Current affairs, 25 August 2026: UPI turns 10, and East Bengal win the 135th Durand Cup

Two very different stories headline 25 August 2026, and both are prime awareness-section material: a banking and digital-payments milestone as UPI turns ten, and a sports result as East Bengal lift the 135th Durand Cup. Get the numbers and the names into your notebook.

UPI turns 10 — ‘the world’s largest real-time payment system’

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) completed ten years on 25 August 2026. It was launched on 25 August 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and has since become the backbone of India’s digital payments. Marking the anniversary, the Finance Ministry said annual UPI transaction volume rose from 1.78 crore in 2016-17 to more than 24,162 crore in 2025-26 — an almost 13,000-fold increase — while the value handled grew from about ₹0.07 lakh crore to roughly ₹314 lakh crore. The Economic Times

The everyday scale is now enormous: UPI processes more than 66 crore transactions a day, set a monthly record of 2,366 crore transactions in July 2026 (worth ₹29.88 lakh crore), and accounted for close to 84% of India’s retail payment transactions in June 2026. The number of banks live on the platform has grown from 44 in 2016-17 to 703 in 2025-26. CNBC-TV18

UPI has also gone global. It is now live in 11 countries — the UAE, France, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Singapore, Mauritius, Qatar, Cambodia, Greece and the Maldives — and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recognised it as the world’s largest real-time payment system by transaction volume, accounting for nearly 49% of global real-time payments in 2025. ET Now Prime Minister Narendra Modi called UPI a “major turning point” in India’s digital-payments journey. The Economic Times

Why this matters for an exam: the reliable one-mark facts are the launch date (25 August 2016), the NPCI–RBI pairing, the ~13,000-fold rise in volume, the 11 countries, and the IMF’s “world’s largest real-time payment system” tag — classic banking-awareness fillers.

East Bengal win the 135th IndianOil Durand Cup

East Bengal FC were crowned champions of the 135th IndianOil Durand Cup, beating arch-rivals Mohun Bagan Super Giant 4-1 in the final at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake Stadium), Kolkata on 23 August 2026. Edmund Lalrindika scored a hat-trick, and the win ended East Bengal’s 22-year wait for the title and took them to 17 Durand Cup titles — level with Mohun Bagan’s record. IBG News

Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) Rajnath Singh was the chief guest at the closing ceremony and presented the three trophies the winners receive — the Durand Cup, the President’s Cup and the Simla Trophy. The individual awards went to Alaaeddine Ajaraie (NorthEast United FC) — Golden Boot, Vishal Kaith (Mohun Bagan Super Giant) — Golden Glove, and Edmund Lalrindika (East Bengal) — Golden Ball. Yugmarg

Standard revision on the tournament itself:

• The Durand Cup is the oldest football tournament in Asia and the third-oldest in the world, first held in 1888 and named after Sir Henry Mortimer Durand.
• It is organised by the Indian Armed Forces, which is why the closing ceremony is a defence-ministry occasion with the Raksha Mantri as chief guest.
• East Bengal and Mohun Bagan now share the record of 17 titles each.

What to write in your notebook

Three lines:

1. UPI turned 10 on 25 August 2026 (launched 25 August 2016 by NPCI under the RBI); annual volume is up almost 13,000-fold to 24,162 crore transactions in FY26, it is live in 11 countries, and the IMF calls it the world’s largest real-time payment system.
2. East Bengal FC won the 135th IndianOil Durand Cup, beating Mohun Bagan Super Giant 4-1 (Edmund Lalrindika hat-trick) for a record-equalling 17th title, ending a 22-year wait.
3. Durand Cup awards — Golden Boot: Alaaeddine Ajaraie (NorthEast United), Golden Glove: Vishal Kaith (Mohun Bagan), Golden Ball: Edmund Lalrindika (East Bengal); chief guest Rajnath Singh. The Durand Cup (est. 1888) is Asia’s oldest football tournament.