S&R Associates is an Indian law firm with offices in New Delhi and Mumbai providing legal services to Indian and international clients.
Our lawyers are admitted to practice in India and many have previously practiced law in other jurisdictions, including in the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore. As a result, we offer our clients a unique combination of Indian law expertise coupled with international quality legal services.
We distinguish ourselves based on the quality of our services and legal advice and on the range of our experience. Our lawyers have advised on some of the most significant Indian transactions and matters in recent times. The quality of our legal advice and services has helped us become the law firm of choice for our clients and has also been recognised by various industry publications, surveys and rankings. Lawyers in each of our practice areas have routinely been recognised as leading lawyers in India by Chambers Global, Chambers Asia Pacific, IFLR1000, Legal500 and RSG India Report.
Recent Publications
RBI Eases Investments by FPIs in Corporate Debt Securities
The Reserve Bank of India recently issued a circular onInvestments by Foreign Portfolio Investors in Corporate Debt Securities through the General Route(“RBI Circular”) on May 08, 2025, to withdraw short term investment limits and concentration limits, applicable on investments by FPI in corporate debt securities under the general route. This note highlights the changes to the regulatory framework brought about by the RBI Circular that are intended to provide greater flexibility and ease of investments for FPIs investing in corporate debt securities in India under the general route.
Regulatory Initiatives on ESG Disclosure Requirements in India
Regulatory initiatives to build the legal frameworks around environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) disclosures in India, while still nascent, are not of recent origin. Various regulators have gradually introduced requirements aimed at enhancing transparency and fostering corporate responsibility. This note examines these evolving ESG disclosure frameworks as implemented by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Reserve Bank of India, and the International Financial Services Centres Authority. It further analyzes the regulatory gaps that these initiatives seek to fill, andproposes solutions to enhance these frameworks.
India’s Concerns About Deepseek and Possible Regulatory Responses
Large language models (“LLMs”) connected with DeepSeek, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and xAI’s Grok, have faced significant regulatory attention in recent times. In particular, DeepSeek’s LLMs and artificial intelligence (“AI”)-based chatbots have been prohibited, restricted, and/or extensively reviewed by several countries, including because of concerns related to privacy and national security.
While the Government of India (“Government”) is currently monitoring the use of DeepSeek by Indian users, it may adopt regulatory measures under existing provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) and its rules, as necessary. Such provisions include those related to: (i) blocking public access on account of risks to the security or sovereignty of India (under section 69A of the IT Act), subject to specified procedures and safeguards; and (ii) ‘safe harbor’ and intermediary liability (under section 79 of the IT Act), subject to due diligence and other obligations in respect of hosting third-party information.
Further, the Government has certain powers under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”) and its rules, the provisions of which are yet to be notified but are expected to come into force soon. Such powers include restricting cross-border data flows/ transfers and requiring data localization in certain circumstances.