India's Big Bang
Month — Rates, Space
& Green Milestones

At its 55th meeting (4–6 June 2025), the Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee — chaired by Governor Sanjay Malhotra — delivered a surprise 50-basis-point rate cut, lowering the policy repo rate from 6.00% to 5.50% with immediate effect. This was the third consecutive rate reduction in 2025 (February: -25 bps, April: -25 bps, June: -50 bps), bringing the cumulative easing to 100 bps in a single financial year — the most aggressive cutting cycle since 2019. Simultaneously, the MPC cut the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 100 basis points from 4% to 3% (to be implemented in four tranches from September 2025), releasing approximately ₹2.5 lakh crore in additional liquidity. The monetary policy stance was shifted from "accommodative" to "neutral" — signalling flexibility to respond in either direction. RBI Governor Malhotra described the move as "front-loading" — providing certainty amid global uncertainty from US tariff measures and geopolitical tensions. The Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate was revised to 5.25% and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate to 5.75%. The MPC retained its GDP growth forecast for FY2025-26 at 6.5%, while revising its CPI inflation forecast downward to 3.7% (from 4.0%), supported by a sharp fall in food inflation (CPI April 2025: 3.16%, lowest since July 2019; food inflation: 1.78%, vs 8.7% in April 2024) and resilient domestic growth data (Q4 FY2024-25 GDP: 7.4%).

After two consecutive scrubs — a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 rocket on June 10, 2025, and a pressure leak in the ISS's Zvezda module detected on June 12 — Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) launched successfully on its third attempt on 25 June 2025 at 06:31:53 UTC from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. The four-member crew comprised Commander Peggy Whitson (USA–Axiom Space), Pilot Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (India–ISRO), and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland–ESA) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary–HSO). The Dragon spacecraft (Grace) docked with the ISS's Harmony module (Zenith port) on 26 June 2025 at 10:31 UTC — marking the moment Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station, and the second Indian to travel to outer space after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma's Soyuz T-11 mission in April 1984 — a gap of 41 years. India's cost for participation was approximately ₹548 crore (USD 65 million). Shukla conducted 7 ISRO-designed experiments covering muscle atrophy under microgravity, algae-based photobioreactor, seed germination, tardigrade biology, neurological responses, cognitive screen effects, and air quality monitoring — the most science-intensive Axiom mission yet. The Ax-4 crew's pre-launch quarantine extended to nearly four weeks due to the repeated delays — one of the longest in modern human spaceflight history.

As confirmed in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) Year-End Review 2025, India achieved a landmark NDC milestone by June 2025: installed electricity generation capacity from non-fossil fuel sources crossed 50% of India's total power capacity — achieving the updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target of 50% non-fossil fuel-based installed capacity by 2030 a full five years ahead of schedule. India had committed in its updated NDC submitted to UNFCCC in 2022 to reaching 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030 and reducing the emissions intensity of GDP by 45% from 2005 levels by 2030. The June 2025 milestone reflects the exponential growth of solar (PM Surya Ghar Yojana, PM KUSUM, PM SBMY grid-scale projects), wind, and hydropower installations. The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) — administered by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the Ministry of Power — also became operational in 2025, providing a domestic carbon market to channel financial flows toward green projects. On World Environment Day (5 June 2025), the government reaffirmed its commitment to the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign, targeting 262.4 crore saplings to be planted by December 2025.

In the strategic aftermath of Operation Sindoor (May 7, 2025), June 2025 witnessed a decisive acceleration of India's Atmanirbhar Bharat defence programme. DRDO offered 28 of its designed and developed weapon systems to the Indian Armed Forces for emergency procurement — including variants of missiles (Brahmos, Akash, QRSAM, Astra BVR), precision-guided munitions, electronic warfare systems, and drone technologies validated in combat. DRDO provided each agency's name — the DRDO-affiliated production partners — from which the Armed Forces could directly procure. This emergency procurement mechanism was established specifically to address the combat lessons of Operation Sindoor and prevent dependence on foreign systems for future contingencies. Simultaneously, in a landmark for private sector defence indigenisation, Reliance Infrastructure Limited became India's first private sector company to design and develop four categories of next-generation 155mm artillery ammunition under DRDO's Defence co-development and Production Policy (DcPP) in partnership with the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune. The 155mm artillery round — standard NATO calibre — equips India's Dhanush howitzers and advanced towed artillery guns, which saw extensive use in the Kargil-sector operations. This milestone marks a significant step in DRDO 2.0's strategy of transferring conventional manufacturing to the private sector while retaining next-generation technology development in-house.

While the formal signing of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) occurred on 24 July 2025, the foundational event was the announcement of conclusion of negotiations on 6 May 2025 — with June 2025 serving as the critical preparation and legal verification phase before the signing ceremony. The June 2025 RBI MPC resolution itself explicitly cited "the conclusion of free trade agreement with the United Kingdom and progress with other countries" as a supportive factor for India's trade activity — acknowledging the FTA's macroeconomic significance even before formal signing. Simultaneously, India's 2025 trade diplomacy was on a historic roll: India-Oman CEPA had been concluded; progress on India-New Zealand FTA was being made; and Terms of Reference for India-EAEU FTA were being finalised for August signing. The India-UK CETA, once fully ratified, will cover 29 chapters — goods, services, digital trade, government procurement, intellectual property, investment, and a first-ever Innovation chapter — with the UK committing to eliminate duties on 100% of its tariff lines over seven years, securing 99% of Indian exports duty-free.

June 2025 fell in the inter-session period between the Budget Session (which saw the Union Budget 2025-26 presented on February 1, 2025, and the Finance Act passed) and the Monsoon Session (commencing July 21, 2025). During this period, Parliament was not in session, but governance continued through executive actions, Supreme Court directions, and pre-session committee work. The Supreme Court continued issuing significant environmental directions — including the forest clearances PIL tracking 8,500+ hectares of forest diversion against the Court's February 3, 2025 compensatory afforestation-first order. The Budget Session 2025 had seen the Income Tax Bill, 2025 introduced on February 13 and referred to a Select Committee chaired by Baijayant Panda (Kendrapara), with its report due in the Monsoon Session. The government, between sessions, continued executive economic governance — including the DRDO emergency procurement framework, RBI policy actions, and the Operation Sindoor diplomatic outreach programme — all of which do not require Parliamentary approval. The pre-Monsoon Session period also saw a proliferation of PIB releases across ministries on government achievements, preparatory to Parliament's scrutiny.