India Business Law Journal – June 2025

Window dressing?

NSWS, envisioned to remove red tape, has yet to meet expectations

Regulatory compliance forms a big part of corporate operations – from opening the smallest of corner shops to building multibillion-dollar budget projects, Indian bureaucracy puts forward a series of steps and verifications for a company to go through. This series of steps, more often than not, presents a hurdle, not just for the added costs but also for the time it takes for companies to become compliant. The bureaucratic hurdles are most commonly referred to as “red tape”, and business leaders count it as a significant factor when deciding future actions.

Since Indian and non-Indian corporate entities alike have raised concerns about red tape over the years, the Indian government came up with a one-stop shop solution in the form of the National Single Window System (NSWS) for permissions and approvals required by a company. Our main feature, Seeing red, looks at how this system has fared nearly four years since its launch. It seems companies are still just as buried in paperwork as before. The problem lies not just with NSWS’ infrastructure, but also in its limited application, raising questions about its utility. Multiple steps required for approvals still have to be done manually, going against the “one-stop shop” mantra used to make the system attractive.

Recently, the discovery of an AI unicorn using human programmers to write code that was passed off as AI-generated made the headlines. Builder.ai was discovered for passing off the work of Indian programmers as its AI solutions. The false AI claims, along with financial fraud executed with the help of an Indian firm, were a dark and cautionary chapter in Silicon Valley’s history.

Hong Kong-based lawyer and lecturer Joshua Chu sheds light on this issue’s opinion piece, Unmasking the unicorn, on the need to draw the line and reach a balance between innovation and the desire to capitalise on recent trends.

In Vanashakti v Union of India, the Supreme Court of India recently attempted to reach a balance between environmental conservation and infrastructure development projects. Our feature titled Nature in the balance examines the court’s judgment, which makes it mandatory for all development projects to receive environmental clearances before starting construction work. Legal professionals welcomed the judgment for its positive impact on the environment. The system of retrospective ex post facto environmental clearances was instituted by the government to deal with delays in obtaining clearances, which arose due to factors such as bureaucratic inertia, red tape and inconsistent appraisals.

Delays have also been widely associated with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for resolving or liquidating insolvent companies. But it is this focus of the NCLT that has impacted its other responsibilities relating to corporate oppression and mismanagement. In Pinned underfoot, advocates Aditya Vikram Bhat and Aadith Sridhar discuss the drawbacks that the NCLT’s increased focus on insolvencies has brought to the system. They trace the history of corporate oppression and mismanagement matters in India and present an opinion that the shift from the erstwhile adjudicatory authority to the NCLT, and the recent shift in priorities, has been detrimental to minority shareholder interests.

Our feature on top international law firms titled India rising, borders fading shines a light on the stellar work and deals that have transcended jurisdictional borders. The professionals behind those milestones have built a name for themselves within prestigious business circles and adapted to India’s language, local culture and the time difference. It is never a surprise to see the mentions of these international law firm names on Indian deals and contracts. Our feature highlights the top 15 international firms for India work, followed by other categories such as key and significant players, regional and specialist firms, and firms to watch out for.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed by India and the United Arab Emirates has given a boost to bilateral trade relations. In this issue’s Expert briefing, Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultants’ director and advocate Ahmed Ziad Galadari, partner Manish Narayan and trainee lawyer Antara Das talk about the road ahead for trade ties between the two nations since the agreement was signed in 2022. The authors say that with the agreement in the implementation phase, the emphasis will be on turning policy into action and ensuring that businesses can navigate markets in both countries and have clear regulations to work with for long-term stability.