Digital Business in India: A Q&A Guide

As India gears towards tabling the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 (“DPDP”) in the Parliament, we examine and compare the legal landscape of India, the European Union and the United States vis-a-vis their privacy laws and arrive at ce...

With the financial year ending in March 2023, there was a flurry of activity by financial services regulators. In particular, the Government of India has expressed its interest in the crypto ecosystem by expanding the Prevention of Money Laundering A...

The Reserve Bank of India on April 10, 2023, issued the Reserve Bank of India (Outsourcing of Information Technology Services) Directions, 2023 ("Directions") to govern and regulate Information Technology services outsourced by Regulated Entities. Th...

The continuous advancements in the fintech sector in the recent past has led to some key developments in this space, which has influenced the landscape of financial services in India. In this issue of the fintech newsletter, INDUSLAW's Avimukt Dar Su...

Change is the only constant. We live in a fast-paced society with limited time, as a result everyone’s a big fan of a wrap. We at INDUSLAW through this piece are attempting to do the same with all things data, thus calling this THE DATA WRAP! INDUS...

The fintech industry continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, driven by advances in technology, changing consumer preferences, and regulatory developments. We at INDUSLAW have been closely monitoring these developments, and in this newsletter, I...

The final quarter of the year 2022 witnessed several regulatory movements which have the potential of bringing about a sea of change in the fintech sector and provides an optimistic outlook to what lies ahead in 2023. INDUSLAW’s Avimukt Dar, Suneet...

The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023 in Parliament on the 1st of February 2023. The Budget builds on the vision set out in previous annual budgets and provides a blueprint for nav...

The RBI launched the pilot project of India’s much awaited Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) on 1st December following the release of concept note. INDUSLAW’s Namita Viswanath, Sruthi Srinivasan and Pravi Jain break down the concept note and f...

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, on November 18, 2022, released the fourth iteration of India’s draft data protection law, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 with an aim to simplify the draft Data Protection Bill...

The manifold expansion of the digital space in terms of presence and activities of users, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in paradigm shifts in the existing regulatory regime in India which was prompted by the Reserve Bank of Indi...

The government released the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 for consultation on 21st September. INDUSLAW’s Namita Viswanath, Naqeeb Ahmed, Aditya G and Pravi Jain share their insight on the draft bill.

With data leaks, ransomware attacks and other cyber security incidents becoming increasingly rampant, India's cybersecurity watchdog – CERT-In recently issued directions relating to information security practices, procedure, prevention, response, a...

On April 21, 2022, the Reserve Bank of India issued the Master Direction – Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2022. The Master Direction gives a comprehensive set of instructions, especially to card issuers, on matters ...

With the final quarter of the financial year 2021-2022 coming to a close, we note that the Indian fintech sector has witnessed strong growth amounting to a market size of United States Dollars 31 billion. The Reserve Bank of India is cognizant of thi...

The Indian fintech sector provides an optimistic outlook for the upcoming year of 2022. INDUSLAW’s Avimukt Dar, Suneeth Katarki, Namita Viswanath, Shreya Suri, Raghav Muthanna, Aditya Girish Chandra, and Abhijit Chakrabarti, discuss the key develop...

The Indian fintech sector has continued to grow and attract investments. In line with the policy objective of consumer protection and to make digital payment systems more secure and convenient for consumers, the RBI has introduced some important chan...

The Government of India has recently launched 'e-RUPI', a new digital payment solution built on the UPI system. INDUSLAW's Namita Viswanath, Shreya Suri, Shobhika Upadhyay, Maygha Viswanat, and Shantanu Mukul provide an overview of the key features o...

The Indian fintech space remains one of the fastest growing sectors, with companies evolving new business models to digitise more aspects of banking and financial services and expand their offerings into overseas markets. INDUSLAW discusses key devel...

The Fintech sector in India has continued to grow despite the Covid-19 pandemic and is now one of the largest fintech markets worldwide. INDUSLAW discusses key developments in the Indian fintech space from January 01, 2021, to March 31, 2021.

The RBI has made public certain clarifications with respect to the Guidelines on Regulation of Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways. INDUSLAW’s Avimukt Dar, Namita Viswanath, Shreya Suri, Anantha Desikan S and Shantanu Mukul discuss.

In response to the mass dissemination of fake news and offensive/ unregulated content online, the Indian Government has issued a Digital Media Ethics Code for intermediaries, social media companies and OTT Platforms. INDUSLAW’s Avimukt Dar, Suneeth...

The Indian fintech market has continued to grow and evolve, with the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating digitization amongst consumers, micro, small and medium enterprises (“MSMEs”), banks, and other financial institutions, including in rural and rem...

INDUSLAW is a multi-specialty Indian law firm with 49 partners and over 180 lawyers across four offices in Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. We advise foreign and domestic clients on matters of Indian law in relation to their transactions, dis...

The New OSP Guidelines have been issued by the DoT with the objective of devising a framework to accommodate the constant innovations in technology and for setting up a platform for OSPs to operate in the most cost-efficient manner with simplified co...

Despite the recent economic slowdown in India with the extended lock-down, the fintech industry has continued to attract investments, with Covid-19 having fast-tracked adoption of digital solutions by consumers, banks, and insurance companies. The In...

The Reserve Bank of India issued a Press Release on August 18, 2020, placing on its website a 'framework for authorization of pan-India umbrella entity for retail payments'. The Framework is a welcome move by the RBI towards setting up an alternative...

Legislative protections and immunities granted to e-commerce marketplaces over the years have significantly contributed to the continued growth and development of digital platforms for communication, trade and commerce. However, over the years, the r...

The economic disruptions owing to the current pandemic, have impacted funding globally, with venture-backed investments in India falling drastically between March and June 2020, as compared to the same period last year.Although, given the increased...

The Reserve Bank of India recently issued a notification to reiterate and ensure compliance of the Fair Practices Code and outsourcing guidelines for financial services, in letter and spirit, by banks and non–banking financial companies (NBFCs) pro...

Despite the economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian fin-tech sector has done exceedingly well this past quarter, with uninterrupted innovation and investments in the space. Fin-tech enterprises bundling their services with banks sh...

COVID-19 has brought the world to its knees. Countries are at different stages of transmission of the pandemic, trying their best to cope with their growing economic and social impact. Governments world-over are eager for the economy to re...

The RBI has decided to comprehensively regulate the activities of payment aggregators and provide baseline technology-related recommendations to payment gateways. The substantive Guidelines come into effect from April 1, 2020. Avimukt Dar, Namita Vis...

In its financial stability report dated December 27, 2019, the Reserve Bank of India (the 'RBI') proposed the New Umbrella Entity (the 'NUE') for retail payment systems, to offer alternative digital retail payment systems to the consumers, in a space...

The fin-tech sector in India has been witnessing increased attention and growth on account of digital inclusion, technological innovations, and interest from second-time entrepreneurs like Kunal Shah (FreeCharge and Cred) and Ashish Kashyap (GoIbibo ...

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 (the 'PDP Bill') and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the 'CCPA') have been formulated with the primary intention of protecting the privacy rights of individuals with respect to their personal data....

INDUSLAW is a multi-speciality Indian law firm with 42 partners and over 150 lawyers across four offices in Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. We advise foreign and domestic clients on matters of Indian law in relation ...

INDUSLAW is a multi-speciality Indian law firm with 42 partners and over 150 lawyers across four offices in Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. We advise foreign and domestic clients on matters of Indian law in relation to their transactions, dis...

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 (the '2019 Bill') was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 11, 2019 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The 2019 Bill has been formulated largely in line with the provisions of the Dra...

The fin-tech sector has rapidly expanded out of the back-end technology used by large financial institutions, to cover all emerging technological innovations having a bearing on financial services. The fin-tech industry has been witnessing a contin...

In March 2019, the Draft National e-Commerce Policy was introduced, which delved into e-commerce issues relating to encompassing data, infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regulatory issues, stimulating the domestic digital economy, a...

Proposed amendments to the rules governing online intermediaries were published at the end of 2018, intending to curb the posting of illegal online content and increase accountability. INDUSLAW shared its views with the Ministry of Electronics and In...

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recently released a consultation paper on the regulatory framework for over-the-top communication services, inviting comments from interested stakeholders. INDUSLAW shared its views on a number of important i...

Even though loyalty and reward programs offered by marketplaces are currently operating in an unregulated environment, there is a fine line of differentiation in the way semi-closed system pre-paid instruments and loyalty or reward programs offered a...

The Supreme Court of India recently upheld the validity of the TRAI's Regulations and Tariff Order introduced in 2017, primarily dealing with the manner in which broadcasters and distributors could package, market and sell television channel subscrip...

On October 16, 2018, the RBI issued guidelines for the interoperability of know-your-customer compliant prepaid payment instruments, which were widely anticipated ever since the RBI issued master directions on this subject in 2017. INDUSLAW's Namita ...

The recent judgement of the Supreme Court of India, upholding the validity of Aadhaar while striking out parts of the Aadhaar Act which permitted body corporates to use the Aadhaar number of an individual for establishing the identity of an individua...

At the end of September, the Supreme Court of India upheld the validity of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 to the extent it related to using an individual's Aadhaar number for receipt of subsidy, benefit or service from the Government and funded from the Conso...

The Q&A gives a high level overview of matters relating to regulations and regulatory bodies for doing business online, setting up an online business, electronic contracts and signatures, data retention requirements, security of online transactions a...

The long-awaited Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 (the 'Bill') was released on July 27, 2018, along with the report by the Committee of Experts under the chairmanship of Justice B. N. Srikrishna (the 'Report').

In April this year, the Reserve Bank of India (the 'RBI') issued a notification prohibiting the use of virtual currencies, preventing entities regulated by the RBI from dealing with virtual currencies or providing services facilitating any ...

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) released a whitepaper on the proposed "a data protection regulatory framework for India" in November 2017. INDUSLAW along with several other stakeholders provided its views on various asp...

Structuring your corporate workforce raises a number of regulatory matters which require careful consideration. Namita Viswanath recently discussed best practices at an Employment Law seminar before an audience of corporate general counsels

The Reserve Bank of India (the 'RBI') has published responses to frequently asked questions ('FAQs') regarding the Master Directions ' Non-Banking Financial Company ' Peer to Peer Lending Platform (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2017, issued by the RBI on...

When dealing with executive remuneration or compensation, the trend in today's growing market is to find a fine balance between the act of rewarding executives and the growth and progress of the company

The Reserve Bank of India (the 'RBI') by way of a notification dated August 24, 2017, notified that a non-banking institution that carries on 'the business of a peer to peer lending platform' shall be a non-banking financial company (the 'Notificatio...

The Q&A guide gives a high level overview of matters relating to regulations and regulatory bodies for doing business online, setting up an online business, electronic contracts and signatures, data retention requirements, security of online tran...

The Second National Labour Commission in 2002, recommended the division of labour laws into four or five broad groups concerning wages, social security, safety, industrial relations, welfare and working conditions. In 2015, the Union Ministry of Labo...

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (the 'Act') and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2016 (the 'Rules') came into effect on April 19, 2017 and June 15, 2017, respectively (together, the 'Disability Law'). The Disability La...

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (the "Ministry") has announced the "MeghRaj Policy" (the "Policy") providing directions for adoption of cloud services by various government departments (including central, s...

The Delhi High Court on February 16, 2017, in the matter of Ashok Kumar Singh v. University of Delhi & Ors pronounced on the nature of inquiry reports of internal complaints committees ("ICCs") required under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Wor...

'Cloud Computing' refers to internet based computing that allows access to a pool or network of computing resources that are owned and maintained by a third party via the internet. There is an emerging trend of smartphone companies in India operating...

There is no uniform or consistent definition of an 'insider' among the securities regulatory authorities of the world's major financial economies. An insider (in context of insider trading in securities) is anyone who has privileged access to materia...