Insights
Technology and services
Notes on Indian law as it applies to technology and services. The sector itself is described on its own page.
Buying an antiquity in India turns on the seller's licence, registration where notified and the bar on private export, and a defect in any of them can cost the buyer the object
On our reading of section 2(1)(a) of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 (the Act), a work of art or craftsmanship becomes an antiquity once it has been in existence for not less than one hundred years, and a manuscript or record of scientific, historical, literary or aesthetic value becomes one at seventy-five years.
A Karnataka school may charge only the fees the 1995 Rules prescribe, and a professional college only the fee a committee determines
A recognised private unaided school in Karnataka may levy only the fees prescribed under section 48 of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, and a school that charges more faces a penalty of up to INR 10 lakh and an order to refund the excess under section 124A, imposed by the District Education Regulatory Authority after giving it an opportunity of being heard.
A Bengaluru hotel with a restaurant and a bar answers to six licensing regimes, and only the food safety rules say in terms that a lapse stops all business at the premises
A Bengaluru hotel with a restaurant and a bar answers to six regimes: food safety, excise, the city corporation's trade licence, the police licence for a place of public entertainment, fire law and music copyright.
An assignment of copyright passes only the rights, term and territory it names, and it leaves the author's royalty share and moral rights behind
An assignment of copyright under sections 18 and 19 of the Copyright Act, 1957 passes only what the written instrument identifies: the work, the rights, the term and the territory.
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 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.
An Internal Committee inquiry under the 2013 sexual harassment Act runs on clocks of three months, 90 days, ten days and 60 days
Under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, an employer must constitute an Internal Committee (named the Internal Complaints Committee in section 4(1)) by written order, and the inquiry that follows runs on fixed periods: a complaint within three months of the incident, extendable by up to three months, an inquiry completed within 90 days, a report within ten days of completion, action by the employer within 60 days of the recommendation, and an appeal within 90 days.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An Indian employee in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait where salary is untaxed: residence, salary, end-of-service pay and NRE interest under Indian tax law
A citizen of India employed in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, on the premise that neither taxes his salary, is a non-resident for Indian tax unless one of the day tests in section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 is met or the deemed-residence rule in section 6(7) applies, which needs total income above INR 15 lakh other than income from foreign sources and no liability to tax in any other country.
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.
Online money games are prohibited in India from 1 May 2026, and the tax on the years before that survives the prohibition
The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026, and it does not regulate online money games.
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.
What an Overseas Citizen of India cardholder may and may not do in India: rights, property, work and cancellation
An Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder is a foreign national, and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notification S.O. 1050(E) of 4 March 2021, made under section 7B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, gives the cardholder a lifelong multiple-entry visa, parity with a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) on buying and selling immovable property other than agricultural land, a farm house or plantation property, and the rights of a foreigner in every other economic, financial and educational field.
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 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.
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