Treelife Resources

A CFO resignation sets two clocks running at once. The first is operational: bank mandates, payroll sign-offs, audit queries and investor reporting all carry the CFO’s name. The second is statutory: a vacancy in a mandatory CFO office has an appointment deadline under the Companies Act, 2013 and, for listed…

Finance function setup after seed funding is a sequencing problem, not a hiring problem. The cash arrives together with obligations: information rights in the shareholders’ agreement (SHA), filings under the Companies Act 2013 and, for foreign investors, the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999, and a payroll that grows with…

A startup’s first finance hire is almost always an accountant, and that is the right call. Books, GST and TDS have to be filed on time before anything else matters. The harder decision arrives later, usually around a funding round, when the same founder needs forecasts, board numbers and diligence-ready…

A US parent India subsidiary structure puts a US corporation, usually a Delaware C corporation, above an Indian private limited company that builds, sells or services in India. US investors and enterprise customers ask for it because a US company is easier to fund, contract with and acquire. The structure…

A Delaware flip places a new US parent above your Indian company, so US investors, US customers and US equity rules apply at the top of the structure while the team, product and revenue stay in India. In practice it is three transactions at once: a Delaware incorporation, a restructuring…

An ESOP vesting schedule for startups is the timetable on which granted options become exercisable; the cliff is the opening period in which none vest. Indian law fixes one number, the 12 months between grant and first vesting, and leaves cadence, length and conditions to the scheme. That freedom is…

A grant letter and employee agreement do different jobs in an ESOP. The grant letter records the options one employee receives under an approved scheme. The employee agreement governs the employment and should point to the scheme instead of restating it. Unlisted Indian companies get into trouble when an offer…

Every priced funding round, acquisition and joint venture in India now closes on the back of a legal due diligence report. The report decides more than whether a deal happens. It decides the conditions precedent, the indemnity cap, how much sits in escrow and sometimes the price itself. Legal due…

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…