Business Law and Corporate Law

Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) by Notification dated 30.04.2026, published on 06.05.2026, notified the Foreign Exchange Management (Authorised Persons) Regulations, 2026 (“AP Regulations”).

The Bombay High Court's decision in Nayara Energy Ltd. v. M/s. Mahendra Sales Services addresses critical questions about arbitral tribunals' authority to override express contractual terms in dealership disputes.

Picture this - A medium sized investor in Mumbai invests in a seemingly lucrative business opportunity. The presentation is all spiffy - design, marketing material, a trademark registration number, a license.

An exit clause may look complete because it specifies a date, a return and a payment formula. It may nevertheless be unworkable if, when performance falls due, the proposed exit cannot lawfully be implemented or a third-party approval halts such exit that the documents do not adequately address. The problem is not confined to any particular instrument, way of drafting or transaction structure. Unless the documents identify and allocate those constraints when the exit is negotiated, structured investments, deferred consideration, earn-outs, put and call arrangements, third-party dependent exits and consent-dependent distributions can turn a promised commercial outcome into a performance dispute.

Commercial disputes can have significant financial and operational consequences for businesses. Pre-litigation advisory involves evaluating a potential dispute before formal legal proceedings are initiated, helping clarify the legal position, assess available remedies, preserve evidence, evaluate commercial risks and determine whether litigation is the most appropriate course of action.

As India's ESG disclosure requirements intensify and institutional investors demand climate accountability, a fundamental tension emerges between corporate dividend distributions and the capital needed for decarbonization. This analysis examines whether Indian boards can continue prioritizing shareholder payouts while deferring transition investments, and proposes a governance framework that treats carbon expenditure as a solvency test rather than an optional allocation.

Private equity exits from India have reached record levels, but converting investment value into liquidity requires careful navigation of regulatory frameworks, tax structures, and strategic route selection. How can sponsors optimise exit readiness throughout the investment lifecycle to maximise deal certainty and preserve optionality across strategic sales, IPOs, secondary transactions, and public market sell-downs?

India's M&A market has reached unprecedented scale and complexity, with Q2 2026 recording USD 27.9 billion in transactions. As deal values surge and cross-border structures proliferate, the interplay between regulatory compliance, tax optimization, and transaction structuring has become critical to execution certainty and value preservation. How should deal teams navigate the expanded fast-track merger regime, tightened antitrust scrutiny, the new Income Tax Act 2025

On 13 July 2026, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed penalties exceeding ₹142 crore on HP India and several reselers under Section 27 of the Competition Act, 2002 (Competition Act) for cartelisation and bid rigging in the sale and supply of HP personal system products, including laptops, desktops, workstations and accessories (Computers Case), and ink and toner cartridges (Cartridges Case). The orders arose from lesser penalty applications filed by HP India under Section 46 of the Competition Act read with the CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009.

Over the years, Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) has introduced a series of reforms to refine the winding-up framework governing Alternative Investment Funds (“AIFs”). Through these changes, SEBI has sought to make the winding-up process more practical and comprehensive, addressing the various issues that arise at the end of a fund’s tenure and improving the overall framework for closure of AIFs.

India's capital markets regulator has rolled out one of its most significant ease-of-doing-business reforms for foreign investors in recent years. The Single Window Automatic and Generalised Access for Trusted Foreign Investors framework, known as SWAGAT-FI, consolidates and simplifies registration for a defined category of low-risk foreign portfolio investors and foreign venture capital investors.

SEBI, through notification dated 03.07.2026, has notified the SEBI (Foreign Venture Capital Investors) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (“FVCI Amendment”) which amends the SEBI (Foreign Venture Capital Investors) Regulations, 2000 (“FVCI Regulations”).