As the regulator of India’s capital markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) performs the role of a mini-state in that it exercises the powers of the legislature, executive, and judiciary, all vested in a single authority. Over the last three decades of its existence, SEBI has enacted regulations on nearly every single aspect of India’s capital markets. Its regulation-making...
Inherent Powers of the NCLT to Recall an Insolvency Resolution Plan
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) lays emphasis on an elaborate process by which a corporate insolvency resolution plan (CIRP) can be proposed, considered, decided, and approved. The principal actors involved in the process include the resolution professional, the committee of creditors (CoC) and the adjudicating authority (being the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and, on...
Unstamped Arbitration Agreements: Will the Wheels Stop Spinning?
On 13 December 2023, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court rendered its verdict in In Re: The Interplay between arbitration agreements under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, and the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (“In Re: The Interplay”) on the validity and enforceability of unstamped arbitration agreements. This issue had become a matter of some consternation for the arbitration community...
SC Ruling on “Group of Companies” Doctrine: Viewed Through a Corporate Law Lens
On 6 December 2023, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court in Cox & Kings Ltd. v. SAP India Pvt. Ltd. recognized the “group of companies” doctrine as being part of Indian arbitration law. By virtue of this doctrine, “an arbitration agreement which is entered into by a company within a group of companies may bind non-signatory affiliates, if the circumstances are such as to demonstrate the...
SAT Ruling in the Zee Entertainment Case
In a ruling late last month, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) reversed an order of the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) dated August 14, 2023 in the case involving Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL). The SEBI order had barred Mr. Punit Goenka from holding the position of director or key managerial personnel in ZEEL or other related companies. The...
Announcement Regarding Spam Content
Dear readers,
Yesterday there appears to have been a breach of our website as a post with some spam content was published on the Blog without our knowledge. Email subscribers may have received it in their inboxes as well. We have since deleted the blog post as well as associated social media plugs.
We apologise for the inconvenience.
A Bank’s Post-Merger Liability for Pre-Merger Crimes
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court in Religare Finvest Limited v. State of NCT of Delhi (2023INSC819) considered the question whether the transferee bank in a merger can be fastened with corporate criminal liability for offences committed by the officials of the transferor bank prior to a merger of the two entities. The Court answered in the negative given the specific facts and circumstances...
NCLT Order in Zee-Sony Merger Reiterates High Onus on Objectors
The proposed merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited with Sony’s India operations (through its entity Culver Max Entertainment Private Limited) has attracted considerable attention. This is essentially due to some governance and financial circumstances surrounding the Zee group. Zee Entertainment was the subject matter of shareholder activism spearheaded by an institutional investor...
Empirical Analysis of Legal Fees Data for Indian Companies
[Srinivasan Sankaraguruswamy is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the NUS Business School, National University of Singapore and Umakanth Varottil is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore] A significant challenge confronts legal departments of companies. On the one hand, the demand for legal services from external counsel continues to skyrocket given...
ClientEarth-Shell: English Court Rejects Climate-Focused Shareholder Derivative Suit
[This post was first published in the Oxford Business Law Blog] In a closely watched litigation in the climate change space, ClientEarth, a non-profit environmental law organisation based in the United Kingdom, instituted a shareholder derivative suit against the directors of Shell plc. The claim is based on the allegation that the directors breached their duties under the Companies Act 2006 by...
Recent Comments