[The following post is contributed by Aditi Jhunjhunwala, Senior Associate at Vinod Kothari & Co. She can be contacted at [email protected]] The moment one possesses a share of a company, along with it also comes a bundle of rights such as the right to vote, receive dividend, transfer, bonus, rights issue, to share in the surplus, if any, on liquidation, to elect directors etc...
Doing Business Rankings 2014: Status Quo for India
The Doing Business Rankings 2014 have just been published by the World Bank and IFC. Nothing much has changed in the case of India. It has dropped three places from 131 to 134 out of a total of 189 countries. While the entire report is available here, India’s country report is available here. India’s rankings on various specific parameters are as follows: – Starting a business: 179 –...
Alternative Business Forms
The current issue of the Economist has two interesting pieces (here and here) detailing forms of business that are acquiring prominence in the US markets and posing a challenge to the dominance of corporations (or companies) as the main form of business vehicle. Referring to this phenomenon as “distorporation”, it primarily alludes to the master limited partnership (MLP). The details are...
The Resurgence of REITs
More than 5 years ago (in December 2007), SEBI had issued a consultation paper and draft regulations with a view to paving the way for the introduction of real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the Indian markets (which we had the opportunity to discuss here). However, the plan seemed to have gathered moss for a number of years. Earlier this month, it was revived when SEBI issued another...
Delhi High Court on Constitutionality of Court Fee Amendment
[The following post is contributed by Gunjan Chhabra, who is an associate with Singhania & Partners, LLP and a graduate of Amity Law School, GGSIPU] Background and Facts Recently, the Court Fees Act of 1870 (the 1870 Act) was amended by the Government of NCT of Delhi by the Court Fees (Delhi Amendment) Act, 2012 (the Amendment Act), which came into effect from 1 August 2013. By way of this...
Institutional Trading Platform for SMEs
Background Earlier this week, SEBI issued the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing of Specified Securities on Institutional Trading Platform) Regulations, 2013 (the Regulations), which enables small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to list on the stock exchanges without going through an initial public offering (IPO). This represents another step in creating special avenues for SMEs to...
Analysis of SEBI Notification on Pre-emption Rights and Options – Part 2
[This is a continuation of a previous post on the topic. It has been contributed by Ms. Sikha Bansal of Vinod Kothari & Company, who can be reached at [email protected]] 4. Legality of option contracts Option contracts conferring exit opportunities to investors are, in commercial practice, important in view of the growth of funding...
Analysis of SEBI Notification on Pre-emption Rights and Options – Part 1
[Last week, we had discussed SEBI’s recent notification granting conditional validity to pre-emption rights and options in securities of Indian companies. In the following two-part post, Ms. Sikha Bansal of Vinod Kothari & Company provides a detailed background to SEBI’s recent reforms and analyses their impact. She can be reached at [email protected]] In our elaborative article...
Unlisted Companies: Raising Capital Abroad
In the late 1990s, it was possible for Indian unlisted companies to raise capital overseas and list on overseas stock exchanges without having a primary listing in India. Companies such as Rediff and Sify had taken advantage of this mechanism and listed on the US stock exchanges. However, a few years ago, this route was effectively blocked when the Government of India stipulated that a primary...
SEBI introduces ‘Angel Funds’
[The following post is contributed by CS Vinita Nair – [email protected] & Pooja Rawal – [email protected] from Vinod Kothari & Company, Practising Company Secretaries] “Angel investors bring both experience and capital to new ventures. SEBI will prescribe requirements for angel investor pools by which they can be recognised as Category I AIF venture capital funds”...
Recent Comments