articles
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.
International Trade & WTO
EU simplifies CBAM but does not address the underlying issues
04 July 2025
The European Council and the European Parliament recently reached a provisional agreement on the Omnibus-I legislative package, which seeks to simplify the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (‘CBAM’). The article notes that despite these internal simplifications, significant challenges persist for Indian exporters and other third-country suppliers navigating the EU’s evolving carbon regulation landscape.
Goods and Services Tax
Business closure and unutilized ITC – Is it a rightful refund?
04 July 2025
The article discusses the impact of recent Sikkim High Court decision on grant of refund of unutilised ITC in case of closure of business. It emphasizes the impact of this ruling on business decisions of scaling down the business operations along with the soundness of the decision.
Customs
Cosmetic or Medicine: Determination of classification of personal care products under the Customs Tariff
03 July 2025
Personal care products such as face wash to treat acne, cream to reduce skin blemishes, shampoo to treat dandruff: these all will be medicines or will be cosmetic/toilet preparations under Customs Law. This article is demonstrating this challenge by examining a few relevant case laws dealt with by the Supreme Court of India on this issue.
Corporate, Regulatory
SEBI’s Consultation Paper and the winds of AI Governance
02 July 2025
The article discusses the SEBI Consultation Paper which outlines the current use of AI/ML models are by exchanges, brokers and mutual funds for a wide variety of internal, customer support, security, pattern recognitions, KYC, order executions and related purposes.
Intellectual Property
Balancing innovation and ethics: Calcutta High Court’s guidance on Section 3(b)
27 June 2025
This article examines two recent judgments of the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court in appeals filed by ITC Limited under Section 117A, challenging the rejection of patent applications on grounds of non-patentability under Section 3(b).
Goods and Services Tax
Taxing the in-between: GST implications on sale of partially constructed buildings
25 June 2025
The article discusses a recent Karnataka HC decision holding that transfer of partially constructed building (which is substantially completed) on ‘as is where is’ basis does not amount to deemed supply of construction service.
Customs
Classification of goods – Recent WCO Rulings, Opinions, and HSN Explanatory Notes changes
25 June 2025
The article summarises the 75th Session of the World Customs Organisation’s (‘WCO’) Harmonized System Committee which was held in March 2025. The Rulings, opinions, changes suggested therein have been recently released by the WCO.
Economic Offences
Unravelling the power of seizure under Section 37A of FEMA
24 June 2025
The article discusses the scope, interpretation and applicability of Section 37A in different circumstances and safeguards that are required to avoid potential misuse of these extraordinary powers.
Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions / PE
Leveraged Buyouts in India
19 June 2025
A Leveraged Buyout (‘LBO’) is a financial strategy where an investor, typically a private equity (PE) firm, acquires a company primarily using borrowed funds, with the target company’s assets or cash flows used as collateral to secure or repay the debt. The key appeal of an LBO lies in minimizing equity while maximizing return on investment, taking the risk that the business performs well post-acquisition
Goods and Services Tax
Hard-locking GSTR-3B: A new compliance milestone and its pitfalls
19 June 2025
The article discusses a recent GSTN advisory that stated that beginning with the July 2025 tax period, outward liability in GSTR-3B, auto-populated from GSTR-1/IFF, will be non-editable. It observes that the proposal lacks legal backing and may pose operational challenges.