Key takeaways

• The Narendra Modi-led government in India presented its first full-year finance budget for 2015-16 on February 28, 2015 (the “Budget”). This Budget was one of the most keenly awaited in recent years, partly because private equity and other foreign investors were expecting a series of policy announcements and regulatory and other measures to support some of the pre-electoral promises made by the new government, and also because the previous five years saw some disappointing growth figures and a discouraging investment climate in India.
• The government has announced several measures that should ease the challenges of doing business in India – an area in which India has consistently lagged behind on the world stage.
• This update discusses some of the key provisions of the Budget of interest to private equity and other foreign investors including the staggered reduction in the corporate tax rate from 30% to 25% over the next four years, deferral of GAAR till April 1, 2017, the introduction of a new bankruptcy code, a proposed new law to tackle the issue of black money and the creation of separate courts to deal exclusively with commercial disputes.