# Demonetisation

• A five judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, by a 4-1 majority, validated on Monday, the controversial November 8, 2016 decision of the Union Government to demonetise currency notes of ₹500 and ₹1000 denominations.
• Supreme Court rejected lock, stock and barrel the challenge by 58 petitions to the demonetisation decision making process, saying it was flawless.
• The majority judgement authored by Justice BR Gavai on behalf of himself and Justices SA Nazeer, AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramaniam, said the Hardships faced by the citizens following demonetisation six years ago cannot be a ground to reverse the decision.

# PMI survey

• Activity in the country’s manufacturing sector remained robust and output growth soared to a 13 month high in December on the back of new business and rising production, a survey showed on Monday.
• At 57.8 in December, up from 55.7 in November, the S&p global India manufacturing purchasing managers’ index pointed to a robust improvement in the health of the sector that was the best since October 2020.
• The PMI average for the third fiscal quarter (56.3) was the highest recorded since one year ago.

# IMF

• For much of the global economy, 2023 is going to be a tough year as the main engines of global growth – the United States, Europe and China, all experiencing weakening activity, the head of the International monetary Fund said on Monday.
• In October, the IMF cut its outlook for global economic growth in 2023.
• Low group rate has been attributed to continuing Russia – Ukraine war as well as inflation and high interest prices.

# China – Taiwan

• China’s warplane incursions into Taiwan air defense zone nearly doubled in 2022.
• Self rule Taiwan is under constant threat of invasion.