The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) recently amended the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (LODR) by way of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 (LODR Amendment) dated 17 May 2024.
In this News Flash, we delve into the amendment of Regulation 4(g) of the SEBI (Alternative Investment Fund) Regulations, 2012 (AIF Regulations) notified by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regarding the eligibility criteria for the key investment team (KIT) of Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) managers.
The Indian and Mauritian Governments have recently signed a protocol dated 7 March 2024 (Protocol) to amend the India-Mauritius tax treaty (Tax Treaty). The text of the Protocol was not available in public domain until 11 April 2024. The amendments appear to address the concerns surrounding ‘treaty shopping’ by incorporating a ‘Principal Purpose Test’ (PPT) under the Tax Treaty.
On 19 March 2024, the Indian Government issued a notification (Notification No 33/2024) amending the India-Spain Tax Treaty (Spain Treaty) to reduce the erstwhile 20% tax rate on royalties and fees for technical services (FTS) to a 10% tax rate pursuant to the ‘Most Favored Nation’ (MFN) clause in the protocol to the Spain Treaty (MFN Notification). The benefit of the reduced rate is available from Financial Year 2023-24.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) notified a new scheme, ‘Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India’ (Scheme) on 15 March 2024 that incentivizes global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to ‘make in India’ electric 4-wheeler vehicles (e-4W) and access the third largest auto market.
On 11 March 2024, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India released the following draft rules for public comments: (a) the Competition Commission of India (Exempted Combinations) Rules, 2024; (b) the Competition Commission of India (De Minimis) Rules, 2024; and (c)
The Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024 and the Patent (Second Amendment) Rules, 2024 have been notified and have come into force from the date of Publication in the Official Gazette i.e. 15 March 2024 and 16 March 2024 respectively. The amended rules are being introduced at the backdrop of the efforts being taken to reduce backlog of patent applications, and ease procedures before the Indian Patent Office.
On 12 March 2024, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) recently released the Report of the Committee on Digital Competition Law (Report) and the Digital Competition Bill. For context, the MCA in February 2023 had constituted the Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL) to: (i) analyse the existing provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 (Competition Act); and (ii) evaluating the need for an ex-ante competition framework, focused solely on digital markets in India.
As part of the strong push to promote GIFT City as a global financial hub and to remove all stops for sovereign wealth funds to set up shop there, the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), vide circular dated 1 March 2023 (2023 Circular), provided certain relaxations to sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) seeking registration as a fund management entity in GIFT City under the IFSCA (Fund Management Entity) Regulations, 2022 (FM Regulations).
The The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India (MCA) has released two important notifications which have increased the small target exemption thresholds and the thresholds under the parties and group tests under the Competition Act, 2002 (as amended) (Competition Act).
