Insights
Manufacturing
Notes on Indian law as it applies to manufacturing. The sector itself is described on its own page.
A road carrier in India answers for lost goods up to ten times the freight, unless a higher risk rate was agreed
A common carrier of goods by road in India is responsible under the Carriage by Road Act, 2007 for loss or damage in transit unless a cause listed in section 17 applies, but section 10(1) limits the liability to an amount fixed by rule, which rule 12(1) of the Carriage by Road Rules, 2011 makes, for total loss, ten times the freight, never above the value declared in the goods forwarding note.
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.
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.
Appealing a goods and services tax demand takes 10 per cent of the central tax in dispute at each of two appeals, capped at INR 20 crore at each
A goods and services tax (GST) demand under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act) is appealed first to the Appellate Authority under section 107 within three months, which one further month can extend, on payment of the admitted amount and 10 per cent of the remaining tax in dispute, capped at INR 20 crore of central tax.
Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme: what the incentive rates, thresholds and recovery terms say
The Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on 8 April 2025 with an outlay of INR 22,919 crore including administrative expenses, pays turnover-linked incentive at 1 to 10 per cent of incremental sales, capex incentive at 25 per cent of eligible capital expenditure, or both together for the two selected bare components in segment C.
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.
Under the SHANTI Act, private Indian companies may hold nuclear power licences, with operator liability capped by reactor size, from a date yet to be notified
The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025 (Act No. 39 of 2025), which received assent on 20 December 2025 and was published in the Gazette of India on 21 December 2025, repeals the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, and, once in force, makes any company incorporated in India, alone or in a joint venture, eligible for a licence to build, own, operate and decommission a nuclear power plant, with no equity ceiling in the text.
What protects a Japanese investor in India today: the CEPA investment chapter and the tax treaty
The India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed at Tokyo on 16 February 2011, has its own investment chapter, Chapter 8, and the Department of Economic Affairs register of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) lists no India-Japan BIT, so India's 2016 and 2017 BIT terminations appear not to have touched it.
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.
The Provident Fund wage ceiling is INR 25,000, and the 2026 Scheme changes withdrawals
Since 17 September 2026 the monthly wage ceiling for mandatory Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) coverage is INR 25,000, not INR 15,000, and since 29 June 2026 the Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 2026 has replaced the 1952 Scheme under the Code on Social Security, 2020.
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.
The scheme that replaced FAME pays once a vehicle is sold, and the battery rules charge for it again two years later
PM E-DRIVE, the scheme that followed FAME-II and subsumed EMPS-2024, now runs to 31 March 2028 on an outlay raised to INR 11,900 crore, and the last date for a claim under any component is 31 December 2027.
Semicon 2.0: the gates are revenue, ownership and technology you already hold, not the capital you propose to spend
Semicon 2.0, notified on 31 August 2026, cut fiscal support for a silicon wafer fab to 40 per cent of eligible capital expenditure from the up to 50 per cent the first programme carried.
The 15 Per Cent Shareholder: What a Company Petition Is Actually Worth
A minority shareholder who petitions the NCLT under section 241 and wins a buyout order still has to survive the arithmetic.
An AI vendor's indemnity moves the money, not the responsibility: contracts, diligence and disclosure
Contracts for AI tools are usually drafted as if a warranty and an indemnity settle who answers for the tool.
India's export control list now names chip manufacturing tools, and shipping or re-exporting them needs a licence
India's export control list for dual use items, the Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies (SCOMET) list, was revised by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on 23 September 2025, to take effect 30 days after issue.
AI and patents, trade secrets and training data in India
Where Indian law stands on patenting AI, naming an AI as inventor, protecting models as trade secrets, and using copyright works as training data.
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.
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.
What the Labour Codes Cost You, and Who Carries It
Gratuity on fixed-term staff now accrues at one year instead of five, and the 144-hour quarterly overtime ceiling is a limit rather than a cost.
Retrenchment, lay-off and closure under the Industrial Relations Code: the 300-worker line
From 21 November 2025, a factory, mine or plantation that averaged 300 or more workers a day over the preceding twelve months needs the appropriate Government's prior permission to lay off, retrench or close, and a retrenchment there needs three months' notice, where a smaller establishment gives one month's notice and only informs the Government.
One Crore of Operating Profit: The SME IPO Gate and What It Costs to Clear It
Since 4 March 2025 an SME issuer cannot file a draft offer document unless it has earned operating profit of INR 1 crore from operations in two of the last three financial years.
The Money Laundering Act Has Become an Asset Statute, Not Just a Criminal One
For an ordinary operating company, the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 now does its real work long before anyone is convicted of anything.
The Defence Procurement Manual 2025 halves the cap on liquidated damages until the inexcusable delay passes a quarter of the total delivery period
The Defence Procurement Manual 2025 came into force on 1 November 2025 for revenue procurement by the Ministry of Defence and the Services.
The India-EFTA agreement's USD 100 billion investment objective is a promotion duty, not investment protection
The Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) between India and the four European Free Trade Association (EFTA) States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, was signed on 10 March 2024 and entered into force on 1 October 2025.
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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