With a view to curb security threats caused by inflow of FDI in various sectors, the National Security Council (NSC) has decided to promulgate an umbrella legislation known as National Security Exception Act (NSEA) aimed at imposing checks on the FDI flow into India.

With the advent of free pricing regime for general insurance industry, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has recently amended its guidelines for `file and use' requirements for general insurance products by necessitating insurers to avoid unscrupulous rate cutting in a de -tariffed regime.

After the economic reforms of the early 1990s, the Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 (the MRTP Act) was considered to have become obsolete, as India had embraced a market driven economy while entering globalization.

The retail sector in India, ranked ninth largest in the world, has witnessed the entry of large domestic and international firms in retail projects.

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), with a view to implement more transparency in the country’s credit system and for customer protection, prescribed broad guidelines with respect to fair practices, to be formulated and approved by the Board of Directors of all Non- Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) including residuary, non-banking companies (RNBCs).

An ECB refers to commercial loans [in the form of bank loans, buyers’ credit, suppliers’ credit, securitised instruments (e.g. floating rate notes and fixed rate bonds)] availed from non-resident lenders with minimum average maturity of 3 years.

The Securitisation Companies and Reconstruction Companies (Reserve Bank) Guidelines and Directions, 2003 (Guidelines) were enacted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with effect from April 23, 2003 in exercise of the powers conferred by the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (Act).

With a view to mobilizing foreign investment through issue of preference shares, the Government of India (GOI) had earlier permitted issuance of equity shares, preference shares, convertible preference shares by Indian companies to persons resident outside India in respect of financial projects / industries.

India, a significant maritime nation, has well recognized the role of shipping in the development of trade. Maritime transport is an essential infrastructure for socio-economic development of the country, with carriage by sea constituting approximately 95% of India’s international trade by volume, and 68% by value.

Commodity exchange in India plays an important role to organize the prices of any commodity that are fluctuating.

The Credit Information (Regulation) Act 2005, (CIRA) has laid down the legal framework within which credit information bureaus can collect, process and share credit information on borrowers of banks and foreign investments.

Initially, there were four different categories of companies for the purpose of acceptance of deposits by Non Banking Financial Companies

The Central Government has vide its Notification dated 7th September 2006, rescinded the following rules (the Rules) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India with immediate effect.

The Indian shipping industry is headed for rapid growth in view of the impetus in growth of the Indian economy over the last few years. This has resulted in some of Government of India’s (GOI) existing policies in the shipbuilding industry gaining prominence, an example of which is the Subsidy Scheme introduced in 2003, under which a subsidy of 30% can be availed of by an Indian shipyard, when it constructs a vessel in India upon receiving a Domestic Order on Global Tender basis or upon receivin

The ambit of the Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 was found to be inadequate for fostering competition in the market and eliminating anti-competitive practices in the national and international trade.

In order to facilitate the expansion of the business of Indian corporates abroad, the Reserve Bank of India ("RBI") had on 6<SUP>th</SUP> November 2006 enhanced the prudential limit on credit and non-credit facilities extended by Indian banks to Indian Joint Ventures (where the Indian company’s holding exceeded 51%) / Wholly Owned Subsidiaries ("WOS") abroad from the then existent limit of 10% to 20% of the unimpaired Tier I and Tier II capital funds of such Indian Joint Vent

The Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) had on 8th May 2007 enhanced the ceiling on investments by Mutual Funds registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) from the existent limit of USD 3 billion to USD 4 billion.

Subsequent to withdrawal of the prohibition on reception and distribution of television signals in Ku Band, Government of India has now permitted Direct – to – Home (DTH) TV service.

The latest amendments to MARPOL by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) were acknowledged to bring tremendous advancement with relation to sea voyage and pollution issues.

With the robust Indian economy and consequent increase in housing loans vis-a-vis the ambivalent stand of the Government of India (“GOI”) on recognizing mortgage insurance and related products to protect the creditors on the occurrence of default by borrowers, the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) has finally introduced the model of Mortgage Guarantee Companies (“MGC”) in India.