Treelife Resources

Every SHA negotiation eventually settles on ROFR or ROFO. The clause gets signed, the round closes, and everyone moves on. Then, two or three years later, a founder wants to do a secondary sale, a co-founder wants to exit, or an ESOP holder wants liquidity. That is when the clause…

A liaison office (LO) approved by the Reserve Bank of India carries no revenues, no taxable income, and no commercial contracts. What the approval letter does not make obvious is that the post-approval compliance architecture spans five regulators, at least nine mandatory annual filings, and three separate deadline windows that…

When an Indian subsidiary earns profits, moving them out of India is not simply a banking instruction. Every rupee crossing the border triggers obligations under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999, the Income Tax Act 1961, the Companies Act 2013, and in most cases a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement…

Every founder eventually sits across the table from an investor who says some version of “let us do a quick note now and price it properly next time.” That single sentence hides a real decision with lasting consequences for ownership, control and how the next investor reads your cap table….

Round tripping under FEMA is not illegal. That statement, repeated across every legal commentary on the subject, is accurate but incomplete. What it omits is that a round-trip structure that passes the FEMA two-layer test and the beneficial ownership screen under Press Note 2 of 2026 can still attract income…

Every SHA negotiation eventually settles on ROFR or ROFO. The clause gets signed, the round closes, and everyone moves on. Then, two or three years later, a founder wants to do a secondary sale, a co-founder wants to exit, or an ESOP holder wants liquidity. That is when the clause…

When an Indian subsidiary earns profits, moving them out of India is not simply a banking instruction. Every rupee crossing the border triggers obligations under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999, the Income Tax Act 1961, the Companies Act 2013, and in most cases a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement…

Round tripping under FEMA is not illegal. That statement, repeated across every legal commentary on the subject, is accurate but incomplete. What it omits is that a round-trip structure that passes the FEMA two-layer test and the beneficial ownership screen under Press Note 2 of 2026 can still attract income…

When a resident Indian shareholder sells shares to a foreign investor, or a non-resident investor exits to a resident buyer, the transaction triggers two separate compliance chains simultaneously: one under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999 and one under the Income Tax Act 1961. Form FC-TRS is the mandatory…

Sending an employee from a foreign parent to its Indian subsidiary for six months sounds like a routine HR decision. In India, it simultaneously touches four tax regimes: corporate income tax via permanent establishment risk, individual income tax and TDS under Section 192, goods and services tax via reverse charge…

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…