Ergo

The Supreme Court of India's judgment dated 23rd July 2021 in “Prakash Gupta v. Securities and Exchange Board of India”, Criminal Appeal No. 569 of 2021, has for the first time, interpreted Section 24A of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (SEBI Act) holding that an offence under the SEBI Act can be compounded only under the SEBI Act and not as per Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC).

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about an economic slowdown, including in the real estate sector, and has curtailed the purchasing power of the citizenry.

The Mumbai Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal) in the case of Deputy CIT v. Total Oil India Private Limited (ITA No. 6997/Mum/2019) (Taxpayer) has expressed ‘doubts’ over the correctness of certain decisions rendered by co-ordinate benches of the Tribunal (see our earlier Ergo published on 21 October 2020) on the issue of tax treaty applicability to dividend distribution tax (DDT). 

In order to ease the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Indian economy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 27 March 2020 and 17 April 2020  introduced certain regulatory measures to deal with the challenges arising due to the lockdown (together, the Initial Covid Regulatory Packages).

On 1 May 2020, the Telangana High Court (Court) passed an order in M/s Pennar Industries Limited & Anr v. The Reserve Bank of India & Anr (IA No 3 of 2020 in WP No 6573 of 2020), granting an interim injunction restraining Yes Bank Limited (Yes Bank), the second respondent from debiting amounts due under letters of credit (LCs) from the account of the Petitioner.

Amidst the prevailing COVID-19 crisis, states are now contemplating taking diverse measures to offset the economic impact and boost investment opportunities. With this goal, the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have introduced several relaxations under various labour laws to ease the compliance burden on employers.

With a view to ensure that businesses are not saddled with indirect tax payments and related compliances and to maintain smooth functioning of business activity amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Commerce and Industry have announced a slew of relaxation measures. We have set out below a broad overview of the key updates in the area of indirect taxes and foreign trade:

On 1 May 2020, the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (MHA Secretary) issued an order extending the nation-wide lockdown period for another two weeks beginning 4 May 2020, albeit with revised restrictions and certain relaxations (Revised Guidelines). Set out below is an overview of the Revised Guidelines:

The Government of India (GOI) announced a nationwide lock down on account of Covid-19 pandemic with effect from 25 March 2020. This has severely disrupted regular business activities across all sectors of the economy in the country.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 17 April 2020 introduced additional regulatory measures to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Indian economy with a focus primarily on the lending institutions. The additional measures are consistent with the global coordinated action committed to by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. RBI’s earlier COVID-19 – Regulatory Package dated 27 March 2020 (Regulatory Package) was focused on steps to mitigate the burden of debt servicing on the borrowers and to ensure business continuity for viable enterprises.