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Aarushi Jain

Partner in the Technology-Media-Telecom (TMT) Practice at the Mumbai Office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Aarushi heads the Media, Education and Gaming Practice at the firm. Over the years, she has advised several clients including production houses, new media platforms, K-12 schools and Universities, EdTech and Gaming Platforms,  IT, and New Tech businesses,  Indian and domestic, with a variety of legal, commercial and regulatory issues. She has also been involved in advising clients on cross border structuring, joint ventures and M&A deals in media, education as well as gaming space. A tech enthusiast at heart, Aarushi loves to talk about convergence of tech and media, policy reforms, as well as new age issues including those of AI, NFTs and Metaverse. She can be reached at aarushi.j@cyrilshroff.com

The Classroom Is Not Exempt: DPDPA Compliance for Educational Institutions

Summary: The blog provides a summary of the Supreme Court’s recent judgment in Abhishek Baxi v. Union of India, where parents challenged the extensive and compulsory nature of collecting and retaining student information for the purpose of generation of Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (“APAAR”) ID. Among other findings, the Supreme Court emphasised that consent must be meaningful and informed. It also acknowledged the need for data protection at the time of collection and processing data, in light of the Digital Personal Data Protection (“DPDP”) laws, reinforcing the need for educational institutions to ensure compliance.

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Tightening the net around safety & security compliances for schools

Summary: The article explores how school safety and security compliance in India is moving from a general framework to increasingly detailed and strictly enforced regulations across different states. It also examines the implications of these changes for schools in the future. We further cover practical tips for schools, emphasising how to integrate compliance into a continuous, institution-wide process through consistent awareness, well-documented SOPs, and regular audits.

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Empowering, not shielding our kids online

Summary: Countries globally are actively developing strategies to deal with the challenges presented by social media, especially in the context of children. Australia, and more recently the UK, are banning social media for children below a certain age. India is also toying with the idea of a ban v/s a limited ban or restriction to make the online space safer for youngsters. This article focusses on the viability of a ban and offers recommendations for future action.

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New Game, New Rules: India’s New Online Gaming Framework

Summary: India’s online gaming sector is entering a new phase with the promotion and regulation of online gaming act, 2025, which becomes effective from may 1, 2026. The law centralises regulation (versus the earlier state specific laws) and introduces clear categories for different types of online games. While real money games are banned with criminal penalties, the act creates defined pathways for e sports and online social games. This shift gives industry participants, including financial service providers, endorsers, and advertisers, a chance to reassess their business models, enhance compliance, and leverage new opportunities in a more predictable, structured regulatory environment.

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Summary: The Indian sports endorsement sector has evolved from informal handshake deals to sophisticated, legally enforced contracts, driven by exponential growth in sports fandom, digital rights, and player recognition. Modern endorsement agreements require careful negotiation of product categorisation, exclusivity terms, social media deliverables, and provisions governing players’ personal choices to create resilient, commercially meaningful partnerships.

Continue Reading Winning Off the Field: The Changing Face of Sports Endorsement Deals in India

Summary: India’s new Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 promotes e-sports and online social gaming, while prohibiting skill-based online money gaming. Now, with the accompanying draft rules, a new regulatory framework is in play with its own set of benefits and challenges. This [blog post] provides an overview of the new rules of the game, followed by insights on the new act and draft rules.

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The year 2024 has seen significant advancements in advertising laws in India, with the introduction of various new guidelines aimed at regulating mis-advertising. This is understandable, considering that the Indian advertising market is projected to become a $19.2 billion industry by 2028.[1]

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CCPA schools coaching centres on misleading advertisements

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (“CCPA”) has issued Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024 (“Guidelines”)[1] on November 13, 2024. The Guidelines are introduced to address the issue of misleading advertisements, including deliberate concealment of important information and false guarantees, i.e., practices plaguing the coaching industry.

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Greenwashing - Drawing A Line Between Green Marketing or Green Misrepresentations

Greenwashing, inspired by the term “whitewashing,” is the practice of engaging in “unsubstantiated, false, deceptive, misleading environmental claims about products, services, processes, brands or operations as a whole, or claims that omit or hide information, to give the impression that they are less harmful or more beneficial to the environment than they actually are.”[1]

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