The article discusses the Special Economic Zones (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2026 which has been notified by Ministry of Commerce and Industry to ease regulatory burden of funds. The changes made by the Amendment Rules are relevant for funds and Fund Management Entities (‘FME’) established in an International Financial Services Centre (‘IFSC’).
Can the act of preserving history generate proprietary rights over it? The article discusses recent decision of Division Bench of the Madras High Court which revisits the question in the context of film preservation and archival stewardship. The decision serves as a reminder that while preservation may safeguard a work for future generations, it does not, in itself, transfer the intellectual property rights embedded within it.
The article discusses the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 2026 (‘PMS Regs 2026’), which were approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) at its 215th Board meeting. The new regulations replace the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 2020 (‘PMS Regs 2020’’), that are currently in force.
The article analyses the long-standing debate in Indian tax law: what happens when the Central Board of Direct Taxes (‘CBDT’) adopts one interpretation of a provision, but the courts adopt another. It discusses the recent Supreme Court decision in the case of Samtex Fashions Ltd., relating to availability of a deduction under Section 80HHC of the Income Tax Act, 1961 in respect of export quota premium. According to the authors, the CBDT Office Memorandum dated 23 February 1998 deserved a purposive and liberal construction and thus instead of being treated as an impermissible attempt to override the statute, it could legitimately have been regarded as an interpretative aid reflecting the broader legislative objective of extending Section 80HHC relief to export-linked incentives.
The article discusses the SEBI amendment in (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012 to extend the protection currently available only to investors of alternative investment funds (‘AIF’) set up as a trust, to investors of all forms of AIFs.
n today’s world, the terms ‘organic’, ‘natural’, ‘eco-friendly’ and their friends are tossed around like they are the new currency, the buzzwords that uplift the market value, the leverage to bypass the regular route or the attribute that stands out. Looks like it is lost on us that these should not be the outlier attributes but the normal, the regular, the way things are supposed to be.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court’s decision in Sanand Properties Pvt. Ltd. v. JCIT revisits two recurring fault lines in tax litigation—when an assessment can be reopened and how income must be characterized when commercial arrangements blur taxation principles. In doing so, the Court clarifies that the true test for reassessment is not whether basic facts/ underlying documents were merely disclosed, but whether their true implication was made known to the assessing authority
In today’s world with WTO mechanism and multilateralism under severe strain, countries are increasingly looking for bilateral and regional partnerships to enhance the market access for their products and services. In this quest, countries are entering into free trade agreements (‘FTAs’ or ‘agreements’), under which they grant duty concessions, often reducing tariffs to zero from their FTA partner countries.
The article discusses the Draft Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Second Amendment Rules, 2026, which is a step towards regulating digital intermediaries. According to the Team, the amendments propose a clear shift toward tighter, more centralized regulation of digital intermediaries, significantly raising compliance expectations and legal risk.
India is in the middle of a significant overhaul of its labour laws and at the heart of it is the Code on Social Security, 2020 (‘SS Code’) prescribing for statutory compliances for the welfare of employees.
The effectiveness of any statutory obligation to collect an amount, hinges entirely on the existence of express recovery provision in the case of default.
The Indian Carbon Market operates under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (‘CCTS’), implementing a market‑based carbon pricing mechanism to drive emission reduction. This market-based greenhouse gas emission (‘GHGE’) reduction framework is bifurcated into the offset market and compliance market.
This article examines popular mechanisms for contractually allocating and limiting risks to the benefit of all parties: clauses for events of force majeure and change-in-law to provision for uncertain contingencies; and clauses for liquidated damages and limitation of liability to calibrate financial exposure.
Historically, the transfer pricing (‘TP’) regime under Indian tax law has been shaped as much by judicial interpretation as by legislation. Over the years, courts and tribunals played a pivotal role in narrowing the scope of TP applicability by insisting on substantive tests of ownership, control, and demonstrable profit impact. The Income-tax Act, 2025 (‘New Act’), however, marks a conscious departure from this approach.
This article examines the statutory framework governing such powers and analyses the extent to which the reference before the AA can be altered without violating the jurisdictional architecture embedded under the Benami Act.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (‘DPDPA’) and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 (‘Rules’) have been published in the Gazette in November 2025. The final implementation of the rules is slated to commence in November 2026 (in respect of the Consent Manager provisions) and May 2027 (in respect of all other provisions of the law) with certain media reports anticipating a reduction of the said timeline to November 2026.
This article aims to analyze how the USDOC reached these outcomes, with focus on adverse-facts-available (‘AFA’), critical circumstances, and the emerging issue of transnational subsidies linked to Chinese-origin inputs.
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