India: Capital Adequacy/BASEL

Between January and April 2026, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) pushed through a dense cluster of circulars and regulatory amendments – touching everything from merchant banker registration to the way retail investors receive an abridged prospectus. Some of these changes were long overdue; others were triggered by market stress. All of them, taken together, amount to a fairly significant recalibration of how India’s capital markets participants will need to conduct themselves going forward.

In recent years, India has been steadily reshaping its financial regulatory landscape in banking, debt markets, overseas investment, digital finance and asset recovery.

The Supreme Court of India (SC) in Orator Marketing Private Limited v Samtex Desinz Private Limited, Civil Appeal No. 2231 of 2021, judgment dated 26th July 2021 has held that an interest free...