Sansa Law Desk

The Delhi High Court has reserved judgment in a landmark case that could define how Indian copyright law applies to generative artificial intelligence. The suit, brought by news agency Asian News International (ANI) against OpenAI, centres on whether the use of copyrighted news content to train the ChatGPT model constitutes copyright infringement under Indian law. Filed in November 2024, the case ran over dozens of hearings through March 2026 and represents India's first judi

The Reserve Bank of India issued the Commercial Banks Credit Facilities Amendment Directions, 2026, which came into force on April 1, 2026. These directions introduce a dedicated framework governing how commercial banks may extend credit facilities to capital market intermediaries, including stock brokers, clearing members, custodians, and market makers. The framework imposes strict collateral requirements and lending conditions designed to reduce systemic risk at the interse

From April 1, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Board of India's new algorithmic trading framework has become fully mandatory for all stock brokers operating in India. The framework brings retail algo trading under formal regulatory oversight for the first time, requiring brokers to register all algorithmic strategies, implement pre-trade risk controls, and maintain detailed audit trails. As algorithmic orders now account for a substantial share of equity market volumes in In

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, introduced in Lok Sabha on March 25, 2026, proposes significant changes to how non-governmental organisations in India receive, manage, and account for foreign contributions. The Bill amends the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, and has generated considerable debate due to provisions that expand government oversight over NGO assets funded through foreign donations. For any organisation that relies on or ma

The Supreme Court of India has constituted a nine-judge bench to hear the long-pending review of its 2018 Sabarimala judgment, with hearings commencing on April 7, 2026. The 2018 verdict by a five-judge Constitution Bench had struck down the centuries-old practice barring women aged 10 to 50 from entering the Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple in Kerala. The review bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, will examine not only the Sabarimala question but a broade

India's direct tax landscape underwent its most significant transformation in over six decades on April 1, 2026, when the Income-tax Act, 2025 officially replaced the Income-tax Act, 1961. The new legislation consolidates and simplifies the direct tax framework, reducing the total number of sections from over 800 to 536 across 23 chapters. The Central Board of Direct Taxes notified the corresponding Income-tax Rules, 2026 on March 20, 2026, along with simplified forms to oper

The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA), which replaced the Indian Evidence Act 1872 with effect from 1 July 2024, represents the most significant overhaul of India's evidence law in over 150 years. Among its most consequential changes are the provisions governing electronic evidence. In an era where digital records form the backbone of commercial transactions, communications, and dispute resolution, the BSA's revised framework for electronic evidence has far-reaching impl

Few environmental law disputes in recent Indian history have generated as much judicial and policy debate as the Vanashakti PIL. Filed by the Mumbai-based NGO Vanashakti, this public interest litigation challenged the legality of granting environmental clearances after a project has already commenced construction or operation, a practice known as ex post facto clearance. The case has moved through multiple Supreme Court benches, producing conflicting rulings that have left de

The Union Budget 2026 announced a comprehensive review of the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-Debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 (NDI Rules), which govern the inflow and regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI) in India. The NDI Rules, notified under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), prescribe the entry routes, sectoral caps, pricing guidelines, and compliance requirements for foreign investment in equity instruments of Indian companies. A comprehensive revie

Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance remains one of the most operationally intensive regulatory obligations for banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and fintech platforms in India. The Reserve Bank of India's Master Direction on KYC, originally issued in 2016 and subsequently amended multiple times, has been further updated in 2026 to address emerging risks in digital onboarding, beneficial ownership identification, and ongoing due diligence for high-risk customers.

In one of the largest GST disputes to come before an Indian High Court in recent years, the Madras High Court has ordered a pre-deposit of approximately Rs 241 crore in a classification dispute involving catalysts, with the total tax demand exceeding Rs 4,500 crore. The case raises fundamental questions about the classification of industrial catalysts under the GST tariff, the interface between chemical and industrial product classifications, and the scale of revenue at stake

In a landmark ruling delivered on 5 March 2026, the Supreme Court of India clarified that homebuyers cannot simultaneously pursue remedies under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) and the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, for the same cause of action. The Court held that once a party elects to proceed under RERA, it is barred from approaching consumer forums for identical grievances arising from the same set of facts. This judgment resolves a long-stan

In M/S Aarsuday Projects and Infrastructure (P) Ltd. v. Jogen Chowdhury and Others (2026 INSC 93), the Supreme Court of India set aside a Calcutta High Court order that had been passed in Public Interest Litigation (PIL) proceedings concerning land near Shantiniketan in West Bengal, the cultural landscape associated with Rabindranath Tagore. The Supreme Court held that PIL cannot be permitted to become a vehicle for selective challenges, cautioning against the misuse of this

A recurring question in commercial arbitration in India is whether, and to what extent, Goods and Services Tax (GST) applies to amounts awarded by an arbitral tribunal. The issue is not straightforward because arbitration awards can comprise multiple components: additional consideration for work performed, price escalation, interest, liquidated damages, compensation for breach, and reimbursement of costs. The GST treatment of each component depends on whether it constitutes c

Effective 1 April 2026, India is set to implement a new suite of approximately 40 auditing standards recommended by the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) to the Central Government for notification. These standards, to be designated as Indian Standards on Auditing (IndSA), are aligned with the corresponding International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). The transition from the existing Standard