In maritime and coastal developments, Karnataka’s Fisheries and Ports Minister K. S. Basavanthappa announced major modernization initiatives for the Malpe all-weather fishing harbour, Asia’s second-largest fishing hub, ensuring infrastructure development balances traditional fishing rights with coastal tourism. Demands from local fishing communities included boosting housing assistance under the Matsyashraya scheme and raising subsidized diesel allowances to 500 litres. In automotive import news, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) approved applications from seven companies to import 642 passenger vehicles from the UK under the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) mechanism of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Out of an available annual TRQ ceiling of 20,000 units for the first year, actual uptake remained low due to stringent eligibility criteria limited to authorized OEMs and dealers. Under the 15-year CETA framework, customs duties on UK automotive imports will gradually decrease from 110% to 10%. Additionally, the DGFT announced the setup of a centralized Central Processing Department (CPD) in Delhi to enable jurisdiction-free, paperless processing of trade applications.