The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has had a pivotal status in the debates surrounding corporate law and governance at the turn of the century. Although CSR was ensconced in the idea of voluntarism by which companies and their boards are invited to pay attention to the interests of various constituencies affected by a company’s activities, in some jurisdictions such as India it...
Government AI Procurement in India: Can WEF Guidelines Solve the Latency?
[Jishnu M Nair is a Senior Attorney at IBM] With a score of 63.67, India is at the 32nd position in the Government AI readiness Index 2022, issued by Oxford Insights. The index symbolizes that India is more policy-ready than Brazil and Greece, and less policy-ready than China and Malaysia. Although 32 might not be a desirable rank, for a developing nation to be in the first 25% of the countries...
Schrems II: Data Flow to Trusted Jurisdictions and Implications for India
[Intisar Aslam is a 2nd Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National University of Study and Research in Law in Ranchi] The much-awaited Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 (“DPDP”), released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“Meity”), has received mixed reactions from the legal fraternity. Previously, the Data Protection Bill, 2022 (“DPB”) was withdrawn owing...
SEBI’s Proposed Disclosure Regime: Impact on Public M&A and Directors’ Liabilities
[Shivam Yadav, Amudavalli Kannan, and Shreyas Bhushan are with Resolut Partners] Institutional investors, listed companies, and retail shareholders – three key market participants – will be watching SEBI with eagle-eyes while it attempts to implement a new disclosure regime, as set out in its recent consultation paper (Consultation Paper). Most of SEBI’s proposals are well-intentioned and...
Relaxation for Flip Structures under the New Overseas Investment Regime
[Shubh Gautam is a fourth year B.A.LL.B (Hons) student at Chanakya National Law University, Patna] Indian startups and new age companies are jumping on the bandwagon of ‘flipping’ their business. This trend has been addressed by the Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Rules, 2022 issued on August 22, 2022 (forming a part of the new overseas investment regime). The new overseas...
Asset Reconstruction Companies as Resolution Applicants: Revisiting the SARFAESI’s Limitations
[Arshit Kapoor and Srilagna Dash are 5th year B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) and 3rd year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) students, respectively at National Law University Odisha, Cuttack] Asset Reconstruction Companies (“ARCs”) are financial institutions which reconstruct and securitise bad assets of banks and financial institutions. They are regulated by the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and...
Call for Submissions: NLS Business Law Review Blog
[Announcement on behalf of the NLS Business Law Review] The Editorial Board of the NLS Business Law Review (NLSBLR) for 2022-23 is inviting original and unpublished submissions for its blog. About NLSBLR The NLSBLR is a student-run journal at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, India’s premier law school. Our goal is to recognise and foster cutting-edge academic...
Call for Submissions: NLUD Journal of Legal Studies
[Announcement on behalf of the NLUD Journal of Legal Studies] The Journal of Legal Studies (JLS) is National Law University Delhi’s annual student edited, peer-reviewed law journal. It seeks to provide a forum for engaging in discussions on varied issues of contemporary importance in domestic and international law and policy. The last volume of the Journal was launched by the Honourable Chief...
Supreme Court’s Note Ban Judgement: Does it Matter?
In a judgement delivered on 2 January 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the demonetization exercise undertaken by the Government of India in November 2016. The judgement was delivered by a five-judge constitution bench, with one judge dissenting on all the questions decided by the majority. The lapse of six years since the demonetization exercise led to questions regarding...
Landowners’ Plight Under the IBC
[Gaurav Mitra is an Independent Practitioner (LLM, University of Cambridge; BCL, University of Oxford), and Lavanya Pathak is an Associate at Chambers of Gaurav Mitra (LLM, University of Cambridge)] Courts have always strived to balance the interests of all parties involved in the proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”). Particularly in reference to builder-buyer...
Significance of Significant Contribution – Particularising ‘Investment’ Under India’s Model BIT
[Priyansh Dixit is a second-year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] Defining what constitutes investment is an important task for any investment treaty. By contributing to the establishment of the jurisdiction of a tribunal, the definition effectively determines the rights and obligations of each party by establishing the jurisdiction of a...
Strengthening SEBI’s Investor Grievance Redressal Mechanism: Recent Efforts
[Tarun Toprani is an associate and Sumit Agrawal a partner at Regstreet Law Advisors. The authors can be reached at [email protected]] The preamble of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (“SEBI Act”) begins by stating that it is “[a]n Act to provide for the establishment of a Board to protect the interests of investors in securities…”. In fact, Section 11 of the SEBI Act, which...
Labour Law and the Gig Economy: Towards a Hybrid Model of Employment
[Sahaj Mathur is a IV year BA. LLB Student at the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata] The status of gig workers has become a cause of growing concern in recent months. Niti Aayog’s report ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ estimates that nearly 23.5 million workers will be engaged in the gig economy by 2029. However, the report also notes how the gig economy has become...
Captives in India: An Analysis of Proposed Changes to the Insurance Act, 1938
[Bharat Harne is a IV year student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] On 3 December 2022, the Department of Financial Services invited comments on a host of proposed amendments to the Insurance Act, 1938 and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, of 1999. One of the proposals is to add a definition of ‘captive insurer’ by adding section 2 (4B) to the...
Challenging Bias in Indian Arbitration: An Illusory Remedy?
[Umang Bhat Nair is a 5th year student at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad] The Delhi High Court’s decision in Union of India v. Reliance Industries Ltd. (9 December 2022) added to an already long list of cases (for e.g., see here, here and here) holding that section 14 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act [“A&C Act”] cannot be resorted to for challenging an arbitrator’s ruling on...
Call for Posts: Corporate Law Board of All India Legal Forum
[Announcement on behalf of the Corporate Law Board of the All India Legal Forum] The Corporate Law Board is an autonomous board of the All India Legal Forum. It is an initiative to engage a discussion around corporate law and policy in India and across the globe. The Board adopts a cross-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary approach in analysing the various corporate law issues, regulatory...
IFSCA Report on the Design of Variable Capital Companies
The choice of business form available in any jurisdiction is critical to the establishment of a vibrant fund industry. While several markets have historically relied on organisational structures such as the limited partnership, the age-old private trust formulation has constituted the mainstay of the fund industry in India. Most fund structures (including mutual funds and alternative investment...
What the ODI-OPI Holds for Indian Entities
[Hrithik Merchant is a 4th year law student pursuing BA LLB (Hons.) from National Law School of India University, Bangalore] The Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) reported that between April 2000 and August 2022 there was a financial commitment (“FC”) of overseas investment issued to the tune of USD 614 billion. Overseas investment has been accretive with Indian ventures attempting to access global...
Call for Papers: Journal on Governance
[Announcement on behalf of Journal on Governance] National Law University, Jodhpur is an institution of national prominence established under the National Law University, Jodhpur Act, 1999 by Rajasthan State Legislation. The University is established for the advancement of learning, teaching, research and diffusion of knowledge in the field of law. About the Journal The Centre for Corporate...
Digital Personal Data Protection Bill vis-à-vis GDPR
[Raj Shekhar and Aman Yuvraj Choudhary are 4th year and 3rd year law students pursuing BA LLB (Hons.) from National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi] On 18 November 2022 the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) published the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 (DPDP Bill), which seeks to replace the earlier Personal Data Protection Bill (PDP...
SEBI Proposals to Revamp the Continuing Disclosure Regime
A robust continuing disclosure regime is a sine qua non for maintaining efficient capital markets. Over the years, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has developed and enhanced a continuing disclosure regime for Indian listed companies, which is now encapsulated in regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (the ‘LODR Regulations’)...
SAT on the Non-Liability of a Company Secretary for Incorrect Disclosures
On 1 November 2022, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in V. Shankar v. Securities and Exchange Board of India exonerated the company secretary of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL) from liability for certain misstatements and incorrect disclosures made by the company. Background and Decision The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had conducted investigation for certain...
Enforcement of Security Interest Against Borrower is Non-Arbitrable
[Suradhish Vats is an Associate at OliveLaw] In the recent case of Bell Finvest India Limited v. AU Small Finance Bank Limited, the Delhi High Court had the opportunity to resolve and clarify the position concerning section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘A&C Act’) and section 11 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security...
Macro-Stress Testing for Climate Risks and Green Finance Regulation
[Manal Shah is a policy researcher in the field of Indian financial regulation] A recent study has ranked India as seventh most affected country by extreme weather events such as floods, storms and heatwaves. Another study conducted by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) indicates that 75% districts and half of India’s population are vulnerable to extreme climate events. In such a...
Force Majeure and Contingent Contracts: A Link that Wasn’t
[Shiv Swaminathan is Professor and Director, Centre for Legal Theory at Jindal Global Law School] There are two propositions that are a part of the received wisdom on the law relating to “frustration” of contracts in India. That section 56 of the Indian Contract Act contains the complete law relating to “frustration”—inclusive of “impossibility”...
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