Yearend special: 25 firsts of 2025

Zohran Mamdani first South Asian and Muslim mayor in New York. No New York City mayoral race has been watched so closely in India, and the soundtrack of his victory speech indicated that Mamdani was well aware of the dhoom he has machao-ed

Karnataka first state to offer menstrual leave. All working women aged 18 to 52 in formal jobs are entitled to one day per month of menstrual leave. Predictably, it made some people see red and the matter is now in court




First digital nomad village. A new WFH option emerged and it is more picturesque than your bed: Sikkim’s Yakten has been dubbed India’s first ‘digital nomad’ village. Part of a project looking to boost local economy beyond short-term tourism, they’ve set up dedicated homestays and coworking spaces

Zakir Khan first comedian to perform in Hindi at NYC’s Madison Square Garden. Many Indian comics have performed abroad but selfproclaimed ‘sakht launda’ Zakir

First desi chip. Called Vikram 3201, the country’s first indigenous semiconductor chip was developed by ISRO, marking a step towards chip self-reliance

For the first time, the Women’s World Cup drew as many viewers as the Men’s T20 final. The Indian women’s cricket team has had quite the year, not just when it comes to their historic win, but the number of people watching with bated breath. In a first, the 2025 Women’s World Cup drew 185m viewers, equalling the viewership of the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup final

First Indian to win best director at Venice Film Festival. Purulia girl Anuparna Roy made her mark in Venice with her indie film ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’ that tells the stories of two migrant women in Mumbai, exploring their loneliness and connection

BrahMos used for the first time in live combat. India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was deployed for the first time in Operation Sindoor this May to make precision strikes on Pakistani military facilities

First Indian artwork to sell for over Rs 100 crore. For years, artist M F Husain’s 1954 painting Gram Yatra hung on the walls of a Norwegian hospital. But at an auction at Christie’s in New York, this once-forgotten painting made history by selling for $13.8m (Rs 118 cr)

Mizoram first fully literate state; Kerala first to eradicate extreme poverty. Two big wins this year. Mizoram clinched the title of India’s first fully literate state with 98.2% of Mizos over the age of seven being literate, while Kerala became the first to eradicate extreme poverty by identifying and supporting 64,000 families

First Indian cheetah mom. Mukhi was abandoned at birth by her mother, but now the first Indian cheetah has become a mum herself, giving birth to five cubs. The move was unplanned, as these things sometimes are

First trade deal with European bloc. India’s first trade pact with the European Free Trade Association was implemented this year, making Swiss chocolates and wines cheaper. That’s a sweet deal



McDonald’s sets up first GCC in India. Hyderabad is loving it! The city became the site of McDonald’s first global capability centre or ‘Global Office’, making it their largest facility outside the US

First Indian para archer selected for able-bodied team. Sheetal Devi, famous as the armless archer, is already a para medallist. This year, the 18-year-old became the first para archer to make the leap to India’s able-bodied archery team



First Indian woman to win chess world cup. Divya Deshmukh became the first Indian to win the FIDE Women’s World Cup by defeating Koneru Humpy. The 19-yearold is also the youngest player to lift the title

First 3D printed rocket engine. You can 3D print most things these days – even rocket engines. In a first, Indian startup Agnikul Cosmos tested two semicryogenic rocket engines which are printed as a single piece, with no assembled joints

First humanoid walking robot. Bengaluru startup General Autonomy created Atom 01, which they dubbed “India’s first life-sized walking humanoid robot.” Weighing 31kg, founders say it will be a lot cheaper (it cost Rs 20 lakh to make) than imported alternatives, which retail upwards of Rs 75 lakh. Bot a bargain, right?

First Indian to enter International Space Station. Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla spent two weeks at the International Space Station in June (and his mum became the first Indian woman to receive a call from space!)

First batch of deportees from the US arrives. In Feb, a US military plane made its way to Amritsar. On it, were the first group of Indian deportees from the US amidst Trump’s immigration crackdown

First homegrown antibiotic. Nafithromycin is the first indigenous antibiotic developed to take on multi-drug resistant gramnegative bacteria

First image of a solar flare ‘kernel’. India’s solar mission Aditya L-1 was able to capture the first-ever image of a solar flare ‘kernel’. A solar flare, for the uninitiated, is a sudden burst of solar energy caused by the sun’s magnetic field

First fully digital airport. Joining the ranks of London and Tokyo, Navi Mumbai became India’s first fully digital airport – that means you can do anything from pre-booking parking slots to immigration services virtually

First Kannada author to win International Booker . As the Indian takeover of prestigious cultural prizes continued, Banu Mushtaq became the first to win the International Booker Prize for a work in Kannada. Her short story collection ‘Heart Lamp’, translated to English by Deepa Bhasthi, captures the everyday lives of Muslim women in South India

All iPhone 17 models (and the Air) roll off Indian lines for the first time. In a sign of how global supply chains are being reshaped, Apple has opened its largest iPhone production facility in India. For the first time, every iPhone 17 model — along with the new iPhone Air — is being made here, underscoring the company’s deepening shift toward India as a major manufacturing base

First Indian to scale nine 8,000m peaks. No mountain high enough? Andhra mountaineer Bharath Thammineni climbed into the record books, becoming the first Indian to summit 9 out of 14 of the world’s highest peaks with his ascent of Mt Cho Oyu. Five of the remaining top peaks left on the 36-yearold’s list are in Pakistan — and, therefore, out of bounds for Indian climbers
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