Corporate

Liberalisation of foreign investment in the space sector
Direct listing of shares on international exchanges in GIFT-IFSC
Central Processing Center established to ease the process of company registration
Revised threshold for determining beneficial ownership in alternative investment funds
Liquidation process amended to allow for increased stakeholder involvement

Dispute Resolution

Supreme Court clarifies that the standard of ‘public policy’ in the context of enforcement of foreign arbitral awards would be synonymous with international best practices
Supreme Court overrules its earlier decision to hold that there would be no automatic vacation of stay orders granted in civil or criminal trials
Punjab and Haryana High Court holds that a ‘stay’ on an FIR is not a bar to the registration of an enforcement case information report with the enforcement directorate

New rules in Karnataka mandating gratuity insurance
Madras High Court places the safety of a larger group of people above an individual’s right to not get vaccinated
Calcutta High Court holds that calling an unknown lady ‘darling’ is a sexually coloured remark
Amendment in the rate of employees’ contributions to the Labour Welfare Fund in Maharashtra
New conditions for employing women in night shifts in Rajasthan and Haryana

Certain foreign portfolio investors exempted from the additional granular disclosure norms
Timelines for disclosure of material changes by foreign portfolio investors proposed to be relaxed
Framework for qualified stock broker expanded to include more brokers to boost investors’ trust in the market
Forex derivative contracts involving the Indian rupee to be offered only for hedging contracted exposure

ASCI issues guidelines to curb greenwashing
Advisory issued against the advertisement and endorsement of betting and gambling

Liberalisation of foreign investment in the space sector
Requirement to periodically destroy records of interception directions extended to all competent authorities
Advisory to intermediaries on the deployment of artificial intelligence technologies
Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre tasked with notifying intermediaries of unlawful activities committed using computer resources under their control
All machine-to-machine service providers to be required to register with the Department of Telecommunication

Supreme Court holds that the discount offered by a telecom company to SIM card distributors is not 'commission' for the purposes of withholding tax provisions
Ministry of Finance notifies lower tax rate for royalty income and fees for technical services under the India-Spain tax treaty by invoking the most favoured nation clause

Supreme Court affirms imposition of penalty under Section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962 on foreign exporter for abetting improper import of goods into India
Madras High Court holds that input tax credit cannot be denied merely because the registration of the supplier was cancelled with retrospective effect
Madras High Court quashes interest demand where tax has been deposited in the electronic cash ledger within prescribed time but GSTR-3B return has not been filed
Madras High Court holds that export status is not affected due to receipt of consideration through a payment intermediary
Karnataka High Court holds that service tax is not leviable on expenses incurred by Venture Capital Funds
Guidelines for GST field formations to maintain ease of doing business while engaging in investigation with regular taxpayers

Delhi High Court directs trade authorities to consider representations of importers regarding anti-dumping duty imposed on the import of industrial laser machines
Clarification on ‘further information’ to be provided by importers in certain cases of information mismatch under the Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020
Increase in trade remedy actions by India on imports from certain countries

SEBI approves proposals empowering AIFs with ability to create encumbrance on holdings, extend tenure for unliquidated assets and conduct enhanced due diligence
Guidelines for AIFs for holding investments in dematerialised form
AIFs mandated to appoint a custodian with the obligation to report the investments under custody