India: Corporate/Commercial Law

If you've ever drafted a shareholders' agreement, you'll recognise a familiar clause. It lists reserved matters, ensures that certain decisions require approval from a specific investor's nominee, and quietly assumes that the day it will be tested will never arrive. At Tata Sons, that day has arrived

The Income-tax Act, 2025 has introduced significant changes to the taxation framework for charitable entities, now classified as registered not-for-profit organisations (NPOs). This article examines how the Finance Act, 2026 has recalibrated provisions governing cancellation of registration for NPOs engaged in general public utility objects, comparing the new framework with the Income-tax Act, 1961 to reveal both intended alignments and unintended departures.

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

The Competition Commission of India has approved a significant restructuring in the insurance sector involving Fairfax-controlled FAL Corporation, Go Digit Infoworks Services, and Go Digit General Insurance. The transaction involves a scheme of amalgamation that will merge Infoworks into Digit General, fundamentally altering the ownership structure and reducing the effective voting interest of existing minority shareholders from 52% to approximately 14.92%.

MARS Equity Dragon Fund VCC, managed by a subsidiary of MUFG Bank, acquired a 2.74% stake in both Krazybee Services Limited and Finnovation Tech Solutions Private Limited, the entities behind the KreditBee lending app. The acquisition included access to commercially sensitive information and observer rights, triggering Competition Commission of India review despite the small stake size.

Legal work first moved to India to save money. Today’s centres are expected to own that work, and whether they succeed turns on design choices that a cost model won’t show

Cybersecurity and data protection are closely connected, but they serve different purposes. Cybersecurity protects systems, networks and information from unauthorised access, disruption, alteration or destruction. Data protection governs how personal information is collected, used, stored, shared and deleted. Together, cybersecurity and data protection help businesses protect sensitive information, meet legal obligations and maintain the trust of customers, employees and business partners.

Novation has existed in Indian over the counter ("OTC") derivative markets for years, but as derivative volumes and market maker turnover grew, the absence of a comprehensive framework spanning asset classes became a genuine gap. In July 2025, the Reserve Bank of India ("RBI") released a draft titled "Reserve Bank of India (Novation of OTC Derivative Contracts) Directions, 2025", seeking to close this gap through a unified set of directions. After consultation with various stakeholders, RBI finalised the framework on 22 September 2026, but abandoned the standalone Directions format.

Legal work first moved to India to save money. Today’s centres are expected to own that work, and whether they succeed turns on design choices that a cost model won’t show

Building a successful startup requires more than just a great product and passionate founders. From founder agreements and intellectual property protection to investor readiness and employment compliance, understanding the legal framework that supports your business can mean the difference between smooth scaling and costly disputes. This comprehensive guide walks through five critical legal questions every founder should address before their next major business milestone.

Venture capital investment involves far more than assessing a startup’s product, revenue potential or market opportunity. Before committing capital, investors examine whether the business has a legally sound structure capable of supporting investment, governance, ownership and future growth. Company structure forms an important part of this assessment because it determines how ownership is recorded, how decisions are made, how investors receive equity and how legal obligations are managed.

The Bangalore bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (‘ITAT’) has held that ESOP expenditure cross-charged by a foreign holding company to its Indian subsidiary is allowable as a deduction under section 37(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ('Act'). The Tribunal reiterated that ESOP discount constitutes employee compensation and gives rise to an ascertained liability during the vesting period and that the possibility of future forfeiture, non-exercise of options, or issuance of a valuation report after the financial year-end does not render the liability contingent or hypothetical.