2022 was a year of resilience, one that saw the world acclimatising to the new normal and moving forward. Even in the face of extraordinary challenges over the past couple of years, the collective commitment to progress, development, and innovation remains unshaken.
On 15 December 2022, the Supreme Court, in its recent judgement in Wave Industries Private Limited v State of Uttar Pradesh, provided clarity on the responsibility of a purchaser for pre-closing liabilities. This is an interesting and important precedent towards purchaser liability in a business purchase transaction. Usually, a business purchase or asset purchase is done in order to circumscribe other seller liabilities as compared to acquiring a company.
The Government on 2 January 2023 has amended the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 (SCR Rules) through the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2022 (Amendment). Pursuant to the Amendment, the definition of a ‘government company’ and sub-rule (6) in Rule 19A of the SCR Rules has been amended.
On 23 December 2022, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) was notified as the nodal ministry for all matters related to the online gaming industry. On the heels of this development, MeitY on 2 January 2023, released the draft amendment (Proposed Amendment) to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 (IT Rules 2021), to bring in online games and online gaming intermediaries within the ambit of the IT Rules 2021.
The Companies Act, 2013 (Companies Act) was the first legislation to require eligible companies (a) to form board level committees to focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR Committee); (b) to formulate a corporate social responsibility policy; and (c) to spend 2% of average net profits of the company on corporate social responsibility (CSR).
On 30 September 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a circular (LSF Circular) to bring about uniformity in the imposition of a Late Submission Fee (LSF) for reporting delays across foreign investment, external commercial borrowings (ECB) and overseas investment.
The Tamil Nadu cabinet has approved an ordinance on 26 September 2022 (Ordinance) to “ban” online games with stake in the state of Tamil Nadu. The announcement was made via a press release. The Ordinance will take effect once it receives the governor’s assent.
