Market Medley

  The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) – Mr. Tuhin Kanta Pandey, at the IVCA Conclave 2026 held last week, outlined SEBI’s evolving agenda for India’s Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) ecosystem. The address highlighted both the rapid growth of the AIF industry and SEBI’s approach to strengthening governance while facilitating ease of doing business.

  The Hon’ble Supreme Court in its ruling held that a long-standing tenant who enters into an agreement to sell with his landlord to purchase the very property he has been occupying cannot be made to pay stamp duty on that agreement as though it were a conveyance deed. The Court set aside the orders of both the Trial Court and the Hon’ble HC of AP, which had directed the tenant-buyer to pay stamp duty and penalty before the agreement could be admitted in evidence in a specific performance suit.

  The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi has approved amendments to India’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy governing investments from countries sharing land borders with India (‘LBCs’). The changes modify the framework introduced through Press Note 3 (2020)*, which required government approval for foreign investments in India from LBCs.