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Retail investors are increasingly selective in IPOs, prioritizing expected gains, business quality, and valuations. This shift reflects a maturing market, with a focus on companies with strong fundamentals. While larger IPOs attract institutional interest, smaller offerings see high retail demand. The selective approach of retail investors is a sign of a maturing market,” said Arka Mookerji, co-head of the equity capital markets, JSA Advocates & Solicitors. Companies with good corporate governance, absence of significant regulatory issues and a healthy growth story are rightly attracting more interest compared to unproven business cases, Mookerji said. Read more

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Beco’s campaign challenges HUL’s Surf Excel and Vim on ingredient transparency, sparking a legal battle over advertising ethics. This highlights growing consumer demand for transparency in product ingredients, potentially impacting the clean-label movement and future advertising practices. “Indian law does not prohibit a brand from naming, referring to, or directly comparing itself with a competitor,” says Rashi Saraf, partner, JSA Advocates & Solicitors. “Everything you say about them must be true, substantiated, fairly framed, and not designed to denigrate.” Read more

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The Reserve Bank of India is proposing changes to standardize loan pricing and shift NBFC lending to term loans, impacting fintechs and lending service providers. The draft rules aim to address opaque pricing and high APRs in app-based lending, potentially affecting credit lines and pay-later facilities. “Essentially, any facility that lets a borrower repay and then draw funds again without fresh underwriting would be revolving credit, under a broad reading,” said Siddharth Manchanda, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors. Read more

The Reserve Bank of India has proposed new loan pricing rules to enhance transparency and speed up rate adjustments for floating-rate loans. These changes, effective April 2027, aim to link loans to benchmarks with quarterly resets. Borrowers will benefit from faster rate changes and improved protections against aggressive recovery practices. Siddharth Manchanda, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, said the framework would also cover non-banking financial companies. “Every loan — fixed or floating — has to sit on a stated benchmark plus a risk-based spread,” Manchanda said. Read more

The Supreme Court has intensified scrutiny of airline pricing, warning that non-compliant carriers could face action. The Centre told the court that new rules covering airfares, surge pricing and excess baggage charges will be notified within three weeks. The case follows concerns over sharp, unpredictable fare increases during peak periods and seeks stronger passenger protection. The Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024, already empowers the Centre to regulate airline tariffs. The next hearing is scheduled for September 7. Poonam Verma Sengupta, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, said, “The Supreme Court’s observation is significant as it underscores that binding directions on airfares must be effectively enforced. However, it should not be read as creating an automatic power to “ground” an airline. Any restriction or suspension of operations must have a clear statutory basis, follow an established contravention, and comply with due process.” Read more

Mumbai and Pune lead in delayed housing stock, with investors viewing stressed assets as redevelopment opportunities. Companies like Mantra Properties and Alpha Corp are reviving stalled projects through NCLT resolutions. Real estate comprises 20% of CIRP admissions, and improved judicial processes could enhance resolution speed. According to Soumitra Majumdar, Partner at JSA Advocates and Solicitors, the timelines for resolution are largely a function of the scale and condition of the projects. “While the legal and regulatory uncertainties have been largely resolved over the years, improvements in judicial capacity would certainly help in achieving faster resolutions,” Majumdar said. He suggests that the operations of the IBC and RERA should also be clearly segregated so that inconsistent positions between the two do not add to complications. In addition, pre-pack resolution plans with the support of home buyers can significantly ease and expedite the resolution process, Majumdar said. Read more

The RBI has proposed new rules to make loan pricing more transparent and standardise interest-rate resets, with floating-rate loans generally requiring benchmark resets no more than every three months. The framework also brings NBFCs under clearer pricing norms. Separately, new recovery rules prohibit lenders from locking borrowers’ devices, accessing personal data, threatening or publicly shaming them, or contacting relatives to pressure repayment. The measures aim to protect borrowers from coercive recovery while ensuring repayment obligations remain unchanged. Siddharth Manchanda, Partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors said, “The core shift is that NBFCs are being brought into a pricing framework that so far applied only to banks. NBFC pricing has largely been a commercial judgment; under the draft, every loan — fixed or floating — has to sit on a stated benchmark plus a risk-based spread, and cannot be priced below that benchmark. The most consequential provision is the discipline on spreads. Non-credit-risk components of the spread can’t be increased for three years from disbursement or the last revision, and can only be reduced on a non-discriminatory basis. Alongside that, the draft standardises how interest is actually computed — monthly rests, daily reducing balance, actual/actual day count. It sounds technical, but divergent conventions have been a real source of borrower confusion, and this closes that.” Read more

The RBI’s proposed loan pricing framework aims to improve transparency by standardizing benchmarks and spreads for loans. Key changes include a three-month reset period for floating rates, a three-year freeze on most spread components, and a ceiling on APR for small loans. Existing loans will transition to this framework by 2029. Siddharth Manchanda, Partner, JSA Advocates and Solicitors, also identified the spread provision as one of the more consequential parts of the draft. He said non-credit-risk components of the spread would not be allowed to increase during the three-year period, while reductions would have to be made on a non-discriminatory basis. Read more

This story also appeared in 7 Globe News.

Quick-commerce platforms Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart are facing growing regulatory and consumer scrutiny over pricing transparency, including allegations of MRP manipulation, inflated discounts, hidden handling charges, and drip pricing. Consumer groups have questioned whether advertised discounts accurately reflect the final payable amount and whether fees are disclosed upfront. The concerns come amid broader antitrust scrutiny of deep discounting practices in India’s quick-commerce sector, with regulators increasingly focusing on dark patterns, misleading pricing, and consumer protection compliance. Saurya Bhattacharya, Partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, said the starting point is straightforward: MRP acts as a ceiling. “At the outset, it must be clarified that maximum retail price (MRP) should be the same for all ultimate consumers, as it provides a price ceiling,” he said. Under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, the retail sale price is the maximum price at which a packaged commodity may be sold to an ultimate consumer. The MRP itself is declared by the manufacturer, packer or importer.“A marketplace platform should not be the entity deciding on the MRP,” Bhattacharya said. Read more

Indian companies are increasingly reducing IPO sizes by 20-40% as investors become more selective amid market volatility and heightened valuation scrutiny. Several firms, including Juniper Green Energy, Shiprocket, Laser Power & Infra, and Indo-MIM, have scaled back their proposed offerings to improve the chances of full subscription. Institutional investors are now prioritising profitability, cash flows, and realistic pricing over aggressive growth projections. The trend signals a shift toward more disciplined capital raising and stronger market fundamentals. “Investors are prioritising companies with strong fundamentals, sustainable profitability, and operational resilience,” said Madhurima Mukherjee, Partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors. She added issuers are reducing their offer sizes amid heightened volatility, some challenges seen in securing desired valuations, and shifting investor preferences. Read more

This quote also appeared in News18.

The Model Standing Orders, 2026, and the OSH Code introduce comprehensive changes to labor laws, enhancing welfare and clarity for manufacturing employees. Women gain more employment opportunities, including night shifts. The new rules currently apply to central government establishments, with state-level implementation still in progress. Preetha Soman– Partner, JSA Advocates & Solicitors, says that the notification of the OSH Central Rules and the simultaneous issuance of the Model Standing Orders, 2026 for the manufacturing sector under Section 29(1) of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, together marks one of the most consequential shifts in Indian labour law in decades. Soman says that specifically for manufacturing workers, this translates into something that has been long overdue: a single, consolidated compliance framework replacing a patchwork of legacy legislation including the Factories Act, 1948 and the law on standing orders that had become fragmented, was inconsistently interpreted, and often difficult for workers to navigate. Soman says that the new framework brings enforceable, sector-specific standards on health, safety, welfare facilities, working hours, leave entitlements, wage payment timelines and workplace conditions under one coherent regime. According to Soman, “this gives employees working in the manufacturing sector far greater clarity on what they are entitled to and what their employer is legally obligated to provide.” Read more

This quote also appeared in Newspoint by The Times of India.

The Tribunals Reforms Bill 2026 aims to address issues in India’s tribunal system by establishing a National Tribunals Commission for structured appointments and administration. It introduces a Data Grid for case information, emphasizes judicial involvement, and professionalizes tribunals. The Bill seeks to enhance stability through defined tenures and systematic performance oversight. Amar Gupta, Joint Managing Partner, JSA Advocates & Solicitors , sees this as one of the Bill’s significant strengths. “The Tribunal Reforms Bill is a major step towards addressing the gaps in the appointment process and it will likely help in filling the vacancies swiftly,” he said. Read more