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Privacy compliance is shaping up to be a major new cost centre for India Inc, with companies expected to spend nearly ₹20,000 crore in the first year of implementing the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, according to consulting firms. The organisation size, type of personal data and the industry vertical, also influence the size of investments, said Akshaya Suresh, Partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors (JSA).“Restrictions on data transfer will require investments to host data in data centres in India. There will also be costs to move data to India if it is hosted in a region that is subsequently blacklisted by the government. If companies have vendors that store data globally, there may also be a cost to require vendors to host data locally or change vendors if they don’t support local hosting. Separately, data retention, archiving and secure erasure will also need infrastructure capacity planning,” she said. The story has also appeared in Communications Today and News Bytes.  Read more

India’s SHANTI law modernises its nuclear power sector, encouraging private and foreign investment to achieve 100 GW capacity by 2047. It introduces a new licensing framework, aligns international liability standards, and allows foreign investment up to 49%. The law maintains government control over strategic nuclear activities while opening research and development for peaceful purposes. “Interestingly, the ambit of the new legislation extends beyond power generation to include the application of nuclear technology in healthcare, food, water and agriculture, to provide a cleaner and more predictable regulatory environment. The law permits foreign direct investment of up to 49% in specified nuclear activities under the automatic route, thereby unshackling the public sector monopoly over this domain,” said Amit Kapur. Read more

The enactment of SHANTI Act, allowing private sector entry into nuclear power generation, has also brought focus on regulatory authority to decide tariff electricity generated by private nuclear plants. The industry has been seeking a separate authority to regulate the nuclear power tariff and that the tariff discovery should be through competitive bidding. “Evidently, the fixing of tariff for nuclear power plants is squarely within the domain of DAE, unless DAE elects to delegate that power to AERB by Rules to be notified. From the perspective of private investors, this may be a problem of perception for robustness of tariff determination mechanism and for components of tariff,” says Amit Kapur, Partner at JSA, Advocates & Solicitors. Read more

The year 2025 has been an inflection point for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India as policymakers recognised the strategic importance of the technology, saw a need to set a framework around it, and also sprang into action with a line of policy decisions. “From a legal and regulatory perspective, 2025 has shown that India prefers the gradual alignment of existing laws over the enactment of a standalone AI statute,” said Probir Roy Chowdhury, partner, JSA Advocates and Solicitors. “This appears to be a deliberate policy choice where AI is regulated through well-established domains like data protection, intellectual property, and intermediary obligations rather than by passing a technology-specific law too soon,” he added. The DPDP Act, with its requirements on consent and purpose limitation, will have a direct impact on how AI systems are developed, though it is not an AI legislation, Chowdhury added. Read more

With the new nuclear energy legislation SHANTI — short for Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India — finally coming into force, India is set to enter a new phase of global nuclear power generation and commerce. The Bill is armed with provisions that seek to strike a balance between a stable and predictable investment environment for rapid capacity creation and a strong regulatory regime ensuring safety and security of critical infrastructure and its operations. “The Bill permits foreign direct investment of up to 49 per cent in specified nuclear activities under the automatic route, thereby unshackling the public sector monopoly over this domain,” said Amit Kapur, partner at law firm JSA. Read more

The amendment to insurance laws is expected to trigger a fresh round of consolidation and deal-making in the sector, alongside new capital inflows following govt’s decision to permit 100% foreign direct investment. According to Shivangi Sharma Talwar, partner at JSA Advocates and Solicitors, the amendments could materially alter the legal framework governing mergers in the sector. “With the amendments proposed under the new bill seeks to widen consolidation options by allowing insurers to merge with non-insurance cos to listing, while insurers may also be able to acquire service providers, it may become legally permissible for an insurer to amalgamate with a non-insurance entity. provided the scheme results in an insurance company as the surviving or resultant entity,” she said. She added that the impact will depend on regulations yet to be notified, particularly on the scope of non-insurance activities insurers may be allowed to undertake. Read more

With Parliament clearing the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025, the government has put in place a new legal framework that allows private sector participation in nuclear power generation, while retaining state control over strategically sensitive areas of the nuclear value chain. “This effectively means that foreign investors will have to route their participation through a company incorporated under Indian law, as direct entry by overseas entities is not allowed,” said Ashish Suman, Partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors. Read more

Industry experts said Parliament’s approval to raise FDI in insurance to 100 per cent will attract global capital, boost competition, and create jobs. The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Bill, 2025, strengthens regulation, improves governance and transparency, and enables insurers to offer affordable, innovative products with faster claims, supporting long-term sector growth and policyholder protection. The bill provides for a robust regulatory environment while enabling ease of doing business for investors, and aligns with global standards at the same time, guarding the interest of the policyholders, JSA Advocates & Solicitors Partner Sidharrth Shankar said. Read more

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled the Securities Markets Code (SMC), 2025, which replaces three existing laws, in Parliament. The Bill empowers the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to remove a board member for non-compliance, apart from laying down stricter conflicts of interest disclosure requirements. Commenting on the Bill, JSA Advocates & Solicitors’ partner Arka Mookerjee said, “The Securities Market Code marks a consolidation of three key regulations in the Indian securities market the SCRA, the SEBI Act and the Depositories Act. However, while this consolidation will likely help practitioners and the market alike, the details on subordinate legislation, namely the SEBI rules, regulations, circulars and guidelines, will remain to be seen.” Read more

The Bill seeks to merge three existing legislations the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956; the Securities and Exchange Board of India(Sebi) Act, 1992; and the Depositories Act, 1996into a single, unified code. The legislation will be referred to a Parliamentary standing committee for further scrutiny. First proposed in the Union Budget 2021-22, the SMC aims to remove obsolete and redundant provisions, eliminate overlaps, and introduce consistent regulatory processes across the securities market. Arka Mookerjee, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, said the SMC’s consolidation of three key securities laws is likely to benefit both market participants and practitioners. However, the contours of subordinate legislation Sebi’s rules, regulations, circulars and guidelines will be crucial, he noted. Read more

The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 16 December, represents the most significant reform of India’s insurance sector in decades. According to Sidharrth Shankar, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, the bill “delegates Irdai with extensive powers to form regulations for policyholder protection”, including on commissions, amalgamations and penalties. Shankar said the sector was now “fully liberalised for insurance companies”, with conditions around foreign investment proposed to be simplified and eased. Shivangi Sharma Talwar, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, said while the bill permits mergers of insurance and non-insurance businesses, ending a decade-long debate, it lacks clarity on “the business to be transferred” since insurers are otherwise restricted from undertaking non-insurance activities. Read more

Investors in India’s insurance sector remain cautious, despite the tabling of the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, the challenges pertaining to the conditions for full ownership, composite licensing, and timelines remain. While IRDAI gains more enforcement powers, the lack of clarity in the present bill raises concerns. “The bill delegates IRDAI with extensive powers to form regulations for policyholder protection including on key matters such as amalgamation of insurance and non-insurance business, commission payments and increases penalties from one crore to upto ten crores with the objective of forming an enabling and protectionist environment,” said Sidharrth Shankar, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors. Read more