At The Crossroads: AI, Ethics And Legal Practice

On June 3, 2026, the Supreme Court of India’s AI Committee released preliminary draft of the Regulations for Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Courts, 2026 (“The Draft”). This marks a shift from scattered experiments with AI tools for translation, transcription, research and case management. With over 93,000 pending matters as of March 2026, the guidelines aim to ease processes for officials and citizens. AI could help reduce backlogs through automated cause-list preparation, transcription, research, and defect scrutiny, but its use also raises serious concerns.

India has formally moved to regulate deepfakes and AI generated content by notifying the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026.

India's fintech market is one of the fastest growing in the world, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Estimates put the market at about USD 145 billion at the end of 2025, growing at a compound annual rate of 30.55% to reach roughly USD 550 billion by 2030. India's fintech adoption rate is around 87%, reportedly the highest anywhere and well above the global average of roughly 64% to 67%. Add the world's second-largest digital population and the runway looks long.

The Supreme Court of India, through notice dated 03.06.2026, has published the draft Regulations for use of Artificial Intelligence in Courts, 2026 (“Draft AI Regulations”). Comments and suggestions from all stakeholders and the general public are invited on the Draft AI Regulations by 20.06.2026

In a seismic event that has rattled the foundations of India's cryptocurrency landscape, WazirX, the nation's largest cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a devastating cyberattack that resulted in the theft of over $240 million in investor funds.

Cybersecurity regulation in India has, until now, largely spoken to the entity that suffers the breach. The 2022 CERT-In Directions issued under Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000 fixed a six-hour reporting clock on the organisation that detects an incident. The new Guidelines flip the lens onto the entity upstream of that breach, the OEM or technology provider that built the product in the first place. For the first time, vendors supplying software, firmware, cloud platforms, or APIs into India carry direct, time-bound, and independently verifiable obligations of their own and not obligations that are merely passed through a customer contract, but obligations CERT-In itself may enforce.

In a rare use of its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, the Supreme Court heard a curative petition filed by DMRC, challenging an earlier order that had upheld the arbitral award. The judgment brings finality to a decade-long contractual dispute that began in 2013 with arbitration proceedings.

For most technology vendors, cybersecurity has been a promise made to a customer, set out in a statement of work and enforced, if at all, through the contract. For vendors supplying India's power sector, that is changing. The Central Electricity Authority (Cyber Security in Power Sector) Regulations, 2026, notified on 31 July 2026 under the Electricity Act, 2003, impose obligations directly on vendors, alongside a far more demanding set of requirements for the power-sector entities they serve. Most of these provisions come into force on 1 April 2027.

Between May and August 2026, AI regulation has continued to develop rapidly, with a focus on accountability, transparency, human oversight and protection against AI-related harms.

On May 21, 2025, the NPCI introduced new guidelines to streamline the Unified Payments Interface ("UPI") and its Application Programming Interface ("APIs"), effective August 1, 2025.

The Ministry of Labour & Employment has issued a notification dated September 17, 2026, notifying INR 25,000 per month as the new wage ceiling for the purposes of the provident fund provisions (“PF“) of the Code on Social Security, 2020 (“SS Code”). The notification is effective from September 17, 2026. The wage ceiling was last revised 12 years ago in September 2014, when it was increased from INR 6,500 per month to INR 15,000 per month.

On September 9, 2026, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Department of Consumer Affairs) notified the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026 (“Amendment Rules”), amending the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 (“E-Commerce Rules”). The Amendment Rules will come into force on January 1, 2027.

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The Reserve Bank of India has introduced a new classification system for Non-Banking Financial Companies, fundamentally changing registration requirements based on public funding access, customer interface, and asset size thresholds. These regulatory changes create distinct compliance pathways for different NBFC categories while introducing new rules for group entities and overseas investments.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 ("BNS") was enacted on December 25, 2023, repealing and replacing the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ("IPC") as the new penal code of the country.

The Reserve Bank of India has introduced comprehensive new regulations consolidating the entire export-import framework, set to take effect from October 2026.

The Delhi High Court has ruled that arbitral awards must be stamped when signed, not when enforcement is sought, closing a decades-old practice of deferred stamp duty payment. Once the one-month statutory window expires, award holders cannot cure the deficiency through unilateral deposit and must pay both deficit duty and penalty at a fixed rate, fundamentally reshaping enforcement practice for arbitration practitioners across India.

India has introduced three new social security schemes under the Code on Social Security, 2020, effective July 1, 2026, fundamentally restructuring the country's provident fund, pension, and insurance frameworks. These schemes replace decades-old regulations and introduce special provisions including enrollment campaigns, damage relief programs, and retrospective exemptions for establishments. The new framework maintains contribution structures while introducing significant operational changes and transitio

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDP Act"), enacted on August 11, 2023, is India's principal data protection legislation.

The RBI has issued the Reserve Bank of India (Lending Against Gold and Silver Collateral) Directions, 2025 (‘Directions') dated June 6, 2025, with directions to ensure compliance before April 1, 2026.