Ahlawat & Associates

India passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDPA”) – the nation’s first dedicated data protection statute – on August 11, 2023.

Introduction India, with its dynamic and diverse economy, has become one of the most attractive destinations for business expansion and investment.

India’s online gaming industry has seen exponential growth due to technological progress and increased internet access.

In this dynamic world of growing businesses and evolving economic landscape, India has emerged as the prime destination for facilitating business expansion.

Starting a business is a multifaceted endeavour and extends beyond just having a brilliant concept and top-notch products or services.

The article examines the impact of the recently introduced FIU-IND registration process for virtual digital asset businesses, associated requirements and obligations (prominently including FIU-IND reporting) and the consequences thereof.

Ahlawat & Associates (“A&A”) has advised Rooter Sports Technologies Private Limited, on its ‘Pre-Series B Investment’ round wherein the investment was a combination of debt and equity investments and was led by Lightbox Ventures III, followed by investments from existing investors along with witnessing participation from new investors.

The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (“VARA”), the regulator in charge for supervising the virtual assets (“VA”) law, has released the most awaited Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations 2023 on 7th February, 2023 (“VA Regulations”). In order to accelerate the development of a fully global digital economy, VARA was established under the Law No. (4) of 2022 of Regulating Virtual Assets in the Emirates of Dubai as the sole, independent and specialized regulator for VA in the world.

The Code on Wages, 2019 (“Code”) codifies and amends the extant laws related to wages,

To reform the archaic labour and employment law legislations pertaining to social security, the Central Government has enacted the Code on Social Security, 2020 (“Code”) with an aim to extend the social security benefits to maximum workforce working in either the organized or the unorganized sectors.

The Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has published (on January 20, 2023) guidelines to be adhered by influencers and celebrities in respect of endorsements on social media platforms.

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (‘MeitY’) recently released the (long-awaited) draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 (‘DPDP Bill’) on November 18, 2022, and solicited all relevant stakeholders to submit their suggestions and comments (no later than December 17, 2022).  The DPDP Bill constitutes the latest in a series of draft legislation propagated (and withdrawn) by the Ministry in the Indian Parliament (as well as for public consultation) over the last few years (since mid-2018) in a bid to introduce a comprehensive data protection regime in India.

The world of crypto has been wracked with one piece of bad news after another ever since the global economic downturn influenced by the Russia-Ukraine war. The newest fiasco which has now led to a near wipeout of the market values of major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin was the fall of FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022. This followed the collapse in the value of stablecoin Terra Luna thus continuing the perpetuating cycle of digital asset instability. The collapse of FTX was further followed by further industry churnings as multiple virtual asset exchanges were financially exposed to FTX due to FTX’s position as an industry leader with exchanges such as Bitfront and BlockFi declaring bankruptcy. These events have the potential to scare off prospective investors and further erode the value of existing stakeholders in the virtual asset world. These incidents also show that crypto exchanges which operate in a regulatory vacuum often indulge in financial improprieties to uphold their market values thus calling into question the business practices of the whole industry.

Everyone at some point of time becomes anxious about what will happen to his belongings after his death and wants to ensure that the life he has lived has been worthwhile. The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has already provided everyone enough reasons to be prepared for any uncertain event. Life and death are uncertain and is beyond the control of humans but ensuring as to how his/ her property should devolve and to whom is shall devolve, after death is under control of humans, through a simple yet highly effective document called ‘Will’. It is preferable to make a Will to ensure that one's actual intentions are followed, and the property is distributed in accordance with the Will. If a person passes away without leaving behind a Will, his or her property will pass according to the law of intestate succession rather than testamentary succession (i.e., in accordance with the Will). In this article we will understand that what is Will, Important terms relating to Will, Role of Executor,  Essential of a valid Will, Why should you have a Will, Assets Mapping, Assets Transfer, Requirement of a Lawyer to draft a Will, Types of Will, Registration of a Will, Attestation of a Will, Stamping of a Will and Modifications in Will.

A few years ago, the only way to accumulate financial assets in India was to invest in conventional investment categories like equities, bonds, real estate, FDs, etc. With a growing population of high-net-worth individuals in the nation, there is a rising need for unorthodox investment possibilities.

Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) are funds acting as privately pooled investment vehicles and are established or incorporated in India as per the provisions of the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012 as provided and administered by the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) which is the official sectoral regulator for AIFs. AIFs aim to pool funds from various categories of investors and invest monies from that corpus as their pre-determined policies of the respective AIF. Recent reports indicate that there has been increasing interest in AIFs as an investment instrument with estimates recording a more than 40% growth in AIF funding year-on-year from 2021 coupled with an increase in the number of AIFs registered in the country. Recognizing this ever-increasing popularity of AIFs in India SEBI has made multiple changes to the regulations dealing with AIFs to ensure that the regulatory framework can deal with this added workload and protect the interests of the investors.

In a world where everything is at your fingertips, users now expect quicker and easier payments from any location at any given point in time. In the field of payment and settlement systems, India has always been a nation that has encouraged innovation and growth. Numerous payment mechanisms have been developed over the years for the convenience of the common man. Owing to such convenience, these payment systems were quickly preferred as they provided consumers an alternative to the use of cash.

Ahlawat & Associates’ (“A&A”) has advised Lotus Holdings (hereinafter referred to as the “Investor”), in its strategic investment in Yogicsecret Healthcare Private Limited (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) in the seed round of investment raised by the Company.

INTRODUCTION The onset of the lockdown brought a halt to the world. However, the only industry which was not just unaffected by the lockdown but has also witnessed remarkable progress was eSports Industry. The advent of the digital era and the rapid increase in advancements in technology coupled with the proscription of popular virtual games has taken eSports to the public eye in the recent past.

The Supreme Court has recently (vide its judgment dated July 31, 2021) has put the issue to rest as regards whether the platform ‘Dream 11’ amounts to gambling or is a mere game of skill. In its recent judgment in the case of Avinash Mehrotra V The State of Rajasthan & Ors., SLP (C) No. 18478/2020, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Rajasthan High Court to the effect that the online fantasy game ‘Dream 11’ involves skill and does not amount to gambling.

Introduction With the exponential development and unprecedented advancements in the field of technology in India, especially with the emergence of COVID-19, the fintech sector has been on a path of constant rise. With the gaining popularity and awareness amongst the people of India with respect to cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, Ripple, Dogecoin, etc., many have started investing most part of their time and money in these virtual currencies, to ride amongst many others the present global wave in anticipation of profits. In India, the apex financial authority i.e., the Reserve Bank of India, has understood cryptocurrency as a form of digital/ virtual currency generated through a series of written computer codes that rely on cryptography which is encryption and is thus independent of any central issuing authority per se. It is facilitated through blockchain technology and has emerged as a person-to-person issuance and transaction system that uses private and public keys that enable authentication and encryption for secure transactions. Being an untapped, unregulated market with a capability of over a trillion dollars, India also saw a massive surge of cryptocurrency exchanges. Witnessing the massive popularity of the crypto market, its usage within a year, and potential revenue loss the Government of India, the regulators and authorities began to take notice and as a consequence, in 2013 the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) issued a press release, cautioning the public against dealing in virtual currencies including Bitcoin. In November 2017 the Government of India constituted a high-level Inter-Ministerial Committee to report on various issues pertaining to the use of virtual currency and subsequently, in July 2019, this Committee submitted its report recommending a blanket ban on private cryptocurrencies in India. Despite the fact that report from the Inter-Ministerial Committee was pending, at the beginning of April 2018, the RBI issued a circular preventing all commercial and co-operative banks, small finance banks, payment banks and NBFC from not only from dealing in virtual currencies themselves but also directing them to stop providing services to all entities which deal with virtual currencies[1]. This essentially broke down the crypto industry as exchanges needed the banking services for sending and receiving the money necessary for converting it into cryptocurrency and for paying salaries, vendors, office space etc. However, the circumstances prevailing around cryptocurrencies and their usage completely changed on 4th March 2020, when the Apex court of India i.e. Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, in a well-conceived judgment passed a decision quashing the earlier ban imposed by the RBI[2]. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India predominantly examined the matter from the perspective of Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution, which specifies the freedom to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business, and the doctrine of proportionality. Development ahead The Indian government is now considering the introduction of a new bill titled “Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021”(“New Bill”) which is similar in spirit to its previous versions, however, intends to ban private cryptocurrencies in India with certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology and trading of cryptocurrency and provide a framework for creating an official digital currency which will be issued by the RBI. The New Bill recognizes the grey area of cryptocurrency laws and proposes to ban all the private cryptocurrencies in their entirety, however, it is still a grey area pertaining to which all kinds of cryptocurrency will fall under the purview of private cryptocurrency. The RBI has cautioned the general public regarding the possible misuse of private cryptocurrencies in different possible ways. However, if the New Bill imposes a complete ban on private cryptocurrencies, it shall lead the cryptocurrency investors to invest and deal in cryptocurrency in unmonitored markets. Further, the objective of introducing a law related to virtual currency/ cryptocurrency is to simplify the process of trading and holding in a safer technological environment. However, even with the introduction of state-owned cryptocurrency which shall be regulated by the RBI, the risk factor involved in investment and holding of cryptocurrency shall remain the same. Further, recently in the last week of March 2021, according to the latest amendments to the Schedule III of the Companies Act, 2013, the Government of India has directed that from the newly begun financial year, the companies to disclose their investments in cryptocurrencies. That is to say, the companies have to now disclose profit or loss on transactions involving cryptocurrency/ virtual currency, the amount of holding, and details of deposits or advances from any person for the purpose of trading or investing in cryptocurrency/ virtual currency[3]. This particular move has been welcomed with open arms by the people dealing in the crypto sector, as it is understood the same would open the door for all Indian companies to have Crypto on their balance sheets. Conclusion Based on the inference that can be drawn from the aforementioned facts and present scenario revolving around the world of cryptocurrencies, it is evident that there is a lack of clarity with respect to cryptocurrency regulation in India. A well-structured cryptocurrency regulation with respect to crypto trading exchanges, blockchain technology, investors, and the people employed in such sector is the need of the hour and thus such regulation needs more attention. It is interesting to note that the benefits of cryptocurrency were highlighted in the Draft National Strategy on Blockchain, 2021, published by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Therefore, banning global virtual currency which has created an impact in many countries is not the best possible solution for the development of our nation. The government is required to take an effective step towards regulating cryptocurrency as a way forward to have the confidence of investors and the general public in the developing nation. Though it has been affirmed by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam that there shall not be a complete ban on cryptocurrency - “we will allow a certain amount of window for people to experiment on blockchain, bitcoins and cryptocurrency.”, it will be crucial to sit back and review the Government formulated regulations with respect to cryptocurrencies before spearing ahead in that direction.

Introduction The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“Ministry”) on 25th February 2021 notified the Information Technology (Guideline for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“Rules”) to regulate digital media, social media companies and over the top (“OTT”) platforms. The Rules also provides provisions pertaining to publishers of news through digital media (“Digital News”).

While a large number of infamous astrologers, psychics and crystal ball predictors try to weave a cause, effect and continue to provide us with timelines for the finalities of COVID 19 – Not a single person in this world had been able to predict that a virus would be able to shut us down both economically and physically, at the unprecedented scale and speed at which COVID 19 has taken over our businesses and households globally. While no offence is meant to the abilities and power of conviction of the many clairvoyants, this pandemic has triggered the flight or fight mode in most of us and we have had to re-think our priorities, the way we contribute and view the world we live in, disrupt our well-laid plans and rebuild our modes of livelihood and most importantly give a newfound meaning to the word ‘innovation’.