Current Affairs February 2026 for UPSC: Union Budget 2026-27, New GDP and CPI Series, AI Impact Summit, IEEPA Ruling and Manipur

February 2026 at a Glance

🎯 February 2026: 1 to 28 February. The month had the Union Budget, a new GDP series, a new CPI series, the AI Impact Summit and a US court ruling that shook India's trade position. Facts marked 'official' come from the Budget Speech or the MoSPI press note; the rest are named secondary sources.

February at a glance

Union Budget 2026-27: the Numbers and the Signature Schemes

The Budget was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday, 1 February 2026. These numbers come from the Budget Speech itself.

Union Budget 2026-27: the numbers

Signature announcements

• Biopharma SHAKTI (Strategy for Healthcare Advancement through Knowledge, Technology and Innovation): Rs 10,000 crore over five years, with three new NIPERs and seven upgraded.

• India Semiconductor Mission 2.0: equipment, materials and full-stack Indian IP; the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme outlay was raised from Rs 22,919 crore to Rs 40,000 crore.

• Rare Earth Corridors in Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (the Scheme for Rare Earth Permanent Magnets was launched in November 2025); three dedicated Chemical Parks.

• Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage: Rs 20,000 crore over five years across power, steel, cement, refineries and chemicals, aligned with the roadmap launched in December 2025.

• MSMEs: a Rs 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund, TReDS made the settlement platform for CPSE purchases from MSMEs.

• Tax: TCS on overseas tour packages cut to 2 per cent and TCS on education and medical remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme cut from 5 to 2 per cent; the Budget works within the new Income-tax Act, 2025.

Economy: RBI, the New CPI and the New GDP Series

Two statistical rebasings and one policy decision defined the month in economics.

Economy: data and policy

• RBI policy (6 February): the Monetary Policy Committee kept the repo rate at 5.25 per cent with a neutral stance, after the 25-basis-point cut in December 2025. The RBI projected FY26 growth of 7.4 per cent and inflation of 2.1 per cent (secondary sources).

• New CPI series (13 February): the base year moved to 2024=100 from 2012=100; 358 items (299 before); the food and beverages weight fell to 36.75 per cent from 45.86 per cent; weights come from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24; 1,465 rural and 1,395 urban markets in 434 towns; COICOP 2018. The first print was provisional all-India inflation of 2.75 per cent for January 2026 (secondary source).

• New GDP series (27 February, MoSPI press note): base year 2022-23 replaced 2011-12. With the Second Advance Estimates, real GDP growth for FY26 is 7.6 per cent (7.1 per cent in FY25); nominal GDP grew 8.6 per cent to Rs 345.47 lakh crore; real GVA grew 7.7 per cent; growth was 8.4 per cent in Q2 and 7.8 per cent in Q3. The new series uses double deflation in agriculture and manufacturing and Denton benchmarking for quarterly data. Static: GDP at market prices = GVA plus taxes minus subsidies on products; base years are revised periodically to capture structural change.

International Relations: US Tariffs, Brazil, the AI Summit and Bangladesh

February's international items were about trade, minerals, AI and a change of government in Dhaka.

International relations

• US-India framework (2-6 February): the US tariff on Indian goods fell from 25 to 18 per cent and the extra 25 per cent penalty tied to Russian oil was removed; the wider trade agreement stayed unsigned (secondary).

• IEEPA ruling (20 February): the US Supreme Court held by 6-3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not allow the President to impose tariffs. The administration moved to a temporary global surcharge under Section 122 (10 per cent initially; 150 days from 24 February); steel, aluminium and auto-parts tariffs under Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs were unaffected. A countervailing duty of 125.87 per cent on Indian solar cells (24 February) is reported by a single source.

• India-Brazil (21 February): during President Lula's visit to New Delhi the two countries signed a critical minerals and rare earths cooperation agreement and nine other MoUs; the goal is trade beyond USD 20 billion in five years.

• AI Impact Summit (16-20 February): the New Delhi Declaration on AI Impact, voluntary and structured around seven pillars, was endorsed by 86 countries and two organisations on the last day, rising to 91 signatories (including the US, UK, Canada and China). Static: earlier summits were at Bletchley Park (2023), Seoul (2024) and Paris (2025). The 2026 PYQ asked about this summit.

• Bangladesh (12 February): the BNP won the election and Tarique Rahman was sworn in as Prime Minister on 17 February; the Awami League was barred from the poll.

• New START (5 February): expired with no replacement.

Polity and Defence: Manipur and the Fleet Review

Polity and defence each had one constitutional event and one naval one.

Polity, governance and defence

• Manipur (4 February): President's Rule, proclaimed on 13 February 2025 after N. Biren Singh resigned, was revoked by a Home Ministry notification, and Yumnam Khemchand Singh was sworn in as Chief Minister the same day by Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, with Nemcha Kipgen and Losii Dikho as Deputy Chief Ministers. Static: Article 356 (State Emergency); a proclamation must be approved by both Houses within two months and can run for up to three years with extensions only under strict conditions (Article 356(5)).

• International Fleet Review and MILAN 2026 (15-25 February): hosted by the Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam with the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium Conclave of Chiefs; President Droupadi Murmu reviewed the fleet on 18 February. Static: the President is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (Article 53); MILAN is the Indian Navy's biennial multilateral exercise.

Further Reading

• PIB press releases, ministry websites and annual reports, the Gazette of India, MEA and UN documents and the official sources named in each note — the primary sources behind every fact above.

How UPSC Could Ask This Next

Here is how UPSC could turn February into questions.

How UPSC could ask this next

• Numbers: the Budget's fiscal deficit and debt targets, the new GDP base year, the food weight in the new CPI, the repo rate.

• Base-year logic: 'a rebased GDP series changes the level but not ...' (statement traps on GDP and GVA).

• Constitution: who revokes President's Rule, the maximum duration, the role of the Governor.

• Schemes: Biopharma SHAKTI, ISM 2.0, rare-earth corridors, CCUS: which ministry, what amount, which sectors.

• IR: the AI Impact Summit's declaration and its earlier summits; the effect of the IEEPA ruling on India.

Test Yourself: Practice Questions

Sixteen practice questions on February 2026, each tied to a verified fact.

Practice Questions

Q1. In the Union Budget 2026-27, the fiscal deficit target for 2026-27 is

• (a) 4.9 per cent of GDP

• (b) 3.5 per cent of GDP

• (c) 4.4 per cent of GDP

• (d) 4.3 per cent of GDP

Q2. The Union Budget 2026-27 was presented on

• (a) Monday, 2 February 2026

• (b) Thursday, 29 January 2026

• (c) Saturday, 31 January 2026

• (d) Sunday, 1 February 2026

Q3. The Union Government accepted the 16th Finance Commission's recommendation to retain the vertical devolution of central taxes to States at

• (a) 45 per cent

• (b) 41 per cent

• (c) 50 per cent

• (d) 42 per cent

Q4. Biopharma SHAKTI, announced in the Budget 2026-27, has an outlay of

• (a) Rs 10,000 crore over five years

• (b) Rs 20,000 crore over five years

• (c) Rs 40,000 crore over ten years

• (d) Rs 1,000 crore over three years

Q5. Rare Earth Corridors were proposed in the Budget for the States of

• (a) Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal

• (b) Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana

• (c) Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu

• (d) Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram

Q6. The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee on 6 February 2026

• (a) cut the repo rate to 5.00 per cent

• (b) raised the repo rate to 5.50 per cent

• (c) kept the repo rate at 5.25 per cent with a neutral stance

• (d) changed the stance to calibrated tightening

Q7. The new Consumer Price Index series introduced in February 2026 has the base year

• (a) 2012

• (b) 2019

• (c) 2024

• (d) 2022-23

Q8. The new GDP series released on 27 February 2026 uses the base year

• (a) 2022-23

• (b) 2011-12

• (c) 2024-25

• (d) 2004-05

Q9. As per the new GDP series, the real GDP growth rate for 2025-26 is estimated at

• (a) 6.5 per cent

• (b) 8.2 per cent

• (c) 7.4 per cent

• (d) 7.6 per cent

Q10. President's Rule in Manipur was revoked in February 2026. It had been imposed in

• (a) May 2023

• (b) November 2022

• (c) July 2024

• (d) February 2025

Q11. The International Fleet Review and MILAN 2026 were hosted at

• (a) Kochi

• (b) Visakhapatnam

• (c) Port Blair

• (d) Mumbai

Q12. The US Supreme Court's ruling of 20 February 2026 on tariffs concerned the

• (a) Trade Expansion Act, Section 232

• (b) International Emergency Economic Powers Act

• (c) Dodd-Frank Act

• (d) Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

Q13. India and Brazil signed an agreement in February 2026 on

• (a) a free trade agreement

• (b) critical minerals and rare earths

• (c) space launch services

• (d) nuclear energy

Q14. Who was sworn in as Prime Minister of Bangladesh on 17 February 2026?

• (a) Khaleda Zia

• (b) Sheikh Hasina

• (c) Tarique Rahman

• (d) Muhammad Yunus

Q15. The India AI Impact Summit of February 2026 produced

• (a) a legally binding AI treaty

• (b) a UN Security Council resolution

• (c) a voluntary New Delhi Declaration with seven pillars of action

• (d) a ban on frontier AI models

Q16. Under the Budget 2026-27, the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage outlay is

• (a) Rs 2,000 crore

• (b) Rs 20,000 crore over five years

• (c) Rs 10,000 crore over five years

• (d) Rs 40,000 crore over ten years

Mains Practice Questions

Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly — they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover.

• Explain why the base year of GDP is revised and what the new 2022-23 series changes for policy.

• Examine the constitutional safeguards on the imposition and revocation of President's Rule, with the recent example of Manipur.

• How should India respond to the US Supreme Court ruling on IEEPA tariffs and the interim trade framework?

• Assess how the Budget 2026-27 balances fiscal consolidation with a high capital expenditure.