Features

Recently, the Government of India amended various provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. These amendments came into force on September 29, 2020. Samheeta Rao and Aditi Sanghi share their thoughts on the implications of these amendments to civil society organizations through a short primer. Read on to learn more!

The GameChanger Law Advisors Team was present at the AVPN Virtual Conference 2020 (Asia's largest convening of different stakeholders in the social impact ecosystem), held between June 08 and June 12, 2020. For easy reference, we have collated summaries of the 10 sessions that we tracked, in one place. Read all our summaries here!

Subhashini Narayanan summarizes a very insightful discussion titled "Aligning Investors on Impact Management".

Priya Sampath summarizes a panel discussion titled "Scaling Excellence in Education". The Panel was moderated by Francis Hon, and featured Andreas Schleicher (OECD - OCDE) and Jean Satrijo Tanudjojo (Tanoto Foundation).

Priya Sampath shares and summarized some interesting insights shared in a panel discussion titled "Adapting to COVID-19: The Changing Face of Philanthropy"

srikanth Bhaskar summarized the panel discussion on "Different Regulatory and Policy Approaches to Catalyse Green Sustainable Finance". The panel comprised Niall O'Connor (SEI — Stockholm Environment Institute), Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol (The Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand), Joseph Pepping (Bank of America) and En Lee, CAIA (LGT).

Srikanth tracked this session where speakers from Green Startups Accelerator and VNV Advisory Services explained (a) their approaches to portfolio investments; (b) how to manage expectations of LPs of impact investment funds; (c) how climate action investments have a long lifecycle; and (d) their exit strategies.

Atulaa Krishnamurthy summarizes a pre-launch session by the authors of the "Gender Lens Investing Landscape Report - East and South East Asia", highlighting their key findings on the size and nature of gender lens investing in Asia as it exists today

Atulaa covers and summarizes the session "Bridging the Divide Between Climate and Gender Finance" which brought together leaders working at the intersection of gender lens investing and climate finance

Amrut Joshi tuned in to a very interesting conversation between Steven Serneels (EVPA), Bruno ROCHE (Mars), Anurag Hans (Essilor Pro-Eyecare) and jae ho choi (Hyundai Motor Company) on "Strategically Leveraging Corporate Resources for Social Impact

Mahit Anand shares and summarizes insights shared by large MNCs as to how they are adapting to the new COVID world

Amrut summarizes some really thought provoking insights shared during the first session of the AVPN Virtual Conference 2020

In this post, Samheeta and Atulaa discuss the applicability of the POSH Act in today's work from home world

In this post, Subhashini outlines the impact Covid-19 has had on lease and license agreements in India

Atulaa Krishnamurthy and Subhashini Narayanan discuss the changes introduced by Press Note 3 of 2020, through which the Government of India has altered its FDI Policy. The stated objective of the Government is to curb opportunistic takeovers /acquisitions of Indian companies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Will this objective be met? Read more here.

Subhashini Narayanan and Srikanth Bhaskar examine the evolution of the legal framework in India for the conduct of general meetings, compare the framework with those in other jurisdictions such as the USA and UK, and then propose changes to India's company law to enable virtual shareholder meetings.

In response to a call for public suggestions issued vide the Circular of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India on the draft Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2020, (“Amendment Rules”) we have provided our comments and suggestions below.

In this post, Priya Sampath and Subhashini Narayanan make the case for remote Board meetings to be permitted, provided appropriate safeguards can be built into the law

In this post, Srikanth Bhaskar outlines the regulations pertaining to digital healthcare in India that are applicable to both medical professionals and entities providing digital healthcare.

In this post, Subhashini Narayanan discusses how force majeure clauses ought to be drafted, how they may be interpreted and when a party can fall back on the doctrine of frustration of contracts, in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In this post, Srikanth Bhaskar explains the procedures that employers will need to follow whilst collecting personal information of their employees in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In light of the COVID-19 outbreak in India, the Department of Labour, Government of Karnataka has issued a notification on March 05, 2020, which directs employers to provide for an increase in the number of paid sick leaves available to employees.

In response to a call for public suggestions issued vide the Press Communique of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, dated February 04, 2020, we have provided our comments and suggestions below on the PDP Bill.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently disposed off a petition by directing MEITY to take a decision as regards a ban on PUBG. In this post, Ashish Nath Jha argues that the High Court appears to have missed an opportunity to determine what is “undesirable” in the context of online games, by laying down objective parameters.

Subhashini Narayanan discusses the different approaches to regulation of influencer marketing. In some countries, the regulators seek to regulate the influencers themselves, whereas in others, the regulators seek to regulate the brands.

In this post, Subhashini discusses the concept of “brand safety” and the role that intermediary platforms have to play in promoting brand safety.

In this post, Ashish talks about some of the biggest private equity transactions in the gaming sector in India during 2019

#2 The impact of revised criteria for registered startups and exemption from angel tax

#4 – Another win for Dream 11: Welcome to the age of “Legal” online fantasy sports in India

#1 How the FDI Policy changed the landscape for e-commerce platforms

#5 – Why the Delhi High Court was wrong in requiring the Central Government to decide on the ban of online and overseas betting websites

The Companies Amendment Act, 2019, through Section 454A has prescribed additional penalties for repeated offences. In the last post of this series we discuss the implications of this provision.

In this post we discuss the changes introduced to Section 241 of the Companies Act, 2013 by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019 and its impact on the operations of companies in India.

In this post we discuss the changes brought in Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (“Act”) by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019 (“Amendment”) and its impact on the CSR framework in India.

In this post we discuss the changes introduced by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019 to Section 441 of the Companies Act, 2013 and its impact on the offences under the act.

In this 5-part series, we discuss some of the key highlights of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019 and their impact on the present regulatory framework, and operations of companies.

It is indisputable that the advertising sector has become a high-stakes field which merits a comprehensive and well-defined regulatory system to ensure that the interests of the all the relevant stakeholders are represented and cared for. In this post Namrata Bhagwatula and Nikita Tanwar analyse the status-quo pertaining to the regulation of advertisements in India and discuss the urgent need of a comprehensive and uniform statutory framework to comprehensively govern the advertising sector.

The introduction of the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 (the “Bill”) and the advent of the new data protection regime in India has brought along new apprehensions with respect to the potential effect of these changes on the currently thriving Indian digital economy. In this post, we analyse the provisions of the proposed Bill against its global counterparts, with special emphasis on the GDPR, in an effort to contemplate upon the future of informational privacy in India.

On February 19, 2019, the DPIIT issued a new notification in order to address the issue of angel tax whereby start-ups issuing shares at a premium were subject to pay upto 30% tax on share premium. Do read our analysis of this notification.

In this post, Namrata Bhagwatula reviews the changes made by the Reserve Bank of India in 2018 on cross border regulations and analysis its implications for businesses in India and abroad.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016: In this blog post, Namrata Bhagwatula and Srikanth Bhaskar attempt to give a step by step overview of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process

In this blog post, Viraj Joshi examines the recent changes brought about by the government to incentivise issue of Masala Bonds

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016: In this blog post, Namrata Bhagwatula and Srikanth Bhaskar attempts to give an overview of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, its applicability and a brief description about the insolvency resolution process for corporate entities

In this blog post, Viraj Joshi writes about the recently introduced regulations on usage of drones and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in India.

In this blog post, Mahit Anand & Priya Sampath attempt to analyse the judgment passed by the Supreme Court of India in the case of Parakh Vanijya Private Limited Vs. Baroma Agro Product and Others with regard to the exclusive right to use the term generic “MALABAR”

In the 2nd part of this post, Abhimanyu Baheti examines the impact of a 25 year old judgment which led to the unprecedented increase in the valuation of broadcast rights. This post chronicles the journey of Indian sports broadcasting from the Hero Cup judgment in 1993 to the Star Sports judgment in 2017.

In the second edition of our multi-part series on the recent Law Commission of India Report on legalisation of betting and gambling in India, Viraj Joshi and Pranav Chinnaswamy examine whether the Law Commission referred to mythology in the guise of history

Abhimanyu Baheti previews the upcoming FIFA World Cup final from the lens of the broadcaster and the curious challenge it faces from an archaic institution.

On the eve of the semi-final of the FIFA World Cup 2018 between Croatia and England, Abhimanyu Baheti focuses his attention on the man of the moment - Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, who garnered attention for a historic penalty shootout performance against Denmark and his celebration afterwards.

In the first of multi-part series on the recent Law Commission of India Report on legalisation of betting and gambling in India, Amrut Joshi and Viraj Joshi examine whether the Law Commission satisfied the Terms of Reference made to it by the Supreme Court.

Abhimanyu Baheti explores the validity of ‘restraint of trade’ clauses in contracts with a special focus on the landmark Percept v Zaheer Khan case.

Michel Platini is one of the most revered footballing hero in France. He is also one of the most maligned names in world football because of his involvement in FIFA's corruption scandal that broke in 2015, taking down powerful administrators like Sepp Blatter and Chuck Blazer. Platini was convicted for accepting a "disloyal payment" of CHF 2,000,000. In this article, Abhimanyu Baheti explores the legal implications of the "disloyal payment" received by Platini and the rulings of the various judicial bodies that adjudicated on this issue.

On the eve of Russia's final group stage clash against Uruguay, Abhimanyu Baheti takes a look at a South African case from 2010 which addresses issues of corruption and access to information, the same issues that were faced by Russia in its winning bid to host the the 2018 edition of the FIFA World Cup.

In the third post of our FIFA World Cup 2018 series, and on the eve of the Spain v Iran match tonight, Abhimanyu Baheti highlights Article 48 of the FIFA World Cup 2018 Regulations, which prohibits display of political messages on team kits.

Abhimanyu Baheti takes a look at Senegal's route to World Cup qualification and how a betting scandal both impeded and aided their way to Russia 2018.

Viraj Joshi examines the tax implications of the landmark acquisition of Flipkart by global e-commerce giant Walmart.

In this crisp informative piece, Abhimanyu Baheti explains the origins, criticisms and in-game impact of the much-talked about VAR (Video Assistant Referee) technology in FIFA World Cup 2018

In this insightful post, Priya Sampath describes the concept of Creative Commons, its impact on copyright and the various types of licenses available for use under Creative Commons.

In this informative post, Namrata Bhagwatula & our intern Ashish Nath Jha examine the Companies Act, 2013 to determine whether directors can attend and participate in board meetings remotely via video conferencing or any other audio-visual means. The post is replete with a comprehensive FAQ section that answers any factual queries that may arise.

In this blogpost, Priya Sampath examines the concept of parallel imports in India, in light of the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

In this blog post, Namrata Bhagwatula analyses the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the consequences of the Bill on certain court proceedings, especially in light of a recent Supreme Court judgment.

Abhimanyu Baheti responds to Amitabh Bachchan's tirade on copyright law through this insightful and quirky blog post.

In this blog post, Shwetha Chandrashekar analyzes the famous NCLT judgment, 'Vikram Bakshi v. McDonalds' and summarizes the legal position of 'Oppression and Mismanagement' in India.

In this blog post, Aditya Shamlal analyses the draft Civil Aviation Requirements released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, on Drones in India and the identification, permits and operational regulations applicable to their operation.

Through this blog post, Mahit Anand examines whether employee statutory benefits can be waived by way of a contractual arrangement.

Through an infographic, Shwetha Chandrashekar breaks down the process of registering as a Prepaid Payment Instruments Issuer with the RBI through our latest financial technology focused series, #FintechFundas.

In this blog post, Abhimanyu Baheti explores the pros and cons of the National Agriculture Market, an initiative to digitize rural trading.

Blockchain is the new buzz word. Read our presentation where we help break down the concept and discuss the top 5 legal issues that it presents.

"National Health Protection Scheme", Allocation of funds for setting up Health and Wellness Centres, new medical colleges and hospitals and more.. View our Presentation on the Union Budget 2018-19, specifically on what it has to offer for the Healthcare sector

"Digital India", "Bharatnet", Blockchain, Crypto-currencies, Direct Tax Benefits and more.. View our Presentation on the Union Budget 2018-19, specifically on what it has to offer for the Technology, Media and Telecom Sectors.

In this blog post, Namrata Bhagwatula examines whether an Employee can be an Arbitrator in proceedings involving his/her Employer and another third party. She examines the position of law pre-2015 and post-2015.