Insights
Notes and updates
One note a month on a change in Indian law, with the working and the sources. Shorter updates when a rule moves. Filters by practice, sector, author and year follow in the next release.
The DPDP Rules are notified, and almost nothing in them binds until 13 May 2027
The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 were notified on 13 November 2025 as G.S.R. 846(E). Rules 1, 2 and 17 to 21 came into force that day, and they are the machinery of the Data Protection Board rather than anything a company must do. Rule 4, on consent managers, starts on 13 November 2026. Everything a data fiduciary has to build, the notice, the security measures, breach reporting, erasure and the rights machinery, starts on 13 May 2027, and sections 3 to 17 of the Act start on the same day. The regulator exists now. The duties do not.
Semicon 2.0: the gates are revenue, ownership and technology you already hold, not the capital you propose to spend
Semicon 2.0, notified on 31 August 2026, cut fiscal support for a silicon wafer fab to 40 per cent of eligible capital expenditure from the up to 50 per cent the first programme carried. The percentage is the least of it. An applicant for that pillar must already show minimum capital investment of INR 20,000 crore, revenue of INR 7,500 crore in any of the three financial years before it applies, and production grade technology it owns or licenses. The design pillar adds a condition on who owns and controls the applicant.
Criminal and Sensitive Litigation in India: Bail, Economic Offences and the New Codes
Bail and anticipatory bail, economic offences, cybercrime, corporate criminal liability, and the new BNS/BNSS/BSA framework: the statutes that apply, the standards courts weigh, and how each domain of India's criminal justice system is approached.
Matrimonial and Child Custody in India: Divorce, Maintenance and Welfare of the Child
Understanding divorce, maintenance, property division, and child custody laws in India: the statutes that apply, the factors courts weigh, and the routes through which disputes are resolved.
Corporate and Commercial Law: Legal Insights
Legal scholarship across Corporate, Regulatory, Civil & Criminal law, supporting informed decisions as Indian law changes.
The 15 Per Cent Shareholder: What a Company Petition Is Actually Worth
A minority shareholder who petitions the NCLT under section 241 and wins a buyout order still has to survive the arithmetic. On the assumptions below, an illustrative 15 per cent holder in a company with INR 180 crore of turnover ends up about INR 4.99 crore worse off than the same holder who negotiated an exit on day one, roughly 31 per cent of the pro rata value of the stake.
Half the new insolvency law is in force, and the half everyone talked about is not
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026 received assent on 6 April 2026, and most of it commenced on 26 May 2026. The two chapters that drew the loudest commentary, the creditor-initiated insolvency resolution process and group insolvency, were left out of the commencement notification and are not law today.
The Money Laundering Act Has Become an Asset Statute, Not Just a Criminal One
For an ordinary operating company, the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 now does its real work long before anyone is convicted of anything. A provisional attachment of an unencumbered asset worth INR 10 crore carries an illustrative cost of about INR 50 lakh over the first year, five per cent of the value of the asset, made up of lost borrowing capacity, counterparty reaction and the cost of producing records.
The SARFAESI clock in 2026: what each stage of enforcement costs while it runs
On an illustrative INR 25 crore non-performing exposure, a month of drift anywhere in the SARFAESI sequence costs about INR 38 lakh, roughly 1.5 per cent of the outstanding, and most of it is destroyed rather than transferred. Neither side collects it.
One Crore of Operating Profit: The SME IPO Gate and What It Costs to Clear It
Since 4 March 2025 an SME issuer cannot file a draft offer document unless it has earned operating profit of INR 1 crore from operations in two of the last three financial years. That single number, written into regulation 229 of the SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2018, moved the IPO conversation out of the merchant banker's office and back into the finance function, because it is an accounting test before it is a capital markets test.
What the Labour Codes Cost You, and Who Carries It
Gratuity on fixed-term staff now accrues at one year instead of five, and the 144-hour quarterly overtime ceiling is a limit rather than a cost. Both attach to the company and its officers.