(The following post is contributed by Sumit Rai, who is an associate with Economic Laws Practice, Mumbai since 2007 and has been on a long study leave pursuing his LLM, Masters in International Dispute Settlement at Geneva) In Arti Jethani v. Daeshan Trading (India) Pvt. Ltd. (decision dated 16.05.2011), the Delhi High Court held that a Section 8 application under the Arbitration &...
Electronic Communication and Meetings under the Companies Act
Over the last month or so, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India has announced a series of “Green initiatives” to convert various processes under the Companies Act from paper to electronic form. This comes more than a decade after the Information Technology Act, 2000 was enacted, and will be welcomed as Indian industry and practitioners have been seeking these changes for a...
Combination Regulations Under Indian Competition Law
(The following post is contributed by Rahul Singh) The Competition Commission of India (the “CCI“) has on 11 May, 2011 notified the Competition Commission of India (Procedure in regard to the transaction of business relating to combination) Regulations, 2011 (No 3 of 2011) (“Combination Regulations“) under the Competition Act, 2002 (the Competition Act). Background...
Government Nod to FDI in LLPs
(The following post is contributed by Rohan Bagai) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) recently approved foreign direct investment (FDI) in limited liability partnership (LLP) firms whilst setting out a few disclaimers in its press release dated May 11, 2011. This follows from a consultation process initiated last year pursuant to a discussion paper. As such, an LLP is a crossbreed...
The 2nd IJLT-CIS Lecture Series
(The following announcement is from the Indian Journal of Law and Technology) The Indian Journal of Law and Technology and the Centre for Internet and Society, present the 2nd IJLT- CIS Lecture Series, an event comprised of an intensive series of lectures by luminaries with expertise in law and technology to give students, professionals and anyone interested a comprehensive idea about the theme...
Mutual Fund Scheme: Change in Fundamental Attributes
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has ruled in a matter involving the HSBC Mutual Fund. In that case, HSBC had issued a scheme with two plans, viz. a long term plan and a short term plan. The relevant investors had invested in the short-term plan. However, HSBC wound up the long-term plan, and changed the term of the short-term plan by increasing the tenure. This resulted in a fall in the...
Globalisation: Myth and Reality
A new study asserts that the importance and virtues of globalization, including cross-border trade and foreign investment, may have been overplayed. The Economist has a column discussing Pankaj Ghemawat’s book World 3.0: Global Prosperity and How to Achieve It. It points to some astonishing data and conclusions that emerge from the book: Mr Ghemawat points out that many indicators of global...
Lifting the Corporate Veil for Tax Purposes
The judgment of the Bombay High Court rendered last year in the Vodafone Case favours the revenue when it comes to imposition of tax by the Indian authorities on sale of shares in an offshore company that has a substantial stake in an Indian company. While an appeal in the Vodafone Case is pending before the Supreme Court, the Karnataka High Court recently had the opportunity to pronounce a...
Attracting Sovereign Wealth Funds
Although there had been a great amount of discussion a couple of years ago regarding soverign wealth funds (SWFs), both in terms of their investments in the Indian markets and to to whether India should create one for itself, that seemed to have died down. This was largely because SWFs were expressly recognized in 2008 as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) under the SEBI FII Regulations, and...
Offering of Securities: Public or Private?
Today’s Economic Times carries a newsreport about a company that has 2.6 million shareholders, but nevertheless continues to be unlisted. If true, this oddity of circumstances calls into question section 67 of the Companies Act. That section provides any offer of shares or debentures made to 50 persons or more will be considered a public offering, which will require listing of the securities on a...
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