Juris Corp

Over the last few years, the Indian Government has been taking measures towards environmental sustainability along with economic growth. As enumerated in Article 48-A of the Indian Constitution, preservation of the environment is enshrined in the Indian Constitution itself.  The Finance Minister while tabling the Union Budget 2023-24 specified green growth as one of the seven priorities of the Government of India and while specifying the same, the aim of achieving net-zero carbon emission by 2070 was highlighted. Over the last year, the Indian Government has introduced significant regulatory updates in the green bonds space. Whether it be the introduction of the Sovereign Green Bonds Framework or the amendment by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) to the SEBI (Issue and Listing of Non-Convertible Securities) Regulations, 2021[1] which widened the definition of green bonds and stressed on green washing, the regulatory framework for green bond financing has seen a considerable development.

Pre-packaged insolvency resolution process ("PPIRP”) was introduced by amending the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (“Code”) in April 2021[1]. This currently applies to Micro Small Medium Enterprises (“MSMEs”). This was enacted to provide ‘PPIRP’ as an alternative to Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (“CIRP”) to mitigate the financial distress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to MSMEs.

Trade finance is the financing of international trade flows. It exists to mitigate, or reduce, the risks involved in an international trade transaction. There are primarily two players in a trade transaction:

Sustainability Linked Derivatives (“SLDs”) are emerging as a powerful new instrument in the toolkit of financiers globally in the context of the growth of use of Environmental Social and Governance (“ESG”) factors in the financial world. For an orderly evolution, a suitable regulatory framework suited for this type of derivative contract is a must. SLDs require robust standardisation with respect to Key Performance Indicators (“KPIs”) and ESG linked metrics in order to ensure the success of such derivative contracts.

Continuous growth of a robust secondary market and creation of additional avenues for raising liquidity have been the key requirements of the Indian loan market. To achieve this, the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) has rolled out the Master Directions - RBI (Transfer of Loan Exposures) Directions, 2021[1] (“Master Directions”) on 24th September 2021.

Background SOFR is a risk-free reference rate (“RFR”) selected as the rate for usage in certain United States Dollar (“USD”) derivatives and other financial contracts, by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”) of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“NY Fed”) in the year 2017. It is the preferred alternative to USD LIBOR.

The Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, placing reliance on a catena of judgments, has reiterated that the main attribute of an arbitration agreement is consensus ad idem to refer the disputes to arbitration. In the matter of “Sapna Gupta v. Ajay Kumar Gupta & Ors[1].”, it has been held that in case the same is missing, it is not an arbitration agreement, as defined under Section 7 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) and in the absence thereof, petition under Section 9 of the Act seeking interim measures, is not maintainable. 

The Reserve Bank of India (“RBI���) on 24th September 2021, issued the Reserve Bank of India (Securitisation of Standard Assets) Directions, 2021 (“Master Directions”). These Master Directions repeal the existing RBI guidelines on securitisation of standard assets. The Master Directions apply to the following entities:

Technology has been an enabling factor in resuming businesses and closing transactions during the pandemic era while parties involved in such transactions are sitting miles apart from each other. In order to be in arms with the rise of digitization, the Indian Government has introduced and amended legislations to bring in electronic records and electronic execution within its purview.

In a recent order dated 24th March 2021, the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) has taken suo-motu cognizance of the updated privacy policy and terms of services of WhatsApp which were rolled out by WhatsApp on 4th January 2021 (“Updated Policy”).[1] It directed the Director General to investigate the anti-competitive issues in relation to the Updated Policy. Earlier, the users had to give their consent to WhatsApp to share their personalized data with other Facebook companies. This has been changed by the Updated Policy, which makes it mandatory for users to give consent to such sharing to continue using WhatsApp.