vLex India

On Monday, March 30, 2020, trade ministers of the G20 countries issued a joint statement stating that any emergency measures taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic must be temporary and consistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.  Several governments, including India and Germany, have already implemented export restrictions on medical supplies, and there are... (See Article)

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the world and surging cases in India, Dabur Group Chairman Amit Burman-promoted  Poker Sports League (PSL) has cancelled its offline qualifier games that were scheduled to be held across New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata from 18th January to 5th April, 2020. As digital games are unaffected by... (See Article)

The Finance Bill, 2020 (“Bill”) was presented as the Union Budget on February 1, 2020 (“Budget”) and then introduced in the Lower House of Parliament (Lok Sabha) – it was finally passed on March 23, 2020 with certain key amendments (“Amendment”). Interestingly, this was passed without any discussions in Parliament and received the presidential assent... (See Article)

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant issued notice to Dream11, Union of India and social activist Gurdeep Singh Sachar in an appeal filed by the state of Maharashtra as per a report in ETPrime today. While hearing the Special Leave Petition... (See Article)

India released the fourth draft Chemicals (Management and Safety) Rules to select groups on March 16, 2020. This fourth draft is believed to be the final draft, despite assurances in February that the third draft was the final draft. The government is accepting comments until March 31, 2020. (See Article)

A 2020 report on India’s Media & Entertainment Sector titled ‘The era of consumer A.R.T. – Acquisition Retention and Transaction,’  released by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) claims that online gaming grew at a rapid 40% growth rate in the year 2020 and... (See Article)

The Board of Directors of Delta Corp Limited has approved a plan to buy-back shares of the company as per a regulatory filing by the company. As per the company’s update to the stock exchanges, the board of directors at the company meeting held on 28th March, 2020 approved a proposal to buy-back upto 1.25... (See Article)

 Introduction The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced unprecedented measures on the movement of people across the country, thereby also bringing the functioning of courts and tribunals to a grinding halt. Considering the present scenario, where courts have become physically inaccessible, the Supreme Court of India (“Supreme Court”) on March 23, 2020 took suo-moto cognizance of... (See Article)

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Government of India has issued an order prohibiting all inbound international flights to India beginning March 22, 2020. The current ban is set to expire on March 29, 2020, but is subject to change. (See Article)

With more than three lakh confirmed cases and 14 thousand deaths across 190 countries, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused (and continues to cause) unprecedented disruptions in the global political, social and economic environment. India has not remained untouched from this. With almost 500 confirmed cases and the country in lock-down mode to prevent... (See Article)

The year 2019 had been a groundbreaking year for the Indian film industry, which saw some of its best box office performances in the past decade. As content took center stage, many films of various budgets witnessed success at the box-office. However, the year 2020 seems to be a completely different story. The outbreak of... (See Article)

India has issued new travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The following are guidelines for foreign nationals traveling to India: Commercial Flight Restrictions - Effective March 23, 2020 and until March 29, 2020, no incoming scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft will be allowed to land and disembark passengers in India... (See Article)

Eventus International has recently announced that SPiCE India 2020 has been rescheduled for August 26-28 this year. The 3rd annual edition of SPiCE India will be held at the same venue as was booked for the event’s old dates in March, Goa Marriott Resort & Spa, Goa, India. The 3-day event will have pre and... (See Article)

In its recent decision in Bank of Baroda v. Kotak Mahindra Bank[1], the Supreme Court has ruled on the limitation period applicable for execution of a foreign decree under Section 44A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (“CPC”), after considering the previously divergent views of different High Courts on the issue. Background Foreign decrees... (See Article)

Like many countries, India is grappling with the COVID-19 virus outbreak.  The central and state governments have responded to this evolving situation by imposing curfews, travel restrictions, and closing down certain services and private businesses. (See Article)

As people spend more time at home with their families, they look for various ways to entertain themselves. Besides movies, music, and online games, a great way to pass time is to play card games. Here are a few card games that are loved by Indian families: This is a sophisticated yet fun game to... (See Article)

With the coronavirus pandemic impacting all routine activities,, people in India and around the globe are forced to change their lifestyle—practicing social distancing and working from home. This has led to people spending more time online for keeping themselves engaged. People are looking for various ways to entertain themselves from Netflix to cooking and trying... (See Article)

Vernacular e-sport gaming platform Winzo has partnered with Tencent Games India to host PUBG mobile tournament on its platform, enabling users to play PUBG in 10 regional languages of India. “Tencent India’s trust in WinZO is a testament to our unique vision and our distinctive strategy to develop a Netflix of Gaming. Together, we aspire... (See Article)

Eventus International hosted a special SPiCE India Webinar on 17th March 2020 to discuss the recent development in the gaming industry, hits and misses in the last year and predictions for 2020. Operators and users from all over the world joined the webinar.  The ‘Pre-SPiCE India 2020 Webinar: A Sneak Peek of 2019 Developments and... (See Article)

Sikkim’s Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang announced on Monday that entry of all domestic tourists has been banned to the Himalayan state. He also said that all educational institutes (including government and private schools, colleges and universities), discos, cinema halls, casinos, gyms, melas, and tambola will remain shut in Sikkim till 15th April 2020. These... (See Article)

   Lawyers are generally very conservative – so it may sound a bit alarmist to hear us say “the world is ending!” At the time of writing, India is coming to grips with the terrifying ‘Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (“COVID-19”)’ virus. There is something primal and scary about an airborne threat that can kill... (See Article)

Please join us in welcoming our newest members and catch up on all the newest blogs in recent weeks here. Anvi Legal is a legal technology company based in India that uses “next-gen” artificial intelligence to make the contract review and analysis process easier. The company currently offers three products, Anvi Insight which analyzes multiple contracts... (See Article)

A recent press release by Nazara Technologies Limited announced that their franchise World Cricket Championship (WCC) has become the number one Cricket game in the world as it has amassed about 110 Million downloads in India and abroad. WCC, which is published by Nazara’s subsidiary Nextwave Multimedia, comprises three versions of the game called WCC,... (See Article)

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) introduced the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Buy-Back of Securities) Regulations, 2018 (the “SEBI Regulations”) with effect from September 11, 2018, which govern buy-backs undertaken by a listed company. A listed company’s shares and other specified securities can be bought back using any of the following... (See Article)

U.S. Embassy and Consulate posts throughout India announced today that in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, all immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments scheduled on Monday, March 16, 2020, onward have been cancelled. Once the posts are able to resume regular consular operations, appointments will be made available and individuals will be able to reschedule. (See Article)

SPiCE India 2020, scheduled for 25-27 March at Goa Marriot Resort & Spa, has been postponed due to the travel advisory issued by the Indian government, dated 11 March 2020, which cancels all existing visas for foreign nationals except diplomatic and employment visas from 13 March until 15 April 2020 to curtail the COVID-19 impact.... (See Article)

In a recent development on COVID-19 spread prevention in Goa, the state government on Saturday announced that all educational institutes, casinos, gyms, spas, pubs, clubs, public swimming pools and theatres in Goa will be shut till 31st March 2020. Restaurant and malls in Goa will, however, remain open. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant held a... (See Article)

As COVID-19 is impacting the world, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane recently said that he will write to the owners and management of all the casinos in the state to take precautionary measures. “The rules that apply to all will be applicable to them (casinos). The airports already have started showing a decrease of tourists.... (See Article)

In our continuing series of reports, Charles (“Charlie”) Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, U.S. Department of State, shares his most recent analysis of current trends and future projections for the various immigrant preference categories with AILA (the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association). Below are highlights from the most recent “check-in with Charlie”... (See Article)

In keeping with the trend in real estate space, both local and foreign corporates have accepted the norm of leasing spaces to conduct their business activities in India. In metro cities, demand for commercial spaces have led to time renewal of existing lease/license as well as spike in request for additional space. The demand for... (See Article)