India

Owing to the abundance of renewable energy in India, India is posited to be a major exporter of green hydrogen and substantially cater to Europe’s burgeoning green hydrogen needs against the backdrop of its proactive decarbonatisation goals. Leveraging the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM), India aims to export 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) of green hydrogen annually in the near future, predictably claiming 10% of the global green hydrogen market. Parallelly, European countries, faced with strict regulatory mandates towards meeting its net zero targets, stand to benefit more from access to lower priced green hydrogen imported from India than from depending on the domestic production of green hydrogen in Europe and incurring high production costs. Regulatory Rigmarole A major roadblock in the otherwise synergistic export-import value chain of green hydrogen between India and Europe, is the disparity between the two entities in their legal characterisation of eligible green hydrogen. Europe deems only such hydrogen eligible for consumption under its decarbonisation goals, which meets the classification criteria of Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO) as laid out in the Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) alongside the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1184 According to Article 2(36) of RED II, RFNBOs are those liquid and gaseous fuels which are produced using energy from renewable sources other than biomass. The delegated regulations further specify that : The renewable electricity used in the production of the RFNBOs must be produced within the same month, until January 1 2030 and post that the same hour as the production. The renewable electricity production plant must be located within the same bidding zone as RFNBO production facility. Under certain conditions, adjacent bidding zones will also be deemed eligible. Concomitantly,  India operates as a synchronous interconnected network organised into separate bidding zones spread across the country. The Procedure for Grant of Temporary General Network Access (T-GNA) to the inter-State Transmission system through National Open Access Registry (NOAR), 2023 by the Grid Controller of India defines a bid area as the largest geographical area within which market participants are able to exchange energy without capacity allocation. This is in tandem with the definition of a bidding zone under the EU regulatory framework. Accordingly, both entities follow the same patterns of grid segmentation and market organisation. But, while Europe operates as disparate bidding zones across the borders, India has multiple bidding zones within the same country. Indian producers are faced with the additional requirement of building and maintaining a new renewable energy facility connected exclusively to project level electrolysers instead of utilizing an existing power facility. This increases their capital expenditure substantially. This further offsets India’s unique grid system, whereby despite distinct bid areas, it operates as a unified grid, interconnected through high capacity EHVAC and HVDC links for power transfers. This effectively means that despite not adhering to the geographical correlation as per the EU Laws, India can demonstrate inter-regional price uniformity and grid integrity which are the core rationale for the same bidding zone requirement. Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) data suggests, only one price is discovered in the day ahead power markets for the whole of the country for more than 99.98% of the transacted volume over the last few years which further assures that India functions as ‘one nation, one grid’. However, on account of the official definition of a bid area, this is not accepted by the European regulators and thus, India produced green hydrogen’s ability to be certified as RFNBO is jeopardised and Indian producers are at a risk of losing its export market opportunities in Europe, arguably the most lucrative overseas market for India’s green hydrogen produce. Harmonisation Pathways India’s grid boasts of near absolute price correlation with data from IEX demonstrating less than 2% variance in the day ahead market prices across all Indian bid areas for the last three years. Relying on this, one may assert that India is a functionally unified bidding zone. Art. 7.1(a) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1184 becomes relevant here. It reads, the installation generating renewable electricity under the renewables power purchase agreement is located, or was located at the time when it came into operation, in the same bidding zone as the electrolyser Accordingly, if in a particular calendar year, a project displays price convergence, i.e., electricity prices in the bid area of the renewable energy installation are equal or similar to the electricity prices in the bid area of the RFNBO production, then the green hydrogen produced may be deemed  RFNBO compliant for its entire lifetime. Another track to tread upon is leveraging India’s General Network Access (GNA) mechanism for power purchase. Under the GNA system, a grantee receives a predetermined power schedule every 15 minutes as per the power purchase agreement of the project. This provides legally admissible proof of injection of renewable energy into the grid in the same hour as that of the hydrogen facilities’ consumption. Further, systems like Temporary GNA doubly enables congestion less consumption of the entire quantum of energy released. Thus, not only ticking off the temporal correlation requirement but also by potentially simulating a single bidding zone operation, this method can foster compliance with the geographical correlation requirement. The regulatory incongruity jeopardises the marketability of the domestically produced green hydrogen in the European markets and in turn is likely to impact the revenue generation capacity of the green hydrogen producers in India. India currently has close to 200 green hydrogen projects at various stages of development. Facilitating a robust market, both globally as well as domestically becomes critical to catalyse the growth of the industry as a whole. Europe being a sought-after export destination for India’s green hydrogen, facilitating regulatory harmonisation between the grid realities of India and Europe is emerging as the most challenging cog in the wheel for driving the green hydrogen sector forward.

In CS (COMM) 1113/2025, the Delhi High Court has granted an interim injunction in favour of Allcargo Logistics Limited, restraining the defendants from using the mark “VRS ALLCARGO” or any other mark deceptively similar to “ALLCARGO” in relation to logistics and allied services King Stubb & Kasiva (KSK), through its Intellectual Property practice led by Himanshu Deora, Partner - IP, has successfully represented Allcargo Logistics Limited, a leading Indian multinational logistics company, in a significant trademark enforcement matter before the Delhi High Court, securing robust judicial protection for the globally recognised ALLCARGO brand. Founded in India and operating across 180 jurisdictions worldwide, Allcargo has emerged as a global logistics powerhouse, delivering integrated supply chain solutions spanning multimodal transport, contract logistics, express distribution, and logistics infrastructure. The ALLCARGO brand has, over decades, come to represent scale, reliability, and trust in the international logistics ecosystem. The Delhi High Court recognised the long-standing reputation, extensive use, and goodwill associated with the ALLCARGO mark and restrained the unauthorised use of deceptively similar marks by infringing entities, reinforcing the importance of strong trademark enforcement for Indian companies with global operations. The matter was argued by Ms. Swathi Sukumar, Senior Advocate, Delhi High Court, with Himanshu Deora and KSK’s Intellectual Property team playing a pivotal role in developing the enforcement strategy, managing filings, and steering the litigation to a successful outcome.

King Stubb & Kasiva (KSK) is pleased to share a significant tax litigation update arising from proceedings involving Miles Education Pvt. Ltd. before the Hon’ble High Court of Telangana. In its order, the Court issued important directions to the investigating authorities, underscoring that inquiries must be conducted strictly during working hours, statements must be recorded voluntarily, and established judicial safeguards must be adhered to at all times. In a subsequent proceeding, the Court further emphasised the need for discretion during investigations, particularly to ensure protection of client confidentiality. These orders reaffirm the judiciary’s continued focus on procedural fairness, protection of individual rights, and responsible conduct by regulatory authorities. The observations serve as a timely reminder that investigative powers must be exercised within the bounds of law and due process. KSK welcomes the Court’s intervention and remains committed to safeguarding constitutional and procedural protections in regulatory and enforcement proceedings. The matters were handled by KSK’s team comprising Vipin Upadhyay - Partner, K. Vidya – Partner Designate, and Sai Charan B. V. N – Principal Associate who briefed Senior Advocate Avinash Desai in both writ petitions.

Introduction: A recent parliamentary session witnessed the mention of “Tokenization Bill” by Mr. Raghav Chadha, a member of Rajya Sabha. The suggestion is particularly interesting because while tokenization of real estate assets is not a very new concept in countries like the United States of America which witnessed a rise in real estate tokenization in the year 2018, it is still a budding concept in India. Contrary to the foresaid, the concept of tokenization vis-à-vis real estate gained traction in India around late 2023-early 2024. To give an understanding of real estate tokenization in one sentence- it will allow retail investors to buy real estate in bite sized portions. The concept involves use of blockchain technology to make a real estate asset divided into small digital tokens which are then offered for investment to the willing investor. In other words, it means dividing up a single property into small tokens that exist on blockchain which is a digital database used to record information in a secure way. Each token would represent separate ownership/claim when bought by different investors. Current position: Currently, India does not have a codified law governing and regulating the tokenization of assets such as real estate and intellectual property. Even though there is no specific authority which governs tokenization in India, currently, the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has taken the most definite steps to regulate tokenization within the zone designated as GIFT city International Financial Services Centre. The IFSCA constituted an expert committee on asset tokenization in September 2023 and have even issued a consultation paper dated 26thFebruary 2025 titled as “Regulatory Approach Towards Tokenization of Real-World Assets” whereby, they sought suggestions from the stakeholders to establish a regulatory framework for the “real world assets”. A codified tokenization law without a doubt has the potential to revolutionize the real estate investment market in India by reducing property disputes as the digitalization would bring about transparency in record keeping. The market would be open to the buyers even at a middle-income level as they would be able to invest in real estate by fractional ownership i.e. without having to buy the entire property, hence, resulting in a democratized structure. Tokenization also has the potential to boost real estate market in non-metropolitan cities in India, and this leap has the potential to enable the inclusion of common people in wealth creation. It could also prove fundamental in boosting technology-based startups thereby generating employment. The investors would be able to purchase real estate with the involvement of fewer intermediaries. This suggestion to codify tokenization law comes at a time where by way of a recent judgement dated 7th November, 2025, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, in the matter of “Samiullah vs. the State of Bihar” advocated the adoption of emerging technologies such as blockchain to ensure transparency in maintaining land records among other things and urged the Law Commission to examine the feasibility of adopting such technology. The Hon’ble court observedthat adopting blockchain technology could lead to restructuring and reviewing existing laws such as Transfer of Property Act, 1882, Indian Stamp Act, 1899, and Registration Act, 1908, Information Technology Act, 2000, Data Protection Act, 2023. The Hon’ble court has also observed that implementation of such technology with proper laws and safeguards has the potential to transform land registration into more secure, transparent and tamper proof system.   Key questions that need to be addressed before implementation of a codified tokenization law with respect to Indian market: It’s safe to say that implementation of tokenization bill would not come without its challenges considering India has a history of long-standing property disputes. India functions on a “buyer beware” model when it comes to real estate purchases meaning that the property records maintained by government authorities in India (such as mutation records) are not conclusive evidence of title, they are presumed to be true unless challenged. A buyer is required and advised to conduct comprehensive title search before buying any property by traditional methods. Now, having said that, while implementing a codified law for tokenization, the policy makers would need to address certain critical issues, for instance, the existing registration act requires any instrument transferring right, title and interest in an immoveable property to be compulsorily registered, in light of this the tokenization law would be required to address two very important challenges: the need for execution of a title document every time a willing investor buys a digital token and whether such instrument would also require registration. Additionally, drawing from the judgment “Samiullah vs. the State of Bihar”, the tokenization law would need to address whether the traditional record keeping be completely replaced with digital record keeping of the property offered for real estate token (RET) investments or would both methods exist in harmony? Currently, Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, 2016 (RERA) operates to ensure transparency in the real estate sector by regulating construction, development, sale, purchase of plots, buildings etc. With the implementation of a tokenization law, RERA’s role would need to be clearly defined specifically in cases where construction is undertaken over the piece and parcel of land which is offered as RET to a willing investor. The tokenization law must very clearly define the role of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) considering the RETs could be sold in real time similarly to the listed securities. Further, property laws are very state specific in India, and a centralized tokenization law needs to be implemented in a way which would operate harmoniously with the state laws.   Conclusion: With proper regulation and safeguards, tokenization can transform real estate ownership in India. Adoption of blockchain technology whether for tokenization or for maintenance of records to do away with colonial system of record keeping could prove revolutionary to the real estate market which India is in dire need of. It would be a very bold step towards financial inclusion in India. An ambitious approach towards tokenization may lead to complete digitalization of records ensuring transparency and potentially resolving India’s long standing title dispute challenges. However, the success of introducing tokenization into the Indian economy would depend on clear and harmonized framework, addressing interstate legal inconsistencies and clearly defining the role of each regulatory body in the tokenization framework by avoiding any regulatory overlaps. It remains to be seen whether blockchain can finally replace colonial ledgers in the long run.   Author: Shruti Choudhary (Senior Associate at Ahlawat & Associates)