Tag: Financial Markets
-
Financial Regulation in the Age of AI: India’s Balancing Act
[Shuchi Agrawal is a financial regulatory lawyer and researcher] In the last decade, India has emerged as a pioneer in digital public infrastructure (“DPI”) platforms. The country has made substantial technological advances through Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface (“UPI”) and DigiLocker. Through these innovations, India has leveraged technology for social and financial development. This has also had the effect
-
Rethinking Retail Participation: SEBI’s Proposal to Permit Incentives in Public Debt Offerings
[Sharnam Agarwal and Siddhant Samaiya are 3rd year students at National Law Institute University, Bhopal] Last month, the board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) approved a proposed amendment relating to public debt offerings, following its October 2025 consultation paper. The amendment permits issuers to provide higher coupons or issue-price discounts to specific investor classes, including senior citizens, women, armed forces
-
The Bankers Are Coming: RBI’s Architecture for Bank-Financed Takeovers
[Rudraksh Misra is a 3rd Year B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) Student at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur] In October 2025, the Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’) issued the draft RBI (Commercial Banks – Capital Market Exposure) Directions, 2025 (‘RBI Draft Directions’) proposing to allow banks to finance corporate takeovers, a marked departure from decades of regulations that effectively barred banks from funding such acquisitions.
-
The RBI’s New Directions on Investments by Regulated Entities in Alternative Investment Funds
[Aparna Ravi is a Partner and Divyanshu Sharma an Associate at S&R Associates, Advocates] In the past few years, the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) has issued directions to regulate investments by banks, non-banking financial companies and other regulated entities (collectively, “REs”) in alternative investment funds (“AIFs”). These regulatory measures have been primarily intended to curb evergreening of
-
Assessing the Viability of Opinion Trading Platforms in India
[Rishi A. Kumar and Zainab Bhanpurawala are fifth-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) students at Tamil Nadu National Law University and ILS Law College, Pune, respectively] On April 29, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) published a cautionary press release to investors operating on opinion trading platforms. SEBI stated no investor protection mechanisms will apply, as opinion trading fall
-
RBI’s Revised Digital Lending Guidelines: Strengthening Guardrails in an Evolving Ecosystem
[Dhwanil Tandon is a 5th year B.A.LL.B. student at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] The Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) on May 8, 2025 issued its updated Digital Lending Directions (“2025 Directions”), significantly reforming and building upon its 2022 guidelines. In recent years, digital lending has proliferated across regulated and unregulated segments alike, driven by platform-based models, app-based credit
-
From Boundaries to Bridges: SEBI’s 2025 Overhaul of Stock Broker Regulations
[Diya Ambavi and Nimit Jain are 5th year B.Com. LL.B (Hons.) students at Institute of Law, Nirma University] In a year marked by increasing market sophistication and the expansion of digital ecosystems, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made a pivotal regulatory intervention with the issuance of its Master Circular for Stock Brokers on June 17, 2025.
-
Bridging the Gap: SEBI’s Draft Circular on SDI Trustee Disclosures
[Atharva Singh and Arushi Devendra Jha are 4th year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) students at National Law Institute University, Bhopal] On 16 June 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) released a Consultation Paper on the Draft Circular proposing a bi-annual mandatory disclosure framework for trustees of Special Purpose Distinct Entities (“SPDIs”) issuing Securitised Debt Instruments (“SDIs”). To provide
-
Call for Papers: 3rd Edition of Wadia Ghandy Awards for Structured Finance Research
[Announcement on behalf of Vinod Kothari Consultants] We are inviting researchers, law students, and legal scholars to make their contribution to structured finance research and submit their papers for consideration on the list of attached topics. Selected Topics (further details in the link below) Further details of the selected topics, guidelines for participants, and important
