Corporate Laws

Electronic transactions in India are governed by the Cyber Law of India. However, the Information Technology Act is not an ultimate legislation for electronic transactions. The formations of contacts are still governed by the Contract Act. This includes electronic contracts. However, these two Acts complement each other.

Indian legal news brings you the latest updates about the new rule proposed by the Reserve Bank of India. The apex bank has said that banks shall fix their individual rates of interests for savings deposits. The RBI has also favored the deregulation of interest rates for agriculture sector, EXIM and savings account. Such deregulation is intended to encourage more financial inclusion.

The Indian government has established Debt Recovery Tribunals, under the Indian law. These were formed to help financial institutes/Banks, to recover their bad debts, in a quick and efficient manner. The recovery of bad loans has turned into a big issue, affecting the profits of banks and government’s revenues too. Debt recovery tribunals are a judicial body, established under the Recovery for Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions, Act, 1993.

The immense reach of cyber space has made it difficult to define the jurisdiction of cyber laws. The dispute caused by the breach of a contract, falls under the purview of the legislation of the place of contract formation. The court’s jurisdiction in such a dispute is determined by the place of conclusion of the contract.

For the latest directions from the Reserve Bank of India on the issuance of Non- Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of original or initial maturity up to one year, please click here.

[The directions have been compiled and shared with us, courtesy S DHANAPAL & ASSOCIATES, Chennai.]

‘Patent’ is a set of exclusive rights, that is usually granted based on following the right procedures elucidated through the patent law in India. The patent is granted to an inventor or his assignee, for a fixed period of time in exchange of public disclosure of an invention or discovery. The invention must be something new and original, such as a manufacturing process, machine or product. Based on patent law in India, the invention must be novel, unique and have industrial application.

Copyright is the set of exclusive rights granted to the author/creator of an original intellectual property, such as musical work, artistic work and films. These rights are in consonance with copyright laws in India. Once this is done, the rights can be licensed, transferred or assigned. However, the copyright is granted for certain period of time. The copyright issues in India are addressed by the Copyright Act, 1957.

According to Indian law, a contract comes into existence only when the acceptance is a mirror image of the offeror’s exact offer. Indian laws provides for ‘the mirror image rule’ that states, an offer must be accepted exactly as offered and without modifications. A contract is formed, only when the acceptance of an offer is absolute and same as the terms of the offer.

The Indian government has developed and implemented the Information Technology (IT) Act, which addresses the issues of cyber transactions and cyber crimes in India. The cyber activities pertaining to e-commerce and e-governance in India are also governed by the cyber laws that are enacted by the government of India.

The Permanent Account Number (PAN) is allotted to an individual by the Income Tax Department of India. Under the provisions of Indian laws, PAN card is a mandatory requirement, for carrying out any financial transaction.