Vol. 2025No. 107Contemporary India
The India you were born into
Thursday17 April2025
17 April 2025 is best opened through markets and trade: india continued its rapid technological, economic and infrastructure transformation, with the country still working through its year's larger changes.
Change dateThe Front Page
India in the 2020s
Recovery, technology and national ambition shape the era
India was navigating pandemic recovery, technological growth, public investment and a changing role in the world.
India in Numbers
A snapshot of India when you were born.
In april 2025, a litre of petrol cost Loading… and a local phone call cost Loading….
Benchmark value; verify against the original census/official source before publication. Not a census count. Source: current India population working dataset.
Prices from the month you were born, listed the way the kirana shop would have written them.
- The Hindu archive
- National archival records
- Press and public memory
04 · Sport
India on the field in 2025
Moment of the year · Chess
India's young chess generation continues its rise
India's next generation of grandmasters remained prominent in elite international chess.
202505 · Cinema & music
What India was watching and humming
The film everyone queued for that month, and the song that played from every cassette player that year.
DHURANDHAR
Year 2025
Film of the year · 2025
Dhurandhar
Also in theatresChhaava · Saiyaara · Kantara: Chapter 1 · Coolie · War 2 · Mahavatar Narsimha
Song of the year · 2025
"Aavan Jaavan"
Also on the radio"Saiyaara" · "Ami Je Tomar 3.0" · "Dhun"
$ cat science-and-technology-2025
5G, AI and a digitally native India
What science and technology looked like in India in 2025.
5G reaches near-national district coverage
Government reporting cited 4.74 lakh 5G deployments covering 99.6% of districts.
Technology moves closer to daily life
Computing, communication and consumer electronics were gradually moving from specialist institutions toward ordinary homes, offices and public life.
Faces of 2025
Virat Kohli
Starred in the Champions Trophy victory before announcing his retirement from Test cricket in May.
Neeraj Chopra
Set a new Indian national javelin record of 90.23m in Doha, crossing the 90m mark for the first time.
D. Gukesh
Won his first classical game against Magnus Carlsen at Norway Chess 2025, further establishing himself as the reigning World Chess Champion.
Shubhanshu Shukla
Became the first Indian to travel to the International Space Station on the Axiom-4 mission, a landmark in India's human-spaceflight programme.
Deepti Sharma
Played a decisive role in India's first ICC Women's Cricket World Cup title, scoring 58 and taking 5/39 in the final.
Smriti Mandhana
Finished the 2025 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup as one of India's leading batters and was named in the ICC Team of the Tournament after the historic title win.
09 · BEYOND INDIA
Beyond India
Before the internet put the world in our pockets, news from abroad arrived through telegrams, radios, television sets and eventually phones.
Donald Trump is inaugurated
20 JAN
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.
2025, circled in red
The year India looked ahead.