Blog Posts
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Shareholder Activism and Class Action Lawsuits
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] Recent developments in the Indian corporate sphere – Satyam being the prime example – have raised several calls for instilling the culture of shareholder activism in India. One key form of such activism that keeps companies under check is the availability of class action lawsuits for securities law violations by companies,…
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Service Tax on Renting Immovable Property
[Posted by Shantanu Naravane] A recent decision of the Delhi High Court in Home Solution Retails v. Union of India has caused some interesting issues concerning service tax to resurface. Admittedly, the law laid down by the Court is not new. However, the factual backdrop of the decision, and the debate it has given rise…
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Focus: India 2009
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] (About a week ago, the National Law School at Bangalore hosted Focus: India 2009, which was designed to discuss and facilitate greater dialogue on pertinent economic and legal issues. In the following post, Sandeep Uberoi, Convenor of Focus: India, 2009 reports on the highlights of the event) Focus India Conference was…
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Pyramid Saimira and the Powers of the SEBI
[Posted by Mihir Naniwadekar] A few weeks ago, the SEBI passed an order (WTM/KMA/60/04/2009) in the Pyramid Saimira case, which raises questions pertaining to insider trading. The order resulted from SEBI’s investigation into the affairs of Pyramid Saimira, highlighted in this post. The particular sequence of events is discussed in several reports, linked here and…
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Electoral Verdict to Spur Reforms
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] With the return of the Congress government to power and with Dr. Manmohan Singh set to continue as Prime Minister, corporate India is likely to witness a series of reforms in the near future. Unlike the previous stint where the Government was hamstrung by coalition politics (but nevertheless achieving a record…
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A Call for Greater Shareholder Rights under U.S. Law
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] The proposed Shareholder Bill of Rights Act of 2009 in the U.S. that comes in the wake of the financial crisis gives rise to an important debate regarding the rights of shareholders in companies. The rationale for the Bill is the perceived failure of corporate governance that led to the crisis.…
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More Uncertainty in the Law on Penalties
[Posted by V. Niranjan] Earlier posts have noted and examined a few recent decisions of the Supreme Court and the ITAT on the law governing the imposition of penalties under the Income Tax Act, 1961. In what is perhaps the best restatement of the position of law today, the Pune Bench of the ITAT appears…
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Mobile number portability on the horizon
[Posted by Satyajit Gupta] Mobile number portability (MNP) enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile numbers when changing from one mobile network to another. Often, the only reason that keeps customers from changing operators is the lack of number portability. The inconvenience of having to change phone numbers on business cards and other documents,…
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Corporate Governance and Protection of Minority Shareholders
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] Corporate law and corporate governance norms are devised to address certain agency problems (as they are known in economic terms). In countries where there is diffused shareholding (such as the U.S. and the U.K.), the agency problem that is prevalent is one between managers (the agent) and shareholders (the principal). Diffused…
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Obama’s ‘Taxing’ Proposals
[Posted by Shantanu Naravane] On Monday (4th May, 2009), the United States President, Barrack Obama announced the proposed implementation of another one of his election promises, targeted towards improving the domestic economic climate, and freeing up financial resources for investment in areas of pressing importance. The proposal is to withdraw the scheme of deferred tax…