India's latest regulatory changes: What you need to know in 2024

There has been a lot happening in 2024 - never mind that the country's the biggest democracy in the world and it held some of the most formidable elections to date. 65% of the country's eligible population voted, amounting to hundreds of millions of people. The logistics behind this feat are similarly impressive, and there is a good reason why India has succeeded.

A country like India, you may think, is easily weighed down by regulatory pressure, and this is certainly true. Yet, for all the ossification of its institution and piles of red tape, India has emerged from the past elections incredibly lithe. There have been a number of regulatory changes passed along to make living and doing business in India all the easier.

Just like you would need to know roulette basics before you play this intriguing game, so you would benefit from developing a better understanding of India's regulatory changes in 2024. Let's get started.

Streamlining Insurance

If there is one thing that you should know about insurance in a game of roulette, it is that you don't need it. Just ask Roulette77, a specialist website that focuses on understanding the game in its depth. But what about the real world? Well, as it turns out, insurance is quite important. You can insure anything:

• Your property
• Your health
• Your life
• Your car

As a result, you usually want to have better access to insurance service providers and know that things are quite simplified. Well, this has happened in India in 2024. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has passed a set of measures designed to streamline the current regulatory landscape and make it far more approachable to investors and interest parties.

The previously existing 34 regulations governing the sectors have been skillfully reduced to a mere 6, which means that businesses are going to benefit as well. Not only that, but India has similarly launched the Bima Sugam, a digital marketplace where people can go and purchase their insurance first-hand.

This has been a huge boon for the market in general but also for consumers who are keen to purchase insurance and use it on a variety of important matters.

Dropping the Angel Tax

India wants to join the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, in the next decade or two - this feat is massive, and the undertaking it suggests is doubly so. Yet, the country is adamant that it can do it, and to achieve this, it would need to galvanize its own tech industry.

Part of this effort is already afoot, with the country deciding to abolish the angel tax that otherwise makes it harder for foreign entrepreneurs to invest in the country or, at the very least, set up the initial plans they have in motion so that they can be competitive. Well, they don't have to worry about this anymore, even as the tax has been abolished, paving the way for innovation like never before.

Overall, the Angel Tax was an attempt by the government to boost the tax revenue that goes to the country's war chest, but it has quickly transpired that the best way to prop up governmental finances would be to let innovation run its course unencumbered by the hefty tax.

Data Protection and Privacy

Another huge regulatory change in India has to do with data and privacy. Data and privacy have become a huge and important part of the governance of India, with lawmakers acutely aware of the weight of the issue and pushing to make it so that the country is indeed protected.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 was finally enforced in 2024, making it so that Indian consumers no longer have to fret about their personal data being misused and, in those cases that it is - that those responsible will face consequences that may far exceed the value they got out of misusing consumer information in the first place.

Corporate Governance and Confidentiality Ratings

One of the hands-down biggest regulatory changes anyone should know about in India in 2024 is the adoption of the so-called confidentiality ratings. Put simply, confidentiality ratings are designed in such a way as to protect the privacy of companies, but only when there is an investigation that needs to carefully assess a company.

Under special circumstances, the government and investigators can choose to release findings to the public for fear that it may divulge information to competitors. Of course, some critics have said that companies that chummy up to the government would get a free pass in theory, and they have a point.

However, the overall idea is to make companies much more likely to collaborate with government regulators when they know that, in the worst-case scenario - they will have to pay a fine and pass stricter internal controls.