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Entities are leveraging GIFT City for fundraising due to tax benefits. Certain companies are also in discussions to set up treasury centres in GIFT City to capitalise on this opportunity. Adani Transmission and 360tf plan significant bond issuances, while Indian Oil and ONGC have set up treasury centers. ReNew Global Energy’s successful bond issuance has increased interest, highlighting GIFT City’s appeal for tax-efficient fundraising. “The transaction will enjoy zero withholding tax compared to 9% if its listed and 15% without listing. Moreover, this issuance helps to grow group operations while securing tax efficiencies,” said Tirthankar Datta, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors. Read more

India’s updated Synthetically Generated Information (SGI) rules under the amended IT Intermediary Guidelines are reshaping how digital platforms and agencies operate. By formally defining SGI (such as deepfakes and AI-generated media), mandating labelling, traceability and rapid takedown within three hours, and tightening compliance timelines, the rules shift accountability onto platforms, ad tech intermediaries and brands. Agencies must now restructure workflows, invest in monitoring and compliance tools, and embed regulatory checks into campaign processes, signaling a broader compliance-led digital ecosystem in India’s accountability era. Probir Roy Chowdhury, Partner at JSA Advocates and Solicitors, says the change does not eliminate immunity but makes it more conditional. “Inclusion of SGI under the IT Rules will not automatically eliminate the safe harbour protection, but it undeniably makes it more conditional and compliance heavy. Safe harbour in India is operationally linked to demonstrable due diligence.” Read more

Eternal founder Deepinder Goyal’s longevity venture, Temple, is hiring engineers with body fat below 16% for men and below 26% for women. While health-linked hiring isn’t illegal in India, lawyers caution that such conditions must be relevant to the job and must not discriminate. “There are industries where one can draw a clear correlation between the work profile and need for certain physical and physiological skills, like we have seen in aviation, hospitality, armed forces, etc,” said Gerald Manoharan, partner for employment, corporate at JSA Advocates & Solicitors. “But, the correlation cannot be arbitrary because, as per policy, employment has to be fair with equal opportunities for all”. Read more

With the US Department of Commerce imposing a 125.87 per cent duty on imports of solar power equipment from India, the domestic industry has demanded the government should immediately act upon the provision in this year’s Budget to allow SEZ units to sell in the domestic market to avoid similar situations. “This could lead to a shift in import sourcing by US energy companies to avoid such significant tariff barriers and will therefore hurt Indian manufacturers. This also could potentially upset the sentiments which generated by announcement of the trade deal between the two nations earlier this month,” Manish Mishra, Partner & Head of Practice – Indirect Tax, at law firm JSA Advocates & Solicitors. Read more

The AI Impact Summit 2026 marked a decisive shift in the global artificial intelligence conversation, from model launches and pilot projects to governance frameworks, long-term capital commitments, and institutional readiness. Akshaya Suresh, Partner at JSA Advocates and Solicitors, said the government’s AI Governance Guidelines and the 2026 white paper from the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser point to a “techno-legal approach combining legal instruments, rule-based conditioning, regulatory oversight and technical enforcement mechanisms embedded within the architecture by design.” She noted that relying on current legal frameworks avoids overlapping compliance burdens that could slow innovation, particularly in a developing economy focused on scaling AI adoption. Read more

France-based FPIs will lose their capital gains tax exemption in India after the CBDT proposed an amending protocol to the India-France DTAC. The move grants India full taxing rights on share sales, removes the MFN clause, and revises dividend tax rules. Surajkumar Shetty, Partner, JSA Advocates & Solicitors, said that some of the changes were possibly made due to the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Nestle. “The Supreme Court had held that a notification is a mandatory condition to give effect to a protocol changing the terms or conditions of the DTAC. Therefore, some of the beneficial provisions have now been built into the DTAC itself along with the deletion of the ‘most favoured nation’ clause,” Shetty said. Read more

After 20 years on the sidelines, India’s banks are back in the takeover game. The RBI’s draft rules reopen acquisition finance, resetting who funds M&A, how deals are structured, and how much risk boards are willing to own. “The RBI’s move is evolutionary, not revolutionary. As an entry point, though, the RBI wants banks to fund well-capitalised and reputed acquirers,” says Mumbai-based Utsav Johri, a partner at JSA. According to Johri, of JSA, the RBI’s move reflects a deeper philosophical shift. “The proposed acquisition finance guidelines represent a cautious approach taken by the RBI in providing an introductory framework for acquisition finance, which was earlier considered taboo for banks.” Pratish Kumar, a Mumbai-based partner at JSA, agrees that exposure limits address real concerns. “Overconcentration, or too much exposure to capital markets, can be an issue for banks and may lead to systemic risk for the entire banking system,” he says. Hence, he believes the caps on aggregate capital market exposure at 40%, and direct exposure at 20% relative to tier-I capital, make sense.Read more

“With the borrower limit being raised to $1 billion along with the removal of the pricing cap and wider end-use permissions, ECB volumes could even double from current levels over the next few years to cross $100 billion,” Utsav Johri, a partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors said. Read more

The Reserve Bank of India has eased external commercial borrowing rules, potentially allowing Indian companies to raise up to $100 billion in 2026-27. Key changes include higher per-borrower limits, relaxed end-use permissions, and the removal of pricing restrictions, making overseas funding more accessible and attractive for corporate expansion and acquisitions. “With the per-borrower limit raised to $1 billion, overall borrowing linked to 300% of net worth, removal of the pricing cap and wider end-use permissions, ECB volumes could even double from current levels over the next few years as both borrower and lender pools expand,” said Utsav Johri, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors. Read more

“The tribunal dismissed the appeal while holding that once market coupling is implemented, the appellant may challenge it and regulations if they have a valid challenge,” said Amit Kapur, Partner, JSA law firm. Read more

Adjudication delays and weak enforcement of RERA orders in certain states have diluted its effectiveness, says Arun Kumar, partner of JSA Advocates & Solicitors. The concerns raised by the top court highlight implementation gaps in RERA rather than any structural flaw in the law itself, said Kumar. Read more

Another major relief is the treatment of refinancing when retiring the target company’s existing debt. “This refinancing… will not be included in the capital market exposure… they have excluded this portion,” said Pratish Kumar, Partner, JSA Advocates & Solicitors. This is significant in leveraged buyouts, where refinancing existing debt is standard. Read more