The Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs) on 12 June 2026, notified the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-Debt Instruments) (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026 (‘Amendment Rules’), amending the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-Debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 (‘NDI Rules’). The Amendment Rules constitute the third amendment in the FEMA liberalisation cycle for the year 2026, following the first and second amendments, which respectively relaxed restrictions on investments from countries sharing a land border with India and liberalised foreign investment in the insurance sector opening the sector up till 100% under automatic route. The third amendment is yet another attempt to widen the gate for the Indian economy. For years, access to India's listed securities market was reserved specially for a defined class amongst which are foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) and overseas citizens of India (OCIs), this time the liberalisation is into the Indian capital markets.
The 2026 Steel import Regulation of the European Union (EU) (‘2026 Regulation’),[1] which came into force on 1 July 2026, is not simply a continuation of earlier Steel Safeguard measures[2] applicable since 2018, but it indicates a decisive shift in the EU’s approach to regulate its steel imports in the coming years. With lowering of tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), higher out-of-quota duties and proposal for stricter origin requirements, the 2026 Regulation goes beyond the WTO’s temporary safeguard regime to a more permanent industrial policy governing steel imports into the EU. In particular, the 2026 Regulation reduces the EU's tariff-free steel quota by ~47%, doubles the out-of-quota duty from 25% to 50%, and introduces a new ‘melt and pour’ traceability requirement.
Various State Benches of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (‘GSTAT’) have recently become operational, and questions relating to jurisdiction between the Principal Bench and the State Benches have begun to arise in practice. While Section 109 of the CGST Act specifies certain categories of cases to be dealt with exclusively by the Principal Bench, early orders of the Principal Bench indicate that jurisdictional issues are not always straightforward.
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.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (‘DPDP Act’) has altered how mergers and acquisitions are evaluated in India. What was once a routine ‘IT diligence’ item has now become a central driver of deal risk, valuation, and even deal viability in some cases.
Unlike traditional IPOs, SPACs offer a faster and more flexible route to public markets, enabling private companies to negotiate valuation and transaction terms directly with the sponsor rather than relying solely on market driven price discovery.
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