Revised Regulatory Reporting Framework For AIFs

An analysis of why formal entry in a company’s register of members is not always decisive for maintaining oppression and mismanagement proceedings, with reference to the Companies Act 1956, the Companies Act 2013 and recent Supreme Court precedent.

India's investment landscape is evolving as capital markets deepen and investors shift their focus from pure growth to governance, founder quality, and comprehensive due diligence. Drawing on insights from a recent seminar hosted by Withers KhattarWong and Khaitan Legal Associates, this analysis explores how investors are navigating opportunities in India's maturing market while managing founder dynamics, compliance challenges, and exit strategies.

In this episode, Neha discusses Vineet Pandey v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. and a connected petition before the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench.

India’s startup definition has long been tied to two basic limits: the age of the business and its annual turnover. The test was easy to apply, but it did not always reflect the reality of ventures whose growth does not follow a conventional timeline. Deep tech businesses may spend years on scientific research, product testing and technology development before earning meaningful revenue. Cooperative enterprises may also build innovative and scalable solutions, even though their ownership structure differs from that of a company or an LLP. As India’s startup ecosystem became more diverse, the earlier framework began to leave some genuine innovators outside its scope.

Business transfers can fail even after legal closing when operational contracts, tax and stamp-duty treatment, and governance rights have not been dealt with together. The buyer may acquire the business legally but still face disrupted operations, restricted commercial rights or unexpected tax liabilities from the first day.

A modest regulatory penalty can sometimes carry a larger transaction lesson. The recent adjudication order involving Fyle Technologies Private Limited is a good example. The Registrar of Companies, Bengaluru, penalised the company and four of its directors for approving share transfers in physical form even though the transferors had not first dematerialised their holdings.

Structuring an acquisition carries real consequences for control, liability, tax treatment, and continuity of a target’s contracts and licenses. The reverse triangular merger (“RTM”), or reverse subsidiary merger, is among the most widely used structures in USA M&A practice for the way it treats the target after closing.

India's Global Capability Centre (GCC) story has changed a great deal in recent years. What began as a way to move routine back-office and support work to India has grown into something far more strategic. GCCs today work on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, engineering, product development, research and development, finance and analytics and increasingly sit at the heart of their parent companies' global operations.

For decades, the route from private enterprise to the public markets in India has followed a familiar script: an initial public offering, backed by diligence and disclosure, tested through price discovery and completed through admission to trading. That remains the conventional path, and for businesses seeking substantial primary capital and independent price discovery, it is often the right one but it is not the only one.

Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) remain one of the most widely used instruments for venture capital and private equity investments in Indian companies. Their appeal lies in the ability to combine equity classification with negotiated economic and governance protections. But CCPS are not governed by a single, standalone statutory framework. Their legal treatment is instead shaped by the Companies Act, FEMA and foreign investment rules, tax law, and, where applicable, SEBI regulations.

Indian courts have, in recent times, increasingly been confronted with novel legal questions arising from the intersection of AI-generated outputs and the rights that may subsist in, or be affected by, such outputs.

SEBI's new framework for ESG debt securities establishes comprehensive disclosure requirements, third-party verification standards, and alignment with international principles for green bonds, social bonds, sustainability bonds, and sustainability-linked bonds. How will these regulatory requirements reshape India's sustainable finance market and address concerns about greenwashing while mobilizing capital for climate and social development goals?

The Supreme Court of India has definitively ruled that a tenant cannot avoid eviction under the Delhi Rent Control Act simply because possession transferred to another entity through...

As India's retail landscape evolves into an integrated omnichannel ecosystem, competition law frameworks continue to treat online and offline retail as separate markets. With e-commerce representing just 6-7% of consumer spending while consumers seamlessly move between digital and physical channels, the question emerges: are regulators defining markets based on outdated channel distinctions rather than actual competitive dynamics?

India has transformed its mergers and acquisitions landscape through sweeping legislative reforms and liberalized foreign investment policies, driving deal values to USD124 billion in 2025.

Indian courts recognize that confidential business information is protectable where it is specific, commercially valuable and shared in circumstances of confidence. For start-ups and fast-growing FMCG businesses, where management bandwidth is directed towards brand-building, distribution and customer acquisition, data protection is often deferred. This article examines what makes company data vulnerable, what courts protect in data disputes, and how businesses can embed litigation-readiness into their data

The Delhi High Court's landmark interim order in ANI v. OpenAI examines whether AI training on copyrighted news content constitutes infringement under Indian law, addressing jurisdictional challenges, fair dealing defenses...

India's Ministry of Home Affairs has introduced sweeping amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act framework through the 2026 Amendment Rules, fundamentally transforming how NGOs and not-for-profits receive and utilize foreign funding. These changes establish purpose-specific and geography-specific registration requirements, enhanced disclosure obligations including ultimate donor identification, and objective benchmarks for organizational activity. Will these reforms strengthen accountability

Generative artificial intelligence (“Gen-AI”) is an idea whose time has come. It is no more the future of technology but its present. Gen-AI is today being used in every aspect of our professional, business, and personal lives. As with the advent of every technological development, the world is finding itself in a vacuum on existing regulations to streamline and regulate the scope of such technology.

The Supreme Court has clarified when the doctrine of 'change of opinion' applies in tax reassessment proceedings, examining whether mere production of documents satisfies the requirement of full and true disclosure.