRDO-Industry Synergy Meet, nine Licensing Agreements for Transfer of Technology were handed to 13 manufacturing partners, alongside new measures for MSMEs and deep-tech startups.

🚀 Science & Technology

• SEMICON India 2026 opened in New Delhi on 17 September. This was the 5th edition, held under the theme “Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem.”
• Semicon 2.0, approved earlier in 2026, has an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore and focuses on six areas including chip design, materials and equipment, fabs, advanced packaging, R&D and talent.
• Around ₹1 lakh crore of investment commitments were reported under Semicon 2.0, with close to one lakh potential employment opportunities across the ecosystem.
• The indigenous SPROUT facility was inaugurated at BRIC-NIPGR, New Delhi, to accelerate research into climate-resilient crops. Its SpeedSeed technology can reduce the chickpea generation cycle to around 40 days.

🏆 Awards & Honours

• Veteran actor Anant Nag was announced as the recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2024 for his contribution to Indian cinema. The award is to be presented at the 72nd National Film Awards on 22 September at Kevadia, Gujarat.
• The Department of Financial Services received the First Prize under Rajbhasha Kirti 2025–26 in the category for ministries/departments with fewer than 300 personnel.
• The Ministry of Defence secured first place in the Rajbhasha Kirti Award category for ministries/departments with more than 300 personnel.
• The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances received the special Rajbhasha Utkrishtta Sammaan 2025–26.

🥇 Sports

• India’s Junior Men’s Hockey Team won the Asia Cup on 13 September with a 4–1 victory in the final.
• India’s Junior Women’s Hockey Team retained the Asia Cup, completing an unbeaten campaign and winning the title for the second consecutive time.
• The Indian Women’s Cricket Team also won the Asia Cup, with the victory acknowledged on 14 September.
• The week therefore produced three major Asian-title results for India across women’s cricket and junior hockey.

📅 Important Days & Themes

• Hindi Diwas — 14 September. Mumbai hosted the 6th All India Official Language Conference on 14–15 September.
• Engineers’ Day — 15 September, commemorating engineer and statesman Sir M. Visvesvaraya.
• World Ozone Day — 16 September. India’s 32nd national celebration used the theme “Global Action for a Cooler Planet.”
• Vishwakarma Jayanti — 17 September, which also coincided with the third anniversary of PM Vishwakarma.

⚖️ Polity & Governance

• The government reconstituted the Central Board of Film Certification, CBFC, with 18 members on 16 September.
• The reconstituted Board will continue for three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• The legal basis is Section 3(1) of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, read with Rule 3 of the Cinematograph Certification Rules, 2024.
• Separately, the Kishau agreement brought together the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana in a major inter-state water arrangement.

🌿 Environment & Ecology

• India hosted the World Circular Economy Forum 2026 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, under the theme “Circular Economy: Transition for People and Prosperity.” It was the first WCEF hosted in South Asia.
• The forum brought together around 2,700 delegates and 260 speakers from more than 60 countries.
• On World Ozone Day, India launched the Net Zero Portal and the National Action Plan on Climate Change Dashboard to support voluntary net-zero commitments and monitoring of national climate missions.
• India’s 32nd World Ozone Day celebration was held in Mumbai under the theme “Global Action for a Cooler Planet.”