Events in Indian corporate governance that occurred starting January 2009 have spurred academic research on the role and effect of independent directors on corporate boards. While some findings indicate an important role for such directors on Indian companies, others are not so optimistic and call for greater reform of that institution. The purpose of this post is to point to some of the...
FDI in Multi-brand Retailing
The Government has reopened the debate on allowing foreign investment in the multi-brand retail sector. A discussion paper issued yesterday reviews existing studies conducted by the Government and other entities on this topic and also examines the experience in other emerging markets. The rationale for FDI in the retail sector is set out as follows: 6.1 The Agriculture sector needs well...
Risk Management Systems
1. In this column in the Mint, I attempt to stress the importance of systems for managing risk in the modern corporation.
2. In this post, Professor Jayanth Varma discusses whether systems and controls may have prevented the peculiar case of “a drunken broker (Steven Perkins) who bought $520 million of crude oil futures sitting at home at night with his laptop”!
Extra-Territoriality of U.S. Securities Laws
Given the robust nature of the class action mechanism in the U.S., it is hardly surprising that plaintiffs rush to initiate legal actions before the U.S. courts even in relation to foreign companies that have issued securities listed on non-U.S. stock exchanges. U.S. courts have been left to combat with what are known as “foreign-cubed” or “f-cubed” class action law suits, defined broadly as law...
The Social Cost of Corporations
Recent events, both in India and elsewhere, have thrown the spotlight on the roles and responsibilities of companies in society. In an interesting article “The Conscience of Capitalism” in Forbes India, Arun Maira discusses (in a non-technical fashion) the difficulties in pinning responsibility for wrongdoing by a company. Pertinently, he notes that while the “limited liability corporation is an...
Webinar on ‘Revision of the ICC Arbitration Rules’
(The following post comes to us from Rohan Bagai, who has previously contributed posts on this Blog here and here) The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Court of Arbitration Secretary General, Mr. Jason Fry and Ms. Francesca Mazza, Counsel and Secretary to the ICC Commission on Arbitration are set to impart their knowledge and share their experience in a one-hour, interactive webinar (web...
Bhopal Gas Disaster Case
The Law and Other Things Blog links to Frontline’s extensive coverage of the judgment rendered last week by the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Bhopal. It also provides a detailed account of the twists and turns encountered by various parties to the litigation for the last 25 years.
Bits of Interest
1. Mutual Funds and Unit Premium The Law-In-Perspective Blog uses the analogy of Ponzi schemes to explain a March 2010 circular of SEBI that prohibits mutual funds from using the unit premium reserve to pay dividends. If one would prefer to avoid the negative connotation associated with a Ponzi scheme, the post also looks at another parallel, being the restrictions under the Companies Act, 1956...
Trends in Private Equity Investment Structures
1. A report in the Mint demonstrates the popularity of convertible instruments over plain-vanilla equity when it comes to investments by private equity firms. 2. A post on New York Times’ Deal Professor Blog discusses trends in contractual structures for private equity investments from a broader perspective in the wake of the financial crisis. Most of those structures, however, are in the context...
More on the Pricing Guidelines for Foreign Investment
(The following post is contributed by Raghav Sharma, who is an associate with a law firm in Delhi) This post relates to Mr. Somasekhar Sundaresan’s article titled “RBI cuts sorry figure over norms for share transfers” wherein the author has highlighted certain ambiguities arising from the Reserve Bank of India’s (“RBI”) A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 49 dated May 4, 2010 (the “May Circular”)...
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