Preliminary On 12 November 2018, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (“TRAI”)[1] published the Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for over-the-top (“OTT”) communication services (“Consultation Paper”).[2] This Consultation Paper was deemed necessary due to existing regulatory imbalances between telecom service providers (“TSP”) and OTT service providers, especially since the adoption and usage of OTTRead more
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1. INTRODUCTION The Indian union budget was declared on 05 July 2019 by the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. This was the first budget presented by the Narendra Modi government in its second term. The budget speech is available here, highlights released by the union government are available here, the Finance Bill, 2019 is availableRead more
1. PRELIMINARY 1.1 The finance ministry presents the economic survey (“ES”) of India in the parliament every year before the union budget. This document is prepared by the finance ministry and the chief economic adviser. The ES presents the finance ministry’s views on the annual economic development of India. This post highlights major observations fromRead more
The Union Cabinet approved[1] the National Policy on Software Products, 2019[2] (“Policy”) on 28.02.2019. The Policy aims “to develop India as a software product nation and a global leader in conception, design, development and production of software products.”[3] The Policy will be implemented by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”)[4] in collaboration withRead more
I. Preliminary The National Policy on Electronics 2019 (“Policy”)[1] was released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”)[2] on 25.02.2019. The Policy, which recognises the electronics industry as the “world’s largest and fastest growing industry”[3], seeks to “position India as a global hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (“ESDM”) by […]Read more
Introduction Hemp, the lesser known cousin of marijuana, has been in the news for all the right reasons lately. The industrial and medicinal uses of the plant have been in the spotlight ever since the United States Senate voted to legalise the cultivation, processing and sale of industrial hemp in June 2018.[1] In IndiaRead more
I. Introduction The Supreme Court’s ban on the sale of alcohol within 500 meters of state and national highways in 2016 caused a significant crunch in the physical retail space available to alcohol vendors in India.[1] Players in the alcohol industry thus began to look to e-commerce as an opportunity for growth. In particular, theRead more
Monitoring App Based Cab Aggregators Towards A Brighter Future? Even though app-based cab aggregators (“ABCAs”) entered the Indian market much later than traditional radio taxis, they have already started to eclipse the latter in terms of city coverage, fleet size, offerings and pricing.[1] These ABCAs follow a sharing economy model and claim to be technologyRead more
Preliminary On 1st May, 2018, the Department of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Communications rolled out the draft National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 (“Draft Policy”). Following a round of public consultations on the draft policy, the Union Cabinet approved the final National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 (“Policy”), on September 26, 2018. This Policy, whichRead more
The draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 (“Bill”) raises many concerns for businesses – start-ups and established companies alike. Companies will be required to revamp several of their operational practices once the Bill becomes an enforceable law. This post provides an overview of some of the practical concerns raised by the Bill to give aRead more