The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has powers under the Insurance Act to inspect and investigate insurers and insurance intermediaries. The IRDAI recently issued the IRDAI (Minimum Information Required for Investigation and Inspection) Regulations 2020. The regulations stipulate the minimum information and records that insurers, intermediaries and insurance intermediaries are required to maintain and the general norms applicable thereto…

The President of India has promulgated the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, notified on 4 November 2020 ('Ordinance'), through which certain provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 ('Arbitration Act') have been amended. The key highlights of the Ordinance are as follows…

Last year, the IRDAI notified the "Guidelines on Standard Individual Health Insurance Product" of 1 October 2020 with the objective of providing basic health insurance covers to customers. Towards this end, all General and Health Insurers are required to mandatorily offer a standard individual health insurance product offering a fixed set of covers to customers termed, "Aogya Sanjeevani Policy" in accordance with the directions issued by the IRDAI…

On 28 September 2020, the Ministry of Law and Justice notified the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act 2020 (FCRA Amendment Act) which amends the existing provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2010 (FCRA)…

The increasing awareness and growing popularity of health, fitness and wellness focussed lifestyles has led to a significant uptake in the Indian health insurance market in recent past. In early 2016, the IRDAI acknowledged such consumer needs and introduced norms on developing health insurance products which would also include wellness and preventive benefits…

The Consumer Protection Act 2019 was passed by Parliament on 6 August 2019 (2019 Act) with the objective of overhauling the earlier regime and replacing the Consumer Protection Act 1986. The 2019 Act did not automatically come into force. The Central Government was authorised to notify the 2019 Act and/or select provisions of it…

The Delhi High Court has recently passed detailed directions to be followed by courts in execution proceedings under the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996 (A&C Act), while also making these guidelines applicable to proceedings under various other statutes. These measures have been laid down to ensure that a Judgment Debtor (JD) does not frustrate the decree by stating that he does not have the funds…

By way of an Order dated 24 February 2020, the Securities Appellate Tribunal, in relation to an appeal filed by Nippon India Mutual Fund and Nippon Life India Asset Management, partly set aside an IRDAI Order dated 4 December 2019, which held that the pledge of shares of an Insurer requires prior approval of the IRDAI under §6A(4)(b)(iii) of the Insurance Act 1938 (Insurance Act) and any pledge of shares without IRDAI's approval is “null and void ab initio”. However, the question as to the definition of transfer and whether a pledge constitutes a transfer of shares under §6A(4)(b) of the Insurance Act appears to have been left open…

The Consumer Protection Act 2019 was passed by the Parliament on 6 August 2019 (2019 Act) with the objective of overhauling the earlier regime and replacing the Consumer Protection Act 1986 (1986 Act). The 2019 Act did not automatically come into force, and the Central Government was authorised to notify the 2019 Act and/or select provisions thereunder…

The Supreme Court recently issued notice to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the IRDAI in response to a writ petition¹ seeking implementation of the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 (Act) and provision of an 'action taken report' with respect to the measures taken to ensure provision of insurance cover in India for mental illnesses. The public interest litigation averred that the situation with respect to availability of mental illness covers had remained the same despite the passage of one year since the IRDAI issued directions to this effect, and that no follow-up action had been taken against Insurers for non-compliance…

On 23 March 2020, the Supreme Court of India extended the limitation period for all 'proceedings' with effect from 15 March 2020 until further orders. This was on account of the COVID-19 induced lockdown and the difficulties faced by lawyers as well as litigants during these times.

The Supreme Court in a recent judgment in Dahiben v Arvindbhai Kalyanji Bhanusali & Ors has clarified that power to terminate a civil action under Order VII Rule 11 (“O7R11”), of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (“CPC”) though a drastic one, should be strictly followed, provided the conditions laid down under O7R11 are met…

Despite the relaxation of the foreign investment limits for insurance intermediaries, insurance intermediation remains a regulated activity. In this respect, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India recently issued guidelines on the repatriation of dividends by insurance intermediaries with a majority foreign investment and a circular mandating the submission of an undertaking by insurance intermediaries…

Despite the relaxation of the foreign investment limits for insurance intermediaries, insurance intermediation remains a regulated activity. In this respect, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India recently issued guidelines on the repatriation of dividends by insurance intermediaries with a majority foreign investment and a circular mandating the submission of an undertaking by insurance intermediaries…

India has experienced a phenomenal growth in digital payment transactions in the last few years. Online or digital payments between customers and providers of goods and services (merchants) are facilitated through intermediaries such as ‘Payment Aggregators’ (PAs) and ‘Payment Gateways’ (PGs). These entities provide the technological infrastructure to route and/ or facilitate processing of digital transactions between the customers and the merchants without actually handling the funds…

In order to address the ever-changing COVID-19 pandemic in India, the government has issued various notifications, including a nationwide closure of all public and private establishments (except for essential service providers), which have had a direct impact on the normal functioning of entities, including those in the insurance sector…

On 11 March 2020, in the wake of the alarming levels of its spread and severity around the globe, the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) was declared as pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The rise of COVID 19 cases in India, has also led the Central Government to respond by issuing nationwide lockdown orders commencing 25 March 2020 under the National Disaster Management Act 2005 ('DM Act'), inter alia…

The Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code 2016 (IBC) defines a 'Financial Debt' under §5(8) as being essentially a debt which is disbursed against consideration for time value of money. Sub-clauses under §5(8) of the IBC supplement this definition by providing a list of examples of a financial debt, which includes…

In a recent decision handed down on 8 April 2020 in Standard Retail Private Ltd v Gs Global Corporation, the Bombay High Court refused to stay the encashment of Irrevocable Letters of Credit ("LCs") sought by an Indian Importer, Standard Retail Private Ltd ("Buyer") who had terminated its contracts, with a South Korean Commodity Trader…

Motor insurance business in India is regulated by the India Motor Tariff 2002, which was issued by the former Tariff Advisory Committee in 2009. While pricing of the 'own damage' segment was detariffed in 2007, the basic product structure, including the policy wordings and other standard..

The Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 ('A&C Act') was amended by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015 ('Amendment Act'). Apart from other changes, the Amendment Act amended §12 of the A&C Act and introduced the 5th, 6th, and 7th Schedule with the objective of securing the impartiality of arbitrators and improving the legitimacy of the arbitration process in India…

§7, §9 and §10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 ('Code') stipulates the mechanism for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process ('CIRP') against 'Corporate Debtors'. A 'Corporate Debtor' has been defined in §3(8) of the Code as "a corporate person who owes a debt to any person", but, importantly, the definition of a 'Corporate Person' excludes "any financial service provider" ('FSP')…