Insights
Adv. Harsha Swaroop P
Notes on Indian law written by Adv. Harsha Swaroop P, Partner. Particulars are on Adv. Harsha Swaroop P's page.
A generator's change in law claim runs on three weeks' notice, a sixty day check by the Commission and an appeal within forty-five days
A generator that sells power under a power purchase agreement (PPA) and bears a higher cost after a change in law claims compensation under the agreement and, since 22 October 2021, under the Electricity (Timely Recovery of Costs due to Change in Law) Rules, 2021 (the Rules), which restore it to its earlier position.
A ceiling price for a scheduled drug is the average price to retailer plus a 16 per cent margin, and an overcharge is deposited with interest
A ceiling price for a scheduled formulation under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (DPCO), made under section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, is the simple average of the prices to retailer of every brand and generic version with a market share of at least one per cent of total market turnover, plus a retailer margin of 16 per cent, revised each 1 April by the annual wholesale price index (WPI), which for the revision from 1 April 2026 was 0.64956 per cent, the index for 2025 over 2024.
A mining lease passes to a buyer under section 12A with State approval and no transfer charge, while royalty, District Mineral Foundation, Trust and premium payments continue
A mining lease in India goes to a person selected under section 10(4) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act): by auction under section 10B for a notified mineral such as iron ore, or by the routes in sections 10BA, 11, 11A, 11B and 11D, a reservation under section 17A or the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015.
Anticipatory bail after a matrimonial cruelty complaint: section 85, notice and quashing
A complaint of cruelty against a husband and his relatives under section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (the offence that section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 used to define) is cognizable on the information of the woman or her relatives, is non-bailable, and carries up to three years' imprisonment.
When one parent lives abroad, an Indian court decides a child's custody on the child's welfare and place of ordinary residence
An Indian court decides the custody of a child on the child's welfare, and a petition about the guardianship of the child's person goes to the court of the place where the child ordinarily resides under section 9 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, which in Bengaluru means the Family Court.
Divorce by mutual consent: the one-year separation, the six-month wait and when it is dispensed with
A Hindu marriage can be dissolved on a joint petition under section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 when the spouses have lived separately for one year or more, cannot live together and have agreed that the marriage should end, and the decree follows a second motion made not earlier than six months and not later than eighteen months after the petition is presented.
Delay and variation claims under an Indian construction contract turn on section 55, the section 74 ceiling and a narrow challenge under section 34
An engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in India carries its delay and variation claims through the Indian Contract Act, 1872: section 55 decides whether late completion lets the owner end the contract or only claim compensation, and section 74 caps liquidated damages at the sum named, which on the Supreme Court's reading in Kailash Nath Associates v. Delhi Development Authority (9 January 2015) is payable in full only as a genuine pre-estimate of loss.
A wife, child or parent can claim maintenance under section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, with no ceiling on the amount
Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), in force from 1 July 2024 in place of section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), lets a Magistrate of the first class order a monthly allowance for a wife, child or parent unable to maintain themselves, at a rate the text leaves to the Magistrate, with interim maintenance to be decided, as far as possible, within 60 days of service of notice.
Reselling foreign software in India: payments for resale are not royalty, but goods and services tax and exclusivity terms still bind
In Engineering Analysis Centre of Excellence Private Limited v. Commissioner of Income Tax, decided on 2 March 2021, the Supreme Court held that a payment by an Indian distributor or end user to a foreign supplier for the resale or use of software under a distribution agreement or an end-user licence agreement is not royalty and gives rise to no income taxable in India, so no duty to deduct tax arose under section 195 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
A wife's right to reside in the shared household can reach her in-laws' house: sections 17 and 19 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
Section 17 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 gives every woman in a domestic relationship a right to reside in the shared household, whether or not she holds any title in it, and section 19 lets a Magistrate pass a residence order once satisfied that domestic violence has taken place.
A telemedicine product in India answers to three regulators at once, and only the doctor may prescribe
A telemedicine product in India answers to three regimes that do not share a regulator.
Location and driving data from a vehicle telematics device is personal data under the DPDP Act from 13 May 2027
From 13 May 2027, the location and driving records that a vehicle telematics device produces are personal data under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) whenever the vehicle can be tied to the person driving it.
The India and United Kingdom trade agreement took effect on 15 July 2026, and no investment treaty came with it
The India and United Kingdom Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), signed on 24 July 2025, entered into force on 15 July 2026, together with the Double Contributions Convention (DCC) on social security.
A United States company investing in India: entry under the foreign exchange rules, no investment treaty, and dividend tax under the 1989 convention
A United States company may subscribe to shares of an Indian company under the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 without prior approval where the sector is on the automatic route and the sectoral cap is not crossed, at a price not below the fair value of the shares, and the Indian company must report the issue to the Reserve Bank of India in Form FC-GPR (Foreign Currency-Gross Provisional Return) not later than thirty days from the date of issue.
The two-factor rule for a domestic digital payment now runs under one set of Directions, with one factor dynamic and the issuer bearing any loss on a payment that does not comply
The Reserve Bank of India (Authentication mechanisms for digital payment transactions) Directions, 2025, issued on 25 September 2025, required every payment system provider and participant, bank or non-bank, to comply by 1 April 2026.
The SARFAESI clock in 2026: what each stage of enforcement costs while it runs
On an illustrative INR 25 crore non-performing exposure, a month of drift anywhere in the SARFAESI sequence costs about INR 38 lakh, roughly 1.5 per cent of the outstanding, and most of it is destroyed rather than transferred.
A deepfake of your chief executive runs on a seven day clock, unless you hold a court order
The February 2026 amendment to the Information Technology Rules is reported as a three hour takedown rule.
Half the new insolvency law is in force, and the half everyone talked about is not
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026 received assent on 6 April 2026, and most of it commenced on 26 May 2026.
An NRI or OCI cardholder selling a flat in India and sending the money abroad: the rules from 1 April 2026
A non-resident Indian (NRI) or an overseas citizen of India (OCI) cardholder may sell immovable property in India to a person resident in India, and the Reserve Bank of India's directions under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) let an authorised dealer bank send the money abroad, but each exit route has its own cap and conditions.
When an Indian citizen living abroad is resident in India for tax: the day tests, the INR 15 lakh line and not ordinarily resident
Under section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, in force from 1 April 2026, an Indian citizen living abroad is resident in India for a tax year on 182 days or more in India, or on 60 days plus 365 days in the four years before, but a citizen on a visit from abroad is outside the 60-day test unless total income other than income from foreign sources exceeds INR 15 lakh, when the test runs at 120 days.
India's carbon market now sets plant-level targets, and a shortfall left uncovered costs twice what a certificate trades for
From 8 October 2025, the Greenhouse Gases Emission Intensity Target Rules, 2025 have given 282 named plants in aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali and pulp and paper a binding emission intensity target for 2025-26 and 2026-27.
An heir living abroad can inherit property in India, but money leaves the country only up to USD 1 million a year without Reserve Bank approval
Under section 6(5) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), rule 24(c) of the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 and the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Master Direction on immovable property, a non-resident Indian (NRI) or overseas citizen of India (OCI) may inherit any immovable property in India, agricultural land included.
Delay under RERA runs from the date in the agreement for sale, not from the date the project was registered
Section 18(1)(a) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 fixes liability by reference to the terms of the agreement for sale and the date specified in it.
There is no AI statute in India, and the one AI rule that binds you today is about labels
A business buying or building AI in India is usually told it faces a new compliance regime.
Customs now has two years to finalise a provisional assessment, and the oldest files run out on 29 March 2027
The Finance Act, 2025 inserted sub-sections (1B) and (1C) into section 18 of the Customs Act, 1962 from 29 March 2025.
Dutch holding companies investing into India: the MFN clause, the Nestle judgment and dividend withholding
On 19 October 2023 the Supreme Court of India held, in Assessing Officer (International Taxation) v. Nestle SA, that a most-favoured-nation (MFN) clause in a protocol to an Indian double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) does not operate by itself: the better rate given to a later treaty partner reaches residents of the first country only when the Central Government notifies it under section 90 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the later partner must have belonged to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) when its treaty with India was entered into.
The DPDP Rules are notified, and almost nothing in them binds until 13 May 2027
The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 were notified on 13 November 2025 as G.S.R. 846(E).
The DPDP exemption for schools and universities covers tracking and behavioural monitoring, not every use of a student's data
From 13 May 2027, section 9 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 requires verifiable consent of a parent before any personal data of a child, anyone under eighteen, is processed, and bars tracking, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising directed at children.
Digital lending is now one instrument, and a default loss guarantee cannot exceed five per cent of what the portfolio disbursed
The Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025 took three circulars written over five years and replaced them with one, and in doing so moved the default loss guarantee out of a standalone 2023 circular and into a chapter of the regime it always belonged to.
Hotel rooms up to INR 7,500 a night carry 5 per cent goods and services tax from 22 September 2025, without input tax credit
From 22 September 2025, a hotel room with a value of supply of up to INR 7,500 per unit per day is taxed under goods and services tax (GST) at 5 per cent, on condition that the hotel takes no input tax credit on the goods and services used to supply it, and the hotel cannot choose a higher rate instead.
A German company's presence in India: liaison, branch or project office under the Reserve Bank's Master Direction
A German company that wants a presence in India without a subsidiary can seek a liaison office (LO), a branch office (BO) or a project office (PO), approved by an Authorised Dealer Category-I (AD Category-I) bank under the Reserve Bank of India's Master Direction of 1 January 2016, updated to 18 May 2021, which implements the Foreign Exchange Management (Establishment in India of a Branch Office or a Liaison Office or a Project Office or any other Place of Business) Regulations, 2016.
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