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Guidelines for overseas investment by Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) / Venture Capital Funds (VCFs)

The Supreme Court of India held that pre-litigation mediation is mandatory. However the judgement will operate prospectively from 20.8.22. In para 84 the Supreme Court held as under:

“Having regard to all these circumstances, we would dispose of the matters in the following manner. We declare that Section 12A of the Act is mandatory and hold that any suit instituted violating the mandate of Section 12A must be visited with rejection of the plaint under Order VII Rule 11. This power can be exercised even suo moto by the court as explained earlier in the judgment. We, however,make this declaration effective from 20.08.2022”

The Government is focusing on facilitating container production through a Make in India push, focusing on cluster-based manufacturing. A high-powered meeting was held between Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW) and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal and Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw to deliberate and facilitate an ecosystem for Container production under Make In India programme.

With cluster-base manufacturing in focus, the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) will work closely with the MoPSW. The meeting also discussed how the availability of Make In India containers may open up the avenue for domestic cargo transportation using the vast expanse of inland waterways of India.

Various ways and means to encourage Indian producers of containers were also discussed along with the possibility of movement of bulk cargos like cement, food grains, fertilisers etc through coastal and inland waterways in containerised form. This will contribute to reduction in the cost of logistics, handling charges as it will be through an economical, ecological and easier mode of transportation.

Earlier, a committee was formed comprising of the Joint Secretary (Ports), Joint Secretary (Customs), Joint Secretary (Logistics), Joint Secretary (Steel), Representative from CONCOR and NICDC to assess the demand of containers in domestic trade, EXIM trade as well as the problem faced in the domestic manufacturing of containers.

The Government has approved a Startup loan of Rs 1.15 crores to TGP Bioplastics, a bioplastic firm for commercialising compostable plastic, in a bid to mitigate the usage of Single Use Plastics (SUP).

An MoU was signed between the Technology Development Board, a statutory body under the Department of Science & Technology and the firm for manufacturing and commercialisation of compostable plastic.

The Startup has come up with an alternative solution to SUPs with the prototype of a compostable plastic material which breaks down as a compost in soil without affecting the environment. The project received seed funding from NIDHI Prayas(DST), Niti Aayog and UNIDO for the prototype development.

Minister of Science & technology, Dr Jitendra Singh said the concept of compostable plastic will be scaled up with further government support for driving global action on plastic pollution.

Currently, very few degradable materials/composites are available in the market. Most of them cost more than Rs. 280/kg for the raw materials. The cheapest degradable polymer today is Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) which is available at Rs. 280-300/kg, whereas conventional plastic raw materials cost around Rs. 90/kg. Hence, the market willingness for the degradable plastic is less. To solve this problem, TGB Bioplastics has developed a new composite material which is cheaper than the available compostable plastic (~Rs 180/kg), having comparable strength.

The composite is a unique blend of Thermoplastic-Starch (TPS)-glycerin with some chemical modifications that provides higher strength with low manufacturing cost. The granules prepared from this composite can be moulded into any shape and used as per the requirement, and it further breaks down into natural substances once thrown out. With funding from TDB, the company targets a production capacity of 880 MT per annum, with an aim to provide compostable packaging solutions in the context of the nation’s need to phase out non-compostable SUP.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, approved the proposal of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) for continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) up to December 31, 2024, wherein financial assistance will be provided for the completion of the already sanctioned 122.69 lakh houses till March 31, 2022.

As per Government figures, in 2017, the originally projected demand was 100 lakh houses. Against this originally projected demand, 102 lakh houses have been grounded/under construction. Further, out of these 62 lakh houses have been completed. Out of the total sanctioned 123 lakh houses, the proposals of 40 lakh houses were received late (during the last 2 years of the scheme) from the States/UTs which require another two years to complete. Hence, the States/UTs requested the Union Cabinet to extend the implementation period of PMAY-U till December 31, 2024.

Up to March 31, 2022, Central Assistance/subsidy of Rs 1,18,020.46 crore has been released and Rs 85,406 crore will be released as Central Assistance/subsidy till December 31, 2024.

PMAY-U is one of the major flagship programmes being implemented by the Government of India to provide all-weather pucca houses to all eligible beneficiaries in the urban areas of the country through States/UTs/Central Nodal Agencies. The scheme is being implemented through four verticals: Beneficiary Led Construction/ Enhancement (BLC), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), In-situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR) and Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has invited Enterprises to participate in studies for direct assignment of spectrum to Enterprises setting up Captive Non-Public Network (CNPN CNPNs. Enterprises having net-worth over Rs. 100 Crores and willing to set up CNPNs by obtaining spectrum directly from DoT, can participate in the studies.

The Government had issued the ‘Guidelines for Captive Non-Public Network (CNPN) license’ on 27th June 2022, aimed at establishing the legal framework for CNPNs. The guidelines provide that the enterprises seeking to establish CNPN may obtain spectrum on lease from Telecom Service Providers or directly from DoT. These guidelines also provide that the DoT will undertake demand studies for direct assignments of spectrum to Enterprises setting up CNPNs.

DoT has also launched a module on Saralsanchar portal for carrying out the demand studies. The portal may be accessed at: https://saralsanchar.gov.in. An OM has been issued in this regard on 09-08-2022. The details can be submitted on the portal from 10-08-2022 to 09-09-2022.

Captive Non-Public Network can play a key role in developing industries by providing secure, ultra-reliable, low latency and high throughput communication using advanced technologies.

The Union Minister of Steel & Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia recently chaired a meeting of the two Advisory Committees formed for Integrated Steel Plants and the Secondary Steel industry. The meeting also saw the Minister of State for Steel and Rural Development, Faggan Singh Kulaste. The Committee has eminent members of the steel industry, associations, academia and senior retired officials from the Government.

The purpose of forming Advisory Committees is to ensure active participation of stakeholders to listen to the issues and possible course of action directly from the stakeholders, which will ensure the success of the steel sector.
In the first meeting, it was decided that these Committees will deliberate on the issues of importance pertaining to the steel sector.

Addressing the members of the Committee, the Minister emphasised that the mantra of the Government is to make decision-making participatory. There is a great amount of interplay between various other sectors including logistics, coal & mines, the State Governments etc.

The Advisory Committee also identified Issues to be dealt on priority. The Minister urged the industry to participate actively in the Advisory Committees and said that the periodicity of the meetings will depend upon the industry’s desire to push forward to resolve issues common to the sector.

Fruits & vegetables, cereals, livestock and processed foods witnessed a spike in exports this fiscal of total USD 23.56 billion export target for 2022-23,31.4 percent achieved in first three months. Export of processed fruits & vegetables including pulses up by 59.71 percent to USD 490 million in Q1 of current fiscal in compare to corresponding months of previous year. ​​​​​​​Basmati Rice exports witnessed a growth of 25.54 percent in the first three months of FY 2022-23

According to the provisional data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), the overall export of APEDA products increased to USD 7408 million in April-June 2022 from USD 5663 million over the same period of the last fiscal. The export target for April-June 2022-23 was fixed at USD 5890 million.

The initiatives taken by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) that works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry have helped the country in achieving 31 percent of the total export target in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

In order to rationalize the compliance requirement under Clause 4 of Schedule B read with Regulation 9 of PIT Regulations, improve ease of doing business and prevent inadvertent non-compliances of provisions of PIT Regulations by DPs, after having deliberations with Stock Exchanges and Depositories and listed companies, it has been decided that Stock Exchanges and Depositories shall develop a system to restrict trading by DPs of listed company during trading window closure period.

The SEBI Board, in its meeting on September 28, 2020,approved changes to the regulatory framework relating to debenture trustees(DTs), enhancing their role. Resultant amendments were made in SEBI (Debenture Trustees) Regulations, 1993, SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015and erstwhile SEBI (Issue and Listing of Debt Securities) Regulations, 20081, pursuant to which circular on the creation of security and due diligence by DTs was issued. Since the issue of the circular, SEBI has received feedback from market participants on the aspects of due diligence and security creation. On the basis of such feedback, it has been decided that certain aspects of the said circular be tweaked. Accordingly, the present circular laying down revised requirements relating to encumbrance, creation of security and related due diligence by DTs