MoSPI has released the sub-sectoral trial Index of Services Production (ISP) for July 2026, covering 19 sub-sectors with base year 2024–25. It is an attempt to give services — which generate more than half of India’s gross value added — a monthly output measure similar to what the IIP provides for industry.

• Closing the data gap: a direct monthly services measure improves nowcasting and the accuracy of quarterly GDP estimates.
• Policy timing: the RBI and the Government can read turning points in services — trade, transport, finance, IT — earlier.
• Sector diagnostics: sub-sector indices show which services are driving or dragging growth, which aggregate GVA cannot show at monthly frequency.
• Statistical reform: the ISP is part of MoSPI’s broader push towards newer base years and higher-frequency releases.

• Heterogeneity: services range from trade and transport to software, finance, real estate and public administration. Many lack a clear physical volume measure.
• Informality bias: a large part of services output is from unincorporated enterprises. Monthly inputs drawn mostly from formal or administrative sources may under-represent them.
• Deflation risk: where output is measured in value terms, errors in the price deflator pass directly into the volume index.
• Revisions: provisional inputs for railways, banking and insurance are revised annually, so early readings may change materially.
• Transparency: until the full methodology and weights are published and validated, the trial ISP is best read alongside existing indicators, not in place of them.

At its 30th Full Commission meeting on 28 September 2026, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) revised the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). It moved curbs on diesel generator sets and older inter-state buses into Stage I, extended the older-car restriction to Sonipat, and ended the exemption for older goods vehicles carrying essentials — ahead of the October–January pollution season.

• Stage I consolidated: repeated actions on dust control, municipal solid waste (MSW) and transport merged.
• Moved from Stage II to Stage I: actions on diesel generator (DG) sets and on the entry of BS-IV and below buses from NCR and adjoining States.
• Stage III relaxation: minor works, including repair of potholes, permitted under Action No. 1.
• Older-car curb widened: restrictions on BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel (or below) four-wheeler LMVs extended to Sonipat, in addition to the existing high vehicle density districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar.
• Essentials exemption removed: BS-IV and below LGVs and MGVs (Stage III) and trucks/HGVs (Stage IV) carrying essential commodities are no longer exempt.
• Clarified under Stage III: entry into Delhi of diesel BS-IV and below LGVs and MGVs registered outside Delhi is restricted.
• Citizens’ Charter: expanded Do’s and Don’ts under each stage.

• C&D dust monitoring: amendment to Direction Nos. 11–18 (11 June 2021) extends web-portal registration and monitoring to eligible construction and demolition projects beyond municipal limits — urban, controlled, development and industrial areas and highway corridor zones. The threshold of plot area ≥500 sq m is unchanged.
• Advisory No. 18 (10 September 2026): physical sports competitions in NCR during November–December to be rescheduled in view of air-quality trends, to protect students’ health.
• Technical capacity: the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved two full-time Technical Members for three years or until age 70, whichever is earlier.
• Enforcement (as on 17 September 2026): 1,831 units issued closure orders; 1,479 allowed to resume after compliance; 126 cases transferred to SPCBs/DPCC.
• Greening drive 2026–27: 4,13,68,929 plantations (trees, shrubs, bamboo) reported against an overall target of 4,60,54,740 as on 22 September 2026.

• Earlier action: moving DG-set and bus curbs to Stage I means they apply from ‘Poor’ AQI days rather than waiting for ‘Very Poor’.
• Closing loopholes: the essentials exemption had allowed older, more polluting goods vehicles to operate during the worst episodes.
• Regional reach: adding Sonipat and extending C&D monitoring beyond municipal limits acknowledges that emissions in peri-urban NCR affect Delhi’s air.

• Emergency brake, not a cure: GRAP responds to episodes. Lasting gains depend on year-round source reduction under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP, 2019), which targets up to 40% reduction in PM10 by 2025–26 in over 130 non-attainment cities.
• Airshed mismatch: pollution does not respect administrative boundaries. CAQM’s “adjoining areas” mandate recognises this, but enforcement capacity varies across States.
• Livelihood costs: construction bans idle daily-wage workers. The Supreme Court has directed NCR States to support them from labour-welfare cess funds.
• Supply-chain effects: removing the essentials exemption may raise logistics costs in the short run, though it also pushes fleet renewal.
• Forecast dependence: pre-emptive invocation is only as good as the AQI forecast; late or inaccurate forecasts weaken the preventive design.
• Enforcement pattern: 1,479 of 1,831 closed units resumed after compliance, which suggests that closures work mainly as a compliance lever rather than a lasting deterrent.

The first PRAMAAN certificates under the Indian Forest and Wood Certification Scheme (IFWCS) were handed to the Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation (33,000 ha of plantations) and to a bamboo farmer associated with the Odisha Bamboo Development Agency. The scheme, launched in December 2023, has thus moved from framework to field.

• NWPC 2014 → NWPC 2023: the revised Working Plan Code carries the Indian Forest Management Standard, making State forest management plans “certification-ready”.
• International schemes → a national scheme: Indian producers earlier relied on international certification systems; IFWCS offers a Government-owned, domestic route.
• Self-declaration → third-party assurance: sustainability claims now rest on audits by NABCB-accredited bodies.

• Market access: exporters of furniture, handicrafts, paper and plywood face due-diligence rules in the EU, UK and US. Verifiable Chain of Custody documentation helps them meet these rules.
• Livelihoods: the Ministry expects smallholders, tribal and forest-dependent communities, women SHGs and NTFP collectors to reach premium markets. This links with the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which recognises community rights over minor forest produce.
• Trees outside forests: certifying farm and agroforestry timber could make domestic wood more marketable and reduce pressure on natural forests.
• Climate and SDGs: supports the NDC carbon-sink goal and SDG 15 (Life on Land).

• Recognition gap: being benchmarked against international frameworks is not the same as formal mutual recognition. Acceptance by foreign buyers and regulators will decide PRAMAAN’s real value.
• EUDR reality: certification can support, but does not replace, an EU operator’s own due diligence, including geolocation and traceability of plots.
• Slow uptake: the first certificates have come nearly three years after launch, which points to capacity gaps among auditors and applicants.
• Plantation question: certifying large monoculture plantations as “sustainable” has been questioned by ecologists on biodiversity grounds.
• Cost for smallholders: audit costs and paperwork can exclude small farmers unless group certification and support for audit costs are offered.
• Independence: the Government owns the scheme and State corporations are among the first certificate holders. Credibility therefore depends on keeping audits genuinely independent.