Since the liberalization of India’s economy in 1991, a substantial amount of foreign investment into India has come in through Mauritius. This is essentially due to the favourable provisions of the “Agreement for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with Mauritius” (the “Mauritius Treaty”) that the Indian Government had entered into way back in 1983. Under article 13(4)...
Foreign Seated Arbitrations: Section 9 Reliefs Post Amendment, 2015
[The following post is contributed by Gunjan Chhabra who a practising advocate currently with Singhania and Partners. She can be reached at [email protected]] The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2016 has brought about various new shifts and changes from the previous law. Amongst the various changes made is a very interesting modification which makes certain provisions...
Second Leg of SARFAESI: All Transactions to be Registered with CERSAI
[The following guest post is contributed by Niddhi Parmar of Vinod Kothari & Company. The author can be contacted at [email protected]] Introduction The Central Government introduced the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (Central Registry) Amendment Rules, 2016 (hereinafter referred as ‘Amendment Rules, 2016’) on January 22, 2016...
Messer Holdings: Supreme Court Refuses to Decide on the Enforceability of Share Transfer Restrictions
As we have previously discussed on several occasions (here and here), the question of enforceability of share transfer restrictions in Indian companies has been a vexed one. Although the Bombay High Court has sought to bring about some resolution of the issues in its leading judgments of Messer Holdings v. Shyam Madanmohan Ruia and Bajaj Auto Ltd. v. Western Maharashtra Development Corporation...
Some Ambiguities in the Rules on Downstream Investments
[The following guest post is contributed by Ajay G. Prasad, who is a Senior Associate with Kochhar & Co, Bangalore. Views expressed in this post are personal and do not reflect the views of the firm.] Exchange control rules on downstream investment form an important aspect to consider in M&A transactions. As per the foreign direct investment policy (“FDI Policy”) of the Department of...
Due Diligence in Corporate Transactions and Insider Trading Laws
In corporate transactions involving shares of listed companies, the ability to conduct a detailed due diligence is constrained by laws that regulate insider trading. In a paper titled “Due Diligence in Share Acquisitions: Navigating the Insider Trading Regime”, I seek to examine this issue in detail. The abstract of the paper is as follows: The goal of this paper is to unpack the underlying...
SEBI’s Inconsistent Orders on Similar Securities Law Violations
[The following guest post is contributed by Supreme Waskar, who is a corporate lawyer] By way of its order dated April 20, 2016 in the matter of M/s. Krishna Enterprises & M/s. Rajesh Services Centre (“Appellants”), the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) observed that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is inconsistent in levying penalties for similar violations. The...
A Move Towards “Pool in India”; However, Room for More Reforms Exists!
[The following post is contributed by Yashesh Ashar, who is a tax and regulatory consultant. Views expressed are personal.] The Finance Bill, 2016 has given in to the much sought-after demand of the domestic private equity (PE) industry by amending the provisions relating to the tax withholding obligations for the category I and category II alternative investment funds (‘AIFs’) registered with...
Gender Diversity and Government Companies
It has been more than a year since a provision in the Companies Act, 2013 came into effect that requires all listed companies to have at least one woman director. As we had previously discussed, companies scrambled to comply with the requirement as of April 1, 2015, the effective date. However, a recent news report in the Business Standard indicates that 57 companies listed on the NSE are yet to...
Stamp Duty on Inter-State Amalgamations
[This post is slightly longer than our usual posts. I would like to thank a reader for drawing attention to a judgment that is the subject matter of this post] Stamp duty on schemes of amalgamation undertaken through sections 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, 1956 have tended to experience a great deal of controversy, as we have previous discussed on this Blog (here, here and here). A recent...
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