Author: Legal Parivar

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will travel to Moscow next week for high-level talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, against the backdrop of recent strains in India-US relations over New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian crude oil. Jaishankar’s visit follows National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s recent trip to Russia, where he met President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials. The agenda is expected to include final preparations for Putin’s upcoming visit to India later this year. According to Russia’s foreign ministry, the discussions will cover “the most important issues of the bilateral agenda”. Jaishankar is scheduled for a two-day…

The State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, has announced a revision in IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) charges effective August 15, 2025. As per SBI’s website, there is no change in branch-based IMPS charges. However, for online IMPS transfers above ₹25,000, nominal fees will now apply: Salary package account holders will continue to enjoy full waivers for online IMPS transactions. For corporate customers, the revised charges will come into effect from September 8, 2025. SBI has also clarified that current account holders under categories such as Gold, Diamond, Platinum, Rhodium, Government Departments, and Autonomous/Statutory bodies will be exempt…

Parle Agro has approached the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain PepsiCo India Holdings from using the word ‘Fizz’ on the packaging of its 7Up cold drink, alleging infringement of its trademark rights over ‘Appy Fizz’. Parle Agro claims it created and adopted the ‘Appy Fizz’ trademark in 2005, with ‘Fizz’ being the key and distinctive element. Over the years, the company expanded its product range to include ‘Frooti Fizz’, ‘Grappo Fizz’, and ‘B-Fizz’. According to senior counsel Chander M Lall, PepsiCo recently began highlighting ‘Fizz’ on 7Up packaging in a manner nearly identical to Parle’s style, reducing the prominence…

ICICI Bank on Wednesday revised its Minimum Account Balance (MAB) requirements across metro, urban, semi-urban, and rural branches, just days after facing criticism over a steep hike. The bank has reduced the MAB as follows: The changes will not impact salary accounts, which continue to follow separate conditions. Customers who fail to maintain the required balance will incur a penalty of 6% of the shortfall amount or ₹500, whichever is lower.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has announced significant amendments to its Continuing Professional Education (CPE) guidelines for insolvency professionals (IPs), introducing mandatory in-person learning requirements starting 2026. Under the updated framework, every IP (except in their first year of registration) must complete at least 30 CPE credit hours annually. Beginning in 2026, a minimum of 40% of these credits must be earned through in-person programmes — this threshold will increase to 50% in 2027 and 60% from 2028 onwards. Importantly, the IBBI has clarified that the CPE requirement will apply even if an IP’s registration is suspended…

Indian benchmark indices ended their sixth consecutive week in the red, marking the longest losing streak since the April 2020 Covid-19 crash. Persistent concerns over US tariff hikes, weak corporate earnings, and foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows have weighed heavily on sentiment, pushing the Nifty 50 and Sensex to three-month lows. On Friday, the Nifty 50 fell 0.95% to close at 24,363.30, while the Sensex slipped 0.95% to 79,857.79. For the week, they declined 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively. Since the end of June, both benchmarks have lost nearly 5%. Market Overview The downturn was triggered by growing fears over the…

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) continues to revolutionize digital payments in India by offering instant, seamless, and mostly free transactions to users. However, recent developments in 2025 have introduced nuances regarding transaction costs, primarily affecting merchants and payment intermediaries while keeping most personal transactions free of charge. Key Points on UPI Transaction Costs in 2025: Personal UPI Transactions Remain Free: All peer-to-peer (P2P) and peer-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions conducted directly between bank accounts are completely free for users, regardless of transaction amount. Users making payments to friends, family, or merchants via bank-linked UPI face no extra charges, even for high-value transactions…

A fresh wave of Russian shelling and drone strikes killed five people in Ukraine on Sunday, while Kyiv targeted an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region. Hostilities showed no sign of easing, even as the United States and Russia agreed to hold a summit later this week—without Ukraine’s participation. Ukraine’s national police reported that three people were killed and one injured in the Zaporizhzhia region due to Russian shelling, while two more civilians died in the embattled Donetsk region. In Odesa, three beachgoers lost their lives after triggering a mine in a prohibited swimming zone, an area fortified against potential…

The Election Commission (EC) has announced that the draft electoral roll for Bihar will remain open until September 1 for claims and objections. During this period, political parties and individuals can seek the inclusion of eligible citizens who may have been left out, as well as the removal of names they believe are ineligible. Between August 1 and 3 pm on August 10 (Sunday), no Booth-Level Agent (BLA) appointed by political parties approached election authorities for the claims and objections process. According to the EC, 1.61 lakh BLAs have been deployed by various parties ahead of the Special Intensive Revision…

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged the government to implement comprehensive land reforms to position India as a global manufacturing hub. Key proposals include the formation of a GST-like Land Reform Council for coordinated, consensus-based policy decisions, and the introduction of uniform stamp duty rates between 3% and 5% across all states. Highlighting the need for investor confidence and rural development, CII recommended Integrated Land Authorities in each state to serve as one-stop agencies for allotments, conversions, dispute resolution, and zoning. The industry body also called for full digitisation of land conversion processes, including QR code-enabled verification, to…