Treelife Resources

The winding-up of an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) is not a single event. It is a staged regulatory process, governed by Regulation 29 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012, that plays out over months or years after a scheme reaches the end…

When an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) exits an investment, the proceeds do not flow to investors and fund managers in any order they choose. A contractual sequence in the Private Placement Memorandum (PPM) and the Limited Partnership Agreement (LPA) governs exactly who gets paid first, how much, and under what…

Anti-dilution clauses read the same in almost every Indian term sheet: a promise that if the company raises a future round at a lower price, the existing investor’s conversion price adjusts. What differs, and what decides how much of the company founders keep after a down round, is which of…

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade formally defined Deep Tech Startup as a distinct legal category for the first time on 4 February 2026, through Gazette Notification G.S.R. 108(E). For founders working on semiconductors, quantum systems, novel biotech, or advanced materials, two separate questions follow from that…

Most Indian B2B contracts signed before 2024 were not written with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 in mind. They have a confidentiality clause, sometimes a data security schedule borrowed from a GDPR template, and almost never a clause that survives a Section 8(2) reading. With the DPDP Rules,…

Most Indian employment agreements assign to the employer everything an employee creates, develops, or invents during employment. That clause was drafted for a world where an employee wrote the code, designed the deck, or drew the artwork directly. It was not drafted for a world where an employee types a…

Every founder who has embedded a third-party AI model into their product has read an indemnity clause that sounds reassuring. The vendor promises to indemnify against claims that its technology infringes a third party’s intellectual property. What that clause does not say, and what most founders do not notice until…

The average Indian B2B tech contract today has exactly one sentence addressing artificial intelligence: “outputs generated by AI tools are provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon without independent verification.” Lawyers paste it in. Founders sign it. Both parties move on. That single sentence does not…

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) overhauled the regulatory framework for angel funds with the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2025, notified on 08 September 2025, followed by Circular No. SEBI/HO/AFD/AFD-POD-1/P/CIR/2025/128 dated 10 September 2025. The changes are more structural than cosmetic: angel funds are no…

SEBI issued its updated Master Circular for Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) on 03 June 2026, consolidating every circular, clarification, and regulatory change issued under the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012 up to 31 May 2026. The document runs 153 pages across 25 chapters and supersedes the previous Master Circular…

The Reserve Bank of India held its benchmark repo rate steady at 5.25% at the June 2026 Monetary Policy Committee meeting, unanimously, under Governor Sanjay Malhotra. This is the third meeting in a row that the rate has stayed put, following a run of 150 basis point cuts between February…

India’s Cabinet approved an amendment to Press Note 3 (PN3) of 2020 in March 2026, and it is generating significant attention across the investment and startup community. Headlines have rushed to label it a sweeping FDI liberalisation. The reality is considerably more targeted. This report breaks down exactly what changed,…

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) recently announced a major overhaul to the regulatory framework for Angel Funds under the Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) Regulations, 2012. This new framework, introduced in 2025, aims to enhance transparency, improve operational clarity, and encourage investor participation. In this article, we’ll explore…

In a significant move to invigorate India’s startup ecosystem, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), during its board meeting on June 19, 2025, approved substantial changes to the Angel Fund Framework. These revisions are designed to unlock more capital for early-stage companies while simultaneously ensuring enhanced investor suitability…