articles
Regulatory
OTR guidance documents: Clearing the haze
22 August 2025
The article discusses various recent guidelines for compliance of the Machinery and Electrical Equipment Safety (Omnibus Technical Regulation) Order, 2024.
Intellectual Property
Navigating nature’s law: India’s legal overhaul of biodiversity access and benefit sharing
22 August 2025
This article examines these recent developments, focusing on access to biological resources, intellectual property rights based on the Indian BR, and the evolving benefit-sharing mechanisms. As India continues to refine its biodiversity governance, these reforms mark a pivotal step toward balancing innovation, conservation, sustainable use of BR and national interest.
Goods and Services Tax
Navigating seamless Inter-State ITC transfers under GST: Judicial guidance
20 August 2025
The Bombay High Court has taken a significant step in clarifying the transfer of unutilized ITC during business restructuring. This judgment not only clarifies the legal position on inter-State ITC transfer but also addresses the technical and administrative hurdles posed by the GST Network (GSTN) portal.
Direct Tax
Dy/Dx – Differentiating the contours of taxation of derivatives
18 August 2025
The article discusses the recent decision of Hon’ble Mumbai ITAT, which adjudicates a question as to whether a Venn Diagram of two sets of items, i.e., the meaning of derivatives as it is normally understood and its tax treatment equating it with shares thereof, would have any intersection or not.
Intellectual Property
In good spirits: The Geographical Indication war over ‘Pisco’
12 August 2025
The article discusses a recent Delhi HC decision where the Court has conducted a thorough examination of the provisions regarding the prohibition of GI registration in specific instances, as well as the registration of homonymous GIs. The decision exemplifies how Indian courts are navigating the evolving landscape of GI law, aiming to safeguard traditional products while ensuring fair competition.
Intellectual Property
Rethinking the thresholds in biosimilar patent infringement disputes
12 August 2025
The article discusses a Delhi HC decision which granted an-interim injunction restraining a pharma company from dealing in its biosimilar version of the cancer medication Nivolumab until the expiry of the Indian Patent. According to the author, by treating the defendant’s regulatory filings and bio similarity claims as indicative of infringement, the Court seems to have deviated from an earlier precedent.
Corporate
Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare Sector: Investment trends
11 August 2025
The article discusses how the integration of AI technologies in diagnostics, drug development, and healthcare administration is enabling scalable solutions. It also highlights key investment trends that are strengthening India’s position as a strategic destination for healthcare sector investments.
Intellectual Property
Patentability of intermediates – Troubling interpretation: A critique of the Zeria judgment
04 August 2025
The article discusses a recent decision of the Delhi High Court which has upheld the refusal of a patent by extending the therapeutic efficacy requirement to intermediates.
International Trade & WTO
Differential pricing analysis in anti-dumping investigations: US Court ‘invalidates’ the use of Cohen’s D by the US DOC
04 August 2025
The article discusses the recent judgement of the U.S. Court for Federal Circuit in Marmen Inc. v. United States[1]. In which the article traces the origins of this methodology in the WTO’s Anti-Dumping Agreement, its evolution over the years in USA’s context, and the road ahead after the Marmen Inc. judgement.
Corporate
Share Based Employee Benefits: Forex Compliances
30 July 2025
Employees Stock Option is a scheme under which options are granted to the directors, officers or employees of a company or of its holding company or subsidiary company or companies, giving them the benefit or right to purchase, or to subscribe for, the shares of the company at a future date at a pre-determined price. The article discusses the share-based benefits and Forex compliances of this scheme.
Goods and Services Tax
Export refund: Prospective omission of Rule 96(10) of CGST Rules and retro-active applicability to pending proceedings
29 July 2025
The article highlights the retroactive impact of the amendment relating to export refunds, in the light of recent High Court decisions. The authors note that while GST Council has simplified the export refund process for the future from 2024, the amendment was not made retrospective by the legislature, and hence creating problems.
Goods and Services Tax
The ‘Value Addition’ conundrum in GST budgetary support refunds
28 July 2025
The article discusses the recent decision of the Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh High Court in the case of J&K Cement Corporation v. Union of India that has led to opening of a pandora’s box regarding the value addition to be adopted for computation of the refund amount under the BSS.
Customs
India’s critical minerals strategy: Wider exemption from customs duty needed to fulfil the Government’s mission
28 July 2025
The Hon’ble Finance Minister, in her Union Budget 2024-25 speech on 23 July 2024, reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan by proposing key policy measures to promote self-reliance in the critical minerals sector. The article discusses the strategic importance of minerals such as lithium, cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements in various sectors.
Customs
Internal Compliance Programs for export of dual-use items: Key insights from DGFT’s draft framework
28 July 2025
The article discusses the key considerations for entities while drafting their ICPs in line with the Draft Management System Requirements.
Customs
Navigating RoDTEP compliances – Filing of Annual RoDTEP Return
28 July 2025
The article discusses the compliances and filing of annual RoDTEP return under RoDTEP schemes. The scheme is beneficial for exporters which require them to indicate in their shipping bills that they intend to claim the benefit under the said scheme. Such benefit would be granted to the eligible exporters at a notified rate as a percentage of FOB value as mentioned in Appendix 4R of FTP 2023.
Intellectual Property
Decoding the ‘Algorithm’ exclusion: A closer look at draft CRI Guidelines 2025
24 July 2025
The article focuses on how the new draft Guidelines propose to determine whether or not a claimed invention is excluded as an ‘algorithm’ under Section 3(k) of the Patents Act.
Direct Tax
Modern agriculture rooted in traditional Income-tax law
22 July 2025
While agricultural operations have been modernised, the law for claiming income-tax exemption for agricultural operations has remained constant. The article focuses on various aspects of the textbook provisions, their implications on the modern agriculture and the take of Indian judiciary on the same.
Intellectual Property
AI in trial: Legal challenges of generative technologies
21 July 2025
This article provides a summary of some of the most significant court rulings and current legal disputes across major jurisdictions involving both textual and visual works, where Courts have dealt with the effects of AI-generated content in the context of copyright protection and infringement.
Regulatory
Machines, Markets, Mandates: Understanding India’s regulations on machinery and electrical equipment
17 July 2025
The article discusses at length the Machinery and Electrical Equipment Safety (Omnibus Technical Regulation) Order, 2024, implementation of which was recently extended by one year to 1 September 2026. Identifying the key concerns, the authors also highlight what companies should do.