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Mint spoke with, companies are increasingly hiring law firms and investigative agencies before closing deals to ensure that none of the parties involved, including subsidiaries, parents or suppliers, feature on sanctions lists.Clients are now required to sign sanctions standard operating procedures (SOPs) before finalising deals, which mandate disclosures such as ultimate beneficiaries, end-use certificates, and verification of licensed vendors.The purpose of such stringent due diligence is to ensure that companies do not deal with sanctioned entities, thus preventing frozen assets, blocked payments, or stalled deals amid geopolitical tensions.“With growing awareness, turbulent global environment and growing tariff and sanctions regime, sanction checks are carried out on large and key vendors at a pre-transaction stage. Further, post transactions, clients are asking us to implement third-party diligence programs in the acquired company and also have a real-time sanctions screening process,” said Tarun Bhatia, managing director and APAC co-head at financial risk and advisory firm Kroll.A sanctions control and ownership test determines whether an entity is “blocked” due to ownership by sanctioned individuals.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. As the government allocated funds to develop talent in the animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics (AVGC) ecosystem in the country, experts say the sector faces serious disruption from artificial intelligence, which may shrink job opportunities in some of these categories. In the organized sector, including feature films and OTT series, the impact will be incremental but irreversible as AI will increasingly be embedded into pipelines to reduce turnaround time, manage costs, and optimize post-production, particularly in VFX-heavy projects, according to experts.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India Inc’s global capability centre (GCC) boom is keeping the country’s law firms busier than ever as more multinational companies set up larger office campuses on longer lease tenures across major cities.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : Parliament in December cleared the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025, which has removed a long-standing procedural hurdle in inheritance by deleting Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. The change means that beneficiaries in Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata no longer have to mandatorily get a probate and can now act on a valid Will.

₹20,000 crore that have slowed highway development in the country.The pre-conciliation committee, set up by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), will attempt to resolve disputes valued under ₹5 crore between highway contractors and government authorities before they snowball into prolonged legal battles, according to two government officials aware of the development.The development assumes significance given that these small-value disputes account for a fifth of the nearly ₹1 trillion legal claims in road and highway construction that the government has been party to over the past decade. Also, there are documented cases of sub- ₹1 crore road payment disputes where contractors had to wait for 6-7 years for resolution.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected] a year of testing the waters, India’s top law firms are heading into 2026 facing a decisive question: can artificial intelligence (AI) move from a promising pilot to everyday legal infrastructure? What began as cautious experimentation in 2025 is now shifting toward deeper, workflow-level integration, even as firms remain measured about governance, client confidentiality and the impact on pricing.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Legal tech is flooded with capital, but even as money pours in, structural roadblocks persist. The sector faces the unglamorous task of making legal data machine-readable through annotation and labelling—before the automation promise can truly be realised.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The new income tax bill must align with global best practices to attract foreign investment, support domestic businesses, and benefit individual taxpayers, experts said as India’s tax regime prepared for a major overhaul. Global best practices should include those on investment incentives for venture capitalists, a threshold-based approach for MSMEs—similar to models in the UK and US—and measures to modernize tax administration, tax experts said.

It is interacting with potential underwriters for the share offering in London, where Hero Future's chairman, Rahul Munjal, has been spending considerable time to help expand the global footprint of the renewable energy generator, said the sources cited above.

divorce while it may also continue after divorce. Sometimes alimony is not pure financial support, rather it can be distribution of family assets also.

Goods and Service Tax (GST) proper officer can't arbitrarily arrest a GST registered person due to a recent amendment in GST arrest instructions. Moreover, now GST proper officers have to explain to the taxpayers about the 'grounds of arrest' and also obtain a written acknowledgement from them about their understanding of the explanation.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Corporations must brace for heightened regulatory scrutiny in 2025 with various regulators preparing to enforce stricter oversight and actions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Law firms are advising Indian companies operating in the US or engaging in deals with American firms to expect closer scrutiny under the Trump administration, suggesting additional clauses in legal contracts to protect their interests. The election of Donald Trump has sparked concerns in India and across the world that the President-elect's America First policies will raise the heat for other countries and their companies.

will to ensure 'unlimited' care for his pet dog Tito is likely to trigger a 'pawsome' trend — more and more pet parents making provisions for their furry companions on their posthumous wish lists. While queries on these lines have been coming in for a while now, the trend is still at a nascent stage in India. Tata's move, say lawyers, will generate much more awareness about the issue, prompting more people to follow suit. Pets are not recognised as people capable of holding property or inheriting the estate of another person — they are deemed to be personal property. Therefore, while many Indians see their pets as their children, Indian law still doesn't. Hence, the law doesn't allow for either leaving anything to pets as a bequest; or creating a trust with a pet as a beneficiary.

mutual funds attracted around Rs 30,350 crore inflows during April to September of the current financial year. The continuous inflows in these categories were mainly due to high returns offered by these categories. According to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), mid and small cap funds received inflows of Rs 32,924 crore during the same time a year ago. “Investments in mid and small cap funds should be made based on one’s risk appetite. It is important for investors to note that mid and small cap segments are highly volatile. While they can give exceptionally high returns in up markets, they can fall equally hard in down markets. Therefore, investors should take exposure in these funds in line with their risk appetite and invest only with a long-term investment horizon,” said Melvyn Santarita, Analyst – Manager Research, Morningstar Investment Research India

Babri Masjid land dispute. Raj stated that if the Chief Justice had prayed for resolving other pressing concerns, such as ordinary citizens getting justice without financial burdens or the misuse of agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Income Tax Department (IT), these issues might have also been addressed. This comes after CJI Chandrachud on Saturday had said that he sat before God (in his home) and asked him to find a solution to the vexed Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid dispute when the case came up before a bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi in which Chandrachud was one of the justices.

Perplexity AI has begun fundraising talks in which it is looking to more than double its valuation to $8 billion or more, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Perplexity has told investors it is looking to raise around $500 million in the new funding round, the Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. The Nvidia-backed artificial intelligence (AI) company's estimated annualized revenue based on recent sales is currently about $50 million, the report added.

Tokyo: Naomi Osaka's season appears to be over after she said she will not play at next month's Billie Jean King Cup finals because of injury. The four-time Grand Slam singles champion said in Tokyo on Sunday that she had ruptured abdominal muscles. «I thought I strained my back, but I did an MRI in Beijing and they said that I bulged a disc in my back and I also ruptured abdominal muscles,» Japan's Kyodo News agency reported the 27-year-old as saying.

US election 2024 in November, ask the people of Clallam County. The 78,000 folks who live in this strip of mountains, forests and rain-dashed coast in the far northwest of the continental United States haven't been wrong about their presidential pick in almost half a century. as per an AFP report. «Our county is a bellwether county,» explained Rod Fleck, city planner in Forks, a small city in Washington state built on a once-enormous timber industry. «We are the last county that how it votes in November has been an indicator of how the presidential election turns out,» Fleck was quoted as saying by AFP.

Uncertain Smile' by The The is a song that captivates by its sheer coolness. Released first in 1982 as a single, and then re-recorded in 1983 for the album Soul Mining, this track gets you from the very first note. Its distinctive keyboard riff creates a sense of intrigue and anticipation, like a Raymond Chandler novel that's gone even more ironic. Matt Johnson's vocals, distinct and almost served up on a plate, add a layer of sincerity that draws you into the narrative of uncertainty and yearning. The lyrics — 'I've got you under my skin where the rain can't get in/ But if the sweat pours out,/ Just shout/

Bill Maher recently made a candid plea for Vice President Kamala Harris to win the upcoming election, emphasizing that his prediction of her victory is on the line. During a segment of his show, Real Time, Maher expressed his hopes for a Harris win not only for political reasons but also to uphold his own track record of accurate predictions. “I predicted a month ago you’d win this thing, and if you blow it, it’s going to make me look bad,” Maher quipped, blending humor with his genuine political analysis, as per a report in The Wrap.