Blog Posts
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Special Purpose Acquisition Companies: On the Rise
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) that are also known as “blank check companies” are gradually acquiring prominence in the Indian markets. It is worth briefly examining these entities and their advantages as well as the risks surrounding them. SPACs are essentially shell entities with no business operations, and which raise funds from the public through…
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Impact of Global Crisis on the Indian Economy
It could have been worse. That is the message emanating from leading commentators on the Indian economy. This is attributable to the Reserve Bank of India’s conservative policies that have largely staved off a deeper crisis within the country. Today’s Business Standard carries a column by its editor T.N. Ninan, where he argues: “For years,…
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Indian Corporate Law: Now on Television
No! It is not this blog that is on television – but the subject-matter of the blog. CNBC-TV18 has launched a series titled “THE FIRM – Corporate Law in India”. The series is expected to deal with issues such as hostile takeovers and defences, corporate governance and other issues pertaining to Indian corporate law. It…
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Derivatives – a constructive critique
In what i thought could come in as an observation to an earlier post by Kartik – see https://indiacorplaw.in/2008/03/trading-in-futures-financia.html below – turned out slightly differently. so here goes: In considering law governing derivatives in India, couple or more items are noteworthy: Firstly, a very significant development in the Indian legal regime governing derivatives was the…
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The National Investment Fund
Day before yesterday, SEBI has amended the DIP Guidelines to include the National Investment Fund in the definition of ‘Qualified Institutional Buyers’ (QIBs).The National Investment Fund was set up from the proceeds of disinvestment of public sector undertakings. It is intended to be used primarily for funding health and education projects. See this article in…
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Enforcement of Corporate Governance Norms
A new paper “Corporate Governance, Enforcement, and Firm Value: Evidence from India” authored by Dhammika Dharmapala & Vikramaditya Khanna has been posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: “This paper analyzes the effects of corporate governance reforms and enforcement on stock market development and firm value, using a sequence of corporate governance reforms in India.…
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Pitfalls in Emerging Market Investments
A recent unsuccessful bid by Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Temasek to take a 24% stake in China Eastern Airlines is symptomatic of several pitfalls that exist in large investments in emerging markets. Knowledge@Wharton carries an interesting analysis of that case, a synopsis of which is as follows: “It was a perfect deal and it had…
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Trading in Futures – Financial Instruments of Mass Destruction?
The exposure of Indian corporates and banks to derivatives has been receiving a lot of attention lately. For example, see LiveMint (here and here), Financial Express and Economic Times. But, what are some of the key legal considerations that arise in the case of derivative transactions? To examine those, we have a guest contribution. Image:…
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Changes in FDI Policy
There were some significant changes to the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy earlier this week. The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion issued as many as six press notes on March 12, 2008 (available here). The changes are in the following sectors: 1. Credit Information Companies;2. Commodity Exchanges;3. Industrial Parks;4. Civil Aviation Sector;5. Petroleum &…
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India Business: A Few Updates
1. Indian Acquisitions in the United StatesOne of our regular readers, Mohit Gogia, who is a lawyer currently based in New York, brings to our attention a report titled “US-Bound Acquisitions by Indian Companies” that has been prepared by Virtus Global Partners. This report contains a snapshot of Indian acquisitions of US companies, both quantitatively…
