Daily Current Affairs — 8 September 2026: Global Fintech Fest 2026, Air India's New CEO, LIC-ICICI Stake & Miss World 2026

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched infrastructure projects worth over ₹35,000 crore in Vadodara, Gujarat on 8 September 2026, including three sections of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) spanning 326 route-km built at a cost of over ₹20,700 crore.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the seventh edition of the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026 at Jio World Centre, Mumbai on 8 September 2026; the four-day event (8-11 September) is themed "Potential to Impact: Agentic AI, Tokenisation, Quantum."

Indian Railways approved projects worth ₹630 crore across Gujarat, Bihar and West Bengal on 7 September 2026 to expand capacity and freight movement, including an 11-km Adra-Joychandipahar bypass rail line in West Bengal.

The RBI approved LIC to raise its stake in ICICI Bank to up to 9.99% (from 4.35%) within one year, per an approval letter dated 4 September 2026 disclosed by ICICI Bank on 5 September.

WhatsApp launched Bill Payments in India, powered by the Bharat Connect (BBPS) network, giving users access to 22,722 billers across 30 categories including electricity, gas and credit cards.

Electromech Infraprojects announced its entry into India's semiconductor infrastructure sector on 7 September 2026, extending its engineering capabilities to data centres, OSAT and ATMP facilities.

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 27 November as the International Day Against Child Marriage, with the first observance set for 2026, supported by consensus among 193 member states.

Germany's Isar Aerospace launched its Spectrum rocket to space from Norway, becoming the first privately-developed European orbital rocket; the 28-metre, 10-engine vehicle can carry up to 1,000 kg to Low Earth Orbit.

IIT Madras-incubated Bodhan AI, with AI4Bharat, launched four open-weight AI models for Indian languages - covering speech recognition (27 languages), OCR and text-to-speech (23 languages each) and machine translation (22 languages) - funded by the Ministry of Education.

India's first Quantum and AI University campus in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh (₹730.7 crore outlay) began academic programmes in September 2026, running temporarily from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur.

Defence PSU Munitions India Limited signed an MoU with Drogo Aerospace in Pune on 4 September 2026 to jointly develop the indigenous 'Delta Wing Kamikaze' loitering munition/UAV, designed for a 1,000-km range and 20-30 kg warhead.

Hyderabad-based, BITS Pilani-incubated startup Apollyon Dynamics set an India Book of Records mark with its Ahuti Mk II interceptor drone clocking a certified 498 km/h - a roughly 66% jump over its previous 325 km/h benchmark.

The Botanical Survey of India (BSI) discovered a new plant species, Osbeckia ulotricha, in the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve (Kerala-Tamil Nadu), found in shola forests at 1,200-1,500 m elevation.

International Vulture Awareness Day was observed on 5 September 2026 (first Saturday of September), with a national workshop held in Panchkula, Haryana.

Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 Italian Grand Prix at Monza on 6 September, starting 19th on the grid to become the first Italian home winner in 60 years since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966.

Kidambi Srikanth's China Masters Super 750 run ended in the quarterfinals with a straight-games loss to Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu, after he had earlier beaten world No. 9 Victor Lai.

India's men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty advanced to the quarterfinals of the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament.

Air India appointed Tewolde Gebremariam - former Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO who built it into Africa's largest carrier - as its new CEO & Managing Director; he took charge on 7 September 2026, succeeding Campbell Wilson.

Joheirry Mola of the Dominican Republic was crowned Miss World 2026 at the pageant's 73rd edition in Nha Trang, Vietnam - her country's second winner after 1982.

EPFO's VISHWAS 2026 scheme, a one-time dispute-resolution window (running 29 June-28 December 2026) letting employers settle penalties on delayed PF payments made before 14 June 2024, saw a deadline reminder issued in early September 2026.

Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan released a commemorative postage stamp marking 75 years of the Tamil daily Dinamalar, which was established in 1951 in Thiruvananthapuram.

Renowned Carnatic musicologist S.R. Janakiraman, a 2011 Padma Shri awardee known for his lecture-demonstrations at Chennai's December Music Festival, passed away at 98.