Daily Current Affairs- 10th July 2025

Daily Current Affairs- 10th July 2025

Nvidia Becomes First Company to Reach $4 Trillion Value

In the News: On July 9 and 10, 2025, Nvidia became the first publicly traded company in history to reach a $4 trillion market capitalization. The company’s shares peaked at around $164.42 before settling at $164.10, resulting in a record-breaking market value that briefly surpassed the combined valuations of other major tech firms and even some national stock markets.

Key Points

• Nvidia achieved this milestone due to a surging demand for its AI‑focused chips, which are used by major technology firms such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and OpenAI to power advanced data-center infrastructure.
• Over the past two years, Nvidia’s stock has surged approximately 287 percent, with around 18 percent growth in 2025 alone.
• Despite its historic valuation, Nvidia’s forward price-to-earnings ratio of around 33–34× is still below its five-year average (approx. 41×) and is lower than some high-growth peers like Tesla .
• The company reported Q1 revenue of $44.1 billion, marking a 69 percent year-over-year increase, and projected Q2 revenue around $45 billion.
• Analysts caution that while Nvidia’s rise is often compared to late‑1990s tech bubbles, it remains central to the AI boom—though if valuation multiples spiked to Cisco-like levels, Nvidia could conceivably reach $15 trillion, raising concerns of overheating.
• Nvidia’s stock now constitutes approximately 7–7.5 percent of the S&P 500, making it the largest individual weight in that index.
• Nvidia faced export restrictions to China—especially for its top-tier chips—but still posted strong growth and investor confidence.
• On July 10, 2025, Nvidia's co‑founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, saw his personal net worth increase by about $1 billion, bringing his total wealth to over $140 billion thanks to his 3.5 percent ownership stake. 

India and Namibia Sign Key Deals During PM Modi’s Visit

In the News: During his July 9, 2025 state visit to Namibia—the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 27 years—PM Narendra Modi and Namibian President Dr. Netumbo Nandi‑Ndaitwah jointly signed several key memoranda of understanding (MoUs). These agreements span sectors such as entrepreneurship, health, digital payments, disaster resilience, cybersecurity, and more. PM Modi was also honoured with the country’s top civilian award – The Order of the Most Ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis.

Key Points

• Entrepreneurship & Healthcare: A new Entrepreneurship Development Centre will be established in Namibia under an MoU, alongside a collaboration in the field of health and medicine to enhance pharmaceutical and medical cooperation.
• Disaster Resilience & Cybersecurity: India and Namibia joined hands on disaster resilience, particularly through the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), and formalized cybersecurity cooperation under another MoU.
• Digital Payments via UPI: Namibia became the first country to adopt India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), with a licensing agreement between NPCI and the Bank of Namibia. This will launch later in 2025.
• Global Coalition Memberships: The country formally joined two India‑led multilateral initiatives: the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Global Biofuels Alliance.
• Other Strategic Areas: Talks highlighted cooperation in energy, defence, critical minerals (including cobalt, lithium, uranium, and diamond trade), education, and agriculture, building on Namibia’s natural resource strengths.
• Trade & Investment: In 2023, bilateral trade stood at USD 654 million, with growing investments from India in sectors like mining, energy, and manufacturing. 

Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2025

In the News: The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) released its Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2025 report on June 23, 2025, revealing that global climate finance reached a record USD 1.9 trillion in 2023, with early data suggesting it surpassed USD 2 trillion in 2024.

Key Points

• Strong Growth After 2021: From 2021 to 2023, climate finance investments grew on average by 26 percent per year, compared to about 8 percent annual growth between 2018 and 2020.
• Mitigation Dominates but Adaptation Lags: In 2023, USD 1.78 trillion was directed toward mitigation efforts, while adaptation received only USD 65 billion, with an additional USD 58 billion classified as dual-benefit finance.
• Private Finance Leadership: For the first time, private climate finance surpassed USD 1 trillion in 2023, with households, corporations, and financial institutions becoming the largest source of climate capital.
• Geographic Funding Imbalance: Developing and emerging markets received USD 196 billion in international climate finance during 2023, primarily from public sources (78 percent), highlighting a gap in private-sector investment.
• Sectoral Focus: Around 91 percent of climate finance goes to mitigation, with energy and transport being the primary beneficiaries.
• Future Projections vs Needs: If the current investment trend continues, global climate finance could reach USD 6 trillion annually by 2028, closing in on the conservative estimate of global needs—estimated at USD 6 trillion per year.
• Risks and Gaps: Despite reaching record funding, the report warns of ongoing systemic risks, significant adaptation shortfalls, and challenges for emerging economies in securing affordable capital 

India Launches First Indigenous Diving Support Ship INS Nistar

In the News: Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) officially delivered INS Nistar, the first indigenously designed and constructed Diving Support Vessel, to the Indian Navy in Visakhapatnam. The acceptance was formalized by HSL’s CMD, Cmde Hemant Khatri, and the ship’s commanding officer, Cdr Amit Subhro Banerji, in the presence of senior naval officials, marking India’s entry into a select group of nations with such deep-sea rescue capabilities.

Key Points

• Design & Construction: INS Nistar is a Nistar-class DSV, measuring approximately 118 m in length, displacing nearly 9,350–10,000 tonnes, and features advanced diving systems including both air and saturation diving, side-scan sonar, underwater ROVs, and deep-submergence rescue integration.
• Operational Role: As part of the Eastern Naval Command, INS Nistar will act as the ‘Mother Ship’ to the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV), enhancing maritime safety through deep-sea diving, submarine rescue, search and rescue operations, sustained patrolling, and helicopter support.
• Key Features: The vessel is equipped with dynamic positioning (DP-II) to maintain precise positioning in deep waters, an eight-bed hospital, intensive care and hyperbaric medical facilities, a 15-tonne subsea crane, a helipad, and has an endurance of over 60 days at sea.
• Indigenous Content & “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”: Over 80 percent of the vessel’s content is sourced domestically. The project mobilised 120 MSMEs, aligning with the government's ‘Make in India’ and self-reliance initiatives.
• Legacy & Strategic Importance: The vessel continues the heritage of the Soviet-era INS Nistar (commissioned in 1971 and decommissioned in 1989), carrying forward the motto “Surakshita Yatharthta Shauryam” (“Deliverance with Precision and Bravery”), reflecting its rescue mission ethos.
• Upcoming Commissioning: INS Nistar is scheduled for formal induction into the Indian Navy on July 18, 2025, at Visakhapatnam's Naval Dockyard in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. 

ISRO Successfully Conducts Hot Tests of Gaganyaan Propulsion System

In the News: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully performed two live hot-fire tests of the Gaganyaan Service Module Propulsion System (SMPS) at its Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri. These tests—lasting 30 seconds and 100 seconds—validated the complete integration of the propulsion configuration under realistic conditions, marking a critical step toward India’s planned crewed space mission.

Key Points

• Purpose & Duration of Tests: The tests included a 30-second run and a prolonged 100-second burn to validate the propulsion system’s flight-like performance.
• Thruster & Engine Operations: During the longer test, ISRO successfully operated all 16 reaction control thrusters (RCS) in steady and pulsed modes concurrently with the five Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) engines, demonstrating coordinated system functionality.
• System Specifications: The SMPS consists of five LAM engines, each generating 440 N of thrust, and 16 RCS thrusters, each rated at 100 N. It supports both orbital manoeuvres and emergency aborts.
• Managing Agency: ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) led the hot-test campaign, incorporating design refinements from earlier test runs to improve operational performance.
• Next Steps: Having achieved expected performance, ISRO announced plans for a full-duration hot test to further validate the SMPS in preparation for the Gaganyaan crewed mission.