We are delighted to share this month's AKP Dispute Resolution Monthly Digest. Please feel free to write to us with your feedback at info@akandpartners.in. 1. Arbitration Law 1.1 Real Estate and Construction 1.1.1. Supreme Court Held Party Filing Statement of Claim First Is the “Claimant” Mere Absence of Notice Does Not Invalidate Proceedings The Supreme Court has held that in arbitral proceedings, the "Claimant" is the party that files the Statement of Claim first in point of

Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (“ SEBI ”) “accredited investor” framework in the Alternative Investment Funds (“ AIF ”) space is built around a simple trade-off: once all investors in a scheme are demonstrably sophisticated, SEBI is prepared to step back from some standardised protections and allow greater freedom of contract. The SEBI (AIFs) (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2025 (“ Third Amendment ”) crystallise this idea through a new label called the “Accredited In

We are delighted to share this week's AKP Corporate & Compliance Weekly Digest. Please feel free to write to us with your feedback at info@akandpartners.in. 1. Labour Law 1.1. Employees’ Enrolment Scheme offers compliance window for missed EPF coverag e The Government outlined the Employees’ Enrolment Campaign-2025 as a special window for employers to voluntarily enrol eligible employees who were left out from Employees’ Provident Fund coverage between J

Introduction Would you stake decades of resources and your company's reputation on an assumption about technology buried deep within your value chain? A legal battle spanning two decades recently concluded, centring on the complex question of whether the mere replication of a disc constitutes the use of a patented "system." The suit was initiated in 2004 by Koninklijke Philips N.V., which asserted that its 1990 patent for a "Digital Transmission System" was fundamental to t

We are delighted to share this week's AKP Banking & Finance Weekly Digest. Please feel free to write to us with your feedback at info@akandpartners.in. 1. Regulatory Updates 1.1. India Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 1.1.1. RBI issues Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued the Reserve Bank of India (Priority Sector Lending – Targets and Classification) (Amendment) Directions, 2026 Reserve Bank of India (“ RBI ”) issued the Reserve Bank of India (Priority Sector Lending – Ta

We are delighted to share this week's AKP Corporate & Compliance Weekly Digest. Please feel free to write to us with your feedback at info@akandpartners.in. 1. Labour Law 1.1. EPFO further extends December wage-month ECR filing timeline Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) issued a circular extending the due date for filing the Electronic Challan-cum-Return (“ ECR ”) and remitting dues for the wage month of December 2025 up to January 22, 2026,

Introduction The Reserve Bank of India (“ RBI ”) has, over time, moved from scattered circulars to a structured framework for regulating who may own shares in an Indian bank, how much they may own, and how far those shares may translate into voting power. The previous position for “banking companies” was set out in the Master Direction – Reserve Bank of India (Acquisition and Holding of Shares or Voting Rights in Banking Companies) Directions, 2023 (“ 2023 Directions ”), re

Introduction With the rapid growth of digital payments in India, safeguarding transactions has become one of our top priorities. On September 25, 2025, the Reserve Bank of India (“ RBI ”) introduced new guidelines - RBI (Authentication mechanisms for digital payment transactions) Directions, 2025 (“ Directions 2025 ”) for authentication mechanisms for digital payment transactions. From April 1, 2026, all Payment System Providers and Payment System Participants, including bank