• NATO leaders are set to agree extra support for Ukraine to deal with chemical and nuclear threats as it battles Russia's invading forces, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said. 

• The country's exports for the first time crossed the USD 400 billion mark in a fiscal on healthy performance by sectors such as petroleum products, engineering, gems and jewellery, and chemicals, according to the commerce ministry's data released on March 23
• The merchandise exports rose by by 37 per cent to USD 400.8 billion in 2021-22 until March 21 against USD 292 billion in 2020-21.
• Previously, the outbound shipments had touched a record of USD 330.07 billion in 2018-19. Imports during the period stood at USD 589 billion, leaving a trade deficit of about USD 189 billion.
• Hailing the country's success in achieving its goods export target, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this is a key milestone in India's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' journey.
• The highest ever goods export target was achieved nine days ahead of the March 31 deadline.
• The top five export destinations are the US, the UAE, China, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands. Exports of engineering rose by 46.5 per cent to USD 107.8 billion, petroleum by 141.4 per cent USD 59.6 billion, chemicals and cotton yarn by 32.3 per cent to USD 28.2 billion, fabrics by 56.5 per cent to 14.8 billion and plastic by 31.4 per cent USD 31.4 billion during April-March 21, 2022.
• Till March 21, export targets set for major countries such as Australia, Taiwan, Korea, Bangladesh, Poland, Brazil, Indonesia, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Italy, Japan, Canada, the US, South Africa, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Egypt and Mexico have been achieved.
• India's exports to the US rose by 46.8 per cent to USD 73.1 billion this fiscal as of March 21, while exports to Bangladesh and the Netherlands increased by 65.7 per cent and 79.6 per cent to USD 15.4 billion and USD 11.3 billion, respectively.

The Reserve Bank has assigned the lead bank responsibility to Punjab National Bank (PNB) for the newly-created district of Meghalaya.

The Meghalaya government in a notification on November 9, 2021, had informed about the formation of a new district, Eastern West Khasi Hills.

It has been decided to assign the lead bank responsibility of the new district to Punjab National Bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a notification.

The newly-created district has been carved out from the erstwhile West Khasi Hills district.

A lead bank has the responsibility of coordinating efforts of all credit institutions in the allotted district to increase flow of credit to agriculture, small scale industries and other economic activities included in the priority sector in rural and semi-urban areas.

• Nepal has adopted the unified payment interface developed by India for digital transactions, a government periodical said in its latest edition.
• Earlier this year, Bhutan also launched a BHIM-UPI-based payment service for digital transactions, as per the article tweeted by PIB on March 24.
• According to official data, Bharat Interface for Money-Unified Payments Interface (BHIM-UPI) has emerged as the preferred payment mode of the citizens and has achieved a record of 452.75 crore digital payment transactions with the value of Rs 8.27 lakh crore till February 28, 2022.

• The Board of Directors of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, in its meeting held on March 24, appointed Hisashi Takeuchi as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1st April 2022, consequent to the completion of the term of Kenichi Ayukawa on 31st March 2022.
• Ayukawa has been the Managing Director of Maruti Suzuki India Limited since April 2013.
• In order to facilitate a smooth transition, Kenichi Ayukawa will continue as a Whole-time Director designated as Executive Vice Chairman till 30th September 2022 and will continue to provide guidance to the company. These appointments are subject to shareholder approval.

• After hike in rates of petrol, diesel and LPG, the prices of CNG and cooking gas piped to household kitchens (PNG) in the national capital were hiked on March 24 by Re 1.
• This is the third increase in CNG rates this month, which follows a spike in input (natural gas) prices across the globe. On the previous two occasions, rates had gone up by Rs 0.50 per kg. Following the firming up of international gas rates, IGL has been raising CNG rates periodically.
• Prices have gone up by about Rs 5.50 per kg this year alone. Also, the price of piped natural gas that households get for cooking purposes has also been increased by Re 1 to Rs 36.61 per standard cubic meter in Delhi.

• MS Dhoni who has been the CSK captain from the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008 has decided to step down ahead of the 2022 edition. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who is with CSK since 2012 will take charge as skipper.
• Dhoni will, however, continue as a player. "Dhoni will continue to represent Chennai Super Kings this season and beyond," said CSK in a statement. Jadeja will be only the third player to lead CSK after Dhoni and Suresh Raina.

• Japan qualified for a seventh successive World Cup after beating Australia 2-0 in Sydney and ending the Socceroos' chances of automatic qualification on March 24.
• The result also qualified Saudi Arabia from Asia Group B.
• Japan was on top of the group with 21 points, two ahead of Saudi Arabia before it faced China later March 24.