ArchiveJanuary 2009

SEBI notifies amendments for disclosure of pledged shares of Promoters

SEBI has notified here the amendments requiring disclosure of pledged shares of Promoters and persons forming part of the Promoter Group (referred collectively as “Promoters” here). This issue has been the hot topic on and off this Blog and hence much background is not required for this except a few brief following sentences. The Satyam episode brought to the forefront the concern...

Further Spill-Over Effects Of Satyam

An article in today’s Business Standard mentions the renewed interest the Income Tax Department is taking the compliance of Chartered Accountants with their due diligence obligations. In the case of transactions involving remission of money outside India, the Income Tax Act permits the production of a certificate from the CA stating that the transaction is not taxable in India, as a basis for...

The Role of the Debt Recovery Tribunal

In the recent past, several important questions have arisen with respect to the role of the Debt Recovery Tribunal [“DRT]. Some of these have been discussed on this blog. An interesting feature of the DRT is that only banks and financial institutions are entitled to invoke its jurisdiction, while borrowers are not. The question that arises in this context is whether borrowers are entitled to...

Foreign Investment in Partly-paid Shares

One of our regular readers, Rajvendra Sarswat, brings to our attention a recent news report indicating a proposal for allowing foreign investors to take up partly-paid shares in Indian companies. As Rajvendra rightly observes, “currently, if a foreign investor wishes to invest in India in installments, such as by paying half of the price for shares now, and the balance over a period of time, the...

SFIO: Its Role and Track Record

Although the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), set up under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, has been in existence for over 5 years now, its role has been accentuated owing to the recent turn of events at Satyam Computers. The SFIO has been charged with the task of investigating the fraud at Satyam within a period of three months. In his article in the latest issue of Frontline, V...

Concept of “Promoter”

In his column in the Business Standard, Somasekhar Sundaresan makes an interesting argument for abolishing the concept of “promoter” under various SEBI regulations and for encouraging board-driven governance in Indian companies.

SUPREME COURT ON THE ‘COMMERCIAL’ CLAUSE UNDER THE ARBITRATION ACT

In a recent judgment, in Comed Chemicals Ltd. v. C.N. Ramchand, the Supreme Court has provided an expansive scope to the phrase “commercial” in International Commercial Arbitration. The importance of this lies in the fact that, keeping in with the rise of international commercial arbitration as an effective, alternative means of dispute resolution, most jurisdictions around the world are...

Sentences in China’s Sanlu Milk Case

Speaking of corporate crimes, this news report in Caijing states that death sentences have been awarded by an Intermediate Court to three persons and life imprisonment for one in the contaminated milk case. This comes within mere 4 months of the scandal that unfolded in September last year. While criminal punishment will certainly serve as a deterrent, questions have been raised at the...

Paper on Corporate Governance

I have posted on SSRN a paper titled “A Cautionary Tale of the Transplant Effect on Indian Corporate Governance”, the abstract of which is as follows: “During the last decade, there has been a sustained effort on the part of the Indian regulators to strengthen corporate governance norms. This been strongly influenced by developments that occurred in other parts of the world, particularly the US...

Supreme Court rejects Vodafone’s appeal

According to a report in the Economic Times, the Supreme Court has refused to admit Vodafone’s SLP against the order of the Bombay High Court in the Vodafone tax matter. The Court has asked Vodafone to respond to the show cause notice issued by the Revenue. It now appears that the battle will reach the Supreme Court – if at all – only after a long time. The judgment of the Bombay High Court has...

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