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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

Increasing the foreign direct investment limit to 100 per cent in the insurance sector will help expand coverage, create jobs and make life cover policies more affordable and accessible, said experts. 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

Japanese firms make a beeline for India eyeing long-term growth Janaki Krishnan K Ram Kumar Mumbai India has become an attractive market for Japanese companies and institutions as mergers and acquisition targets, as it offers better long-term value creation and growth prospects compared to Japan which is facing an ageing and shrinking population. There have been several large deals this year involving Japanese financial services institutions and others. Several Sectors in addition to India’s growth credentials “there are several sectors in India such as manufacturing and industrials including automotive, transportation and logistics, renewable energy, climate change, technology, consumer durables, services, where there are Government incentives and policies that encourage foreign investments,” said Trisheet Chatterjee, Partner, JSA Advocates & Solicitors. “The Japanese also find strong intellectual capital in the Indian workforce that can be efficiently utilised by them instead of sending expatriates to India in huge numbers,” Chatterjee added. Read more

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (Shanti) Bill, 2025, to open up nuclear power generation to private players. Amit Kapur, partner with JSA Advocates & Solicitors, said the legislation provides a clearer licensing and liability regime, refined operator and supplier liability structures, statutory recognition of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, and a graded enforcement and dispute resolution framework, to address long-standing legal and commercial concerns, which have limited the private and foreign investment in the sector. “Its focus on research development and innovation with a much clearer and stronger regulatory regime augurs well for the future of the Indian nuclear power programme,” he said. Read more

The insurance industry is trying to get to grips with provisions in the Insurance Amendment Bill, which gives additional powers to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, while there is ambiguity in the very definition of the insurance business, according to industry experts. Shivangi Sharma Talwar, Partner at JSA, said “The bill strengthens IRDAI’S regulatory framework and, in specified circumstances empowers it to issue regulations without publishing draft regulations, when required in the public interest. It also exclusively authorises IRDAI to prescribe limits on commissions for agents and insurance intermediaries and to frame regulations for the amalgamation of insurance and non-insurance businesses. In addition, it enhances increasing oversight by increasing penalties from Rs. 1 cr. To Rs. 10 cr. with the objective of creating an enabling yet protectionist environment. Read more

Enhancing foreign direct investment limit to 100% will enable global insurance companies to inject substantial capital directly without waiting for domestic partners, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as the House passed the insurance bill seeking to remove FDI cap along with over a dozen key sectoral reforms. Sidharrth Shankar, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, sums up key details: “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 ₹1 crore to up to ₹10 crore with the objective of forming an enabling and protectionist environment. Read more

Govt moots AI developers paying creators for copyrighted training data. In a significant step towards establishing a legal framework for balancing copyright with the evolution of the generative Al ecosystem in India, the Centre on Tuesday proposed a mandatory licensing regime for AI developers that incorporates a statutory remuneration right for content creators. “India’s approach will open up the lawful use of copyrighted content for AI training with fair royalties being paid to the creators,” Sajai Singh, partner, JSA Advocates and Solicitors, said. “Considering the US, EU and UK models, India’s Inter-Ministerial working groups are expected to develop clear guidelines. It would be important for India to also study the Japan example, as well as seek international cooperation in standard-setting from organizations like the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO),” he adds. As per Singh, ongoing litigations, such as those around ANI Media v. OpenAI Inc. has got India thinking resulting in the DPIIT Committee report. “It’s good to see that India’s approach to copyright and generative AI is evolving towards a hybrid model,” he adds. Read more