[Anushka Juneja is a 2nd year B.A., LL.B. (hons.) student at Gujarat National Law University] Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Arbitration Act”) empowers the courts to appoint an arbitrator in case any dispute arises between the parties. For the purpose of the aforementioned section, the power is confined to the examination of the existence of an arbitration agreement as...
Use Cases of a Digital Rupee to the Average Household and Business in India
In her Budget Speech, the Finance Minister announced a proposal to issue a Digital Rupee by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) starting financial year 2022-23. What functions might a Digital Rupee (synonymously, a central bank digital currency or CBDC) issued by the RBI, serve? Identifying the use-cases of a CBDC is critical to the design of the Digital Rupee, and the design of the infrastructure...
App Store: Bridge between Users and Developers or Market Monopoliser?
[Amiya Krishna Upadhyay and Arnab Chakraborty are 4th Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) and B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) students respectively at National Law University Odisha] On 31 December, 2021, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) directed the Director General to probe into the functioning of the App Store and corresponding in-app purchases (IAP) of the Silicon Valley giant. The allegations of the...
Envirad Projects Case: Crystalizing the Post-Perkins Position on Unilateral Arbitrator Appointments
[Sumit Chatterjee is a final year student at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore] On 18 January 2022, a single judge of the Delhi High Court upheld the prohibition on unilateral appointment of arbitrators by parties in Envirad Projects v NTPC Ltd., rejecting the validity of the arbitral clause providing NTPC with the exclusive right to appoint the sole arbitrator. The...
LIBOR Transition: Reassessing the Risks and the Viability of Alternative Reference Rates
[Mukund Arora is a second-year BBA LL.B. (Hons.) student at the Symbiosis Law School, Pune] London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) was a benchmark rate used to price lending transactions among major global banks in the international market. It demonstrated the borrowing costs between banks on unsecured terms. According to the Federal Reserve System, it was utilized to price financial products...
Revisiting India’s Gas Imbalance Regulations
[Krishna Agarwal is a 3rd year BA LLB Hons. student at Gujarat National Law University] The Government of India envisages augmenting its gas-based economy from the existing 6% to 15% by 2030. To achieve this goal, the Government of India made certain structural changes in the gas-market. Gas imbalance is a phenomenon where there exists a difference between the quantity of gas delivered at the...
Parent’s Duty of Care in Relation to a Subsidiary: India and Beyond
[Radhika Ghosh and Yatin Gaur are 3rd year B.A. L.L.B (Hons.) students at Hidayatullah National Law University in Raipur.] The English Supreme Court has yet again in the recent decision of Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell considered the question of the jurisdictional challenges associated with claims being brought in England against a UK domiciled parent for the actions of its foreign subsidiary. The...
Rectifying the Law: CoC Approval for Withdrawal of CIRP Proceedings
[Pradhyuman Singh is a V year student of law from Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] On 4 January 2022 in Vinayak Deshpande v. Nexo Industries, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”), Chennai allowed a corporate debtor to settle the matter with the creditor. Accordingly, the National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT”) was directed to allow the application for withdrawing the...
The JPC Report on Personal Data Protection Bill: What is in it for Indian Startups?
[Raj Shekhar is a III-year B.A., LL. B, student at National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi.] On 16 December 2021, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (“JPC”) submitted its long-awaited report to the Indian Parliament after two years of deliberations on the of the Personal Data Protection Bill (“Bill”). While the experts and stakeholders are divided in their opinion about the bill...
Amazon – Future Group: Delhi High Court’s Intrusiveness in Staying Arbitral Proceedings
The arbitral proceedings initiated by Amazon against the Future Group before a Singapore arbitral tribunal has already received considerable judicial attention in the courts in India. In a recent turn of events, a division bench of the Delhi High Court on 5 January 2022 stayed the arbitral proceedings upon the request of the Future Group, and overturned the ruling of a single judge of the same...
Ebix Singapore v. Educomp: Clearing the Muddied Waters
[Aadya Bansal and Navya Saxena are 4th year students at National Law Institute University, Bhopal] On 13 September 2021, the Supreme Court, in its landmark decision in Ebix Singapore Private Ltd. v. Committee of Creditors of Educomp Solutions Ltd., provided a much needed conclusion to a recurring debate under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 by ruling that a resolution plan approved by...
The Relevance of ‘Profit Making’ in Insider Trading: A Paradox
[Aaj Sikri and Kartik Arya are penultimate year BA LLB (Hons) students at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat] The insider trading norms in India have evolved with time. Before the implementation of SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 (“PIT Regulations”), intention was relevant while deciding whether an insider has engaged in Insider Trading or not. The same was also upheld in...
Revisiting Section 48: Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Award against Non-Signatories
[Darshil Sakhia is a second-year student at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.] In August 2021, a division bench of the Supreme Court of India, in its landmark decision in Gemini Bay Transcription v. Integrated Sales Service, ruled that a foreign arbitral award can be enforced against non-signatories to the arbitration agreement. The Court rejected the contention of the appellant that their...
P&H High Court on SARFAESI Act and the Right of Redemption
[Velpula Audityaa is an Advocate practicing before the Madras High Court and trial courts in Chennai. He can be contacted at [email protected]] Recently, a division bench of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in Pal Alloys & Metal India Private Limited v. Allahabad Bank (2021 SCC OnLine P&H 2733) had an occasion to consider the effect of the 2016 amendment to section 13(8) of the...
Shadow Trading – An Indian Perspective
[Mihir Deshmukh is an Associate at Finsec Law Advisors, Mumbai and Bhavya Solanki is a 4th-year student at Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai.] Coined by Mehta, Reeb, and Zhao, shadow trading is a theory of insider trading, which postulates that confidential information of a company could also be relevant for other economically-linked companies, and insiders could profit from trading in...
Algorithmic Collusion: Can the Competition Act Protect against Self-Learning Algorithms?
[Digvijay R. Singh is a 4th year BA LLB (Hons.) student at National Law School of India University, Bangalore] An algorithm is an application of reasoning by artificial intelligence (“AI”) for the finding of a probable solution to a problem. Algorithms are relied upon for the cost and efficiency benefits attributed to them. In the present day, algorithms contribute to an enterprise in multiple...
Oligopoly, Competition, Cartels and Beyond: Establishing the Need for ‘Collective Dominance’
[Swetha Somu is a 2nd year B.B.A. L.L.B (Hons.) student at Gujarat National Law University in Gandhinagar] ‘Collective dominance’ in competition law points to a scenario where two or more independent undertakings, possibly through established economic links, hold a dominant position in the market together while still being independent of each other. This concept was first recognized in the...
SEBI’s Takeover Amendment: Hit-and-Miss on Delisting
[Aryan Puri is a 4th-year BBA., LL.B. (Hons.) student at MIT-World Peace University, Faculty of Law, Pune, and Priya Maharishi is a 5th-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat] On December 6, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) amended the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeover) Regulation, 2011 (“Takeover Regulations”) to simplify...
Delhi High Court on the Overriding Effect of IBC over PMLA
[Pallavi Meena is a IV Year BSW, LL.B (Hons.) student and Ridhi Arora a IV Year B.A., LL.B (Hons.) student, both at Gujarat National Law University] In Nitin Jain, Liquidator, PSL Limited. v. Enforcement Directorate (15 December 2021), the Delhi High Court ruled that the power under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (“PMLA”) to attach properties ceases to exist when an order of...
SC Scrutinizes NCLT’s Powers Conferred under Section 7(5) of IBC
[Govind Gupta and Roshi Surele are 3rd Year BA. LL.B. students at the Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad] The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”) is a complete code in itself. Both the National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT”) and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”) derive their powers in insolvency matters from the IBC itself while their jurisdiction is...
Supreme Court Rules on Intervening Claims Arising During Arbitration Proceedings
[Raghav Bhatia is an Advocate practicing at the Supreme Court of India and Devanshi Gupta is a IV year law student at Jindal Global Law School] Recently, in State of Haryana v M/s Shiv Shankar Construction (14 December 2021), the Supreme Court of India had the opportunity to answer, inter alia, whether a claim raised after the filing of a Statement of Claim (‘SOC’) could be awarded or not...
Government Allows FDI into the Indian Solar Energy Market
[Akshat Bhargava is an Associate at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co and Nandini Shenai is a 4th Year BBA LLB (Hons) student at NMIMS School of Law, Mumbai] The Indian Constitution lists electricity in the concurrent list, and both the Union and State legislatures have simultaneous authority to enact legislation on the topic. In the case of a contradiction or conflict, nevertheless, the law...
CCI’s Penalty on Amazon: A Necessary Intervention
[Saikishan B Rathore is a 4th year BSW LLB (Business Corporate and Financial Law Hons.) student at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] In a first of its kind, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on 17 December 2021 found Amazon NV Investment Holdings LLC (Amazon) guilty of contravening sections 43-A, 44 and 45 of the Competition Act, 2002 (Act). By way of its order dated 17...
Supreme Court on the Regularization of Temporary Employees
[Naman Keswani is a 3rd year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur. The author would like to thank Dr. Balwinder Kaur for her valuable inputs on the post] In Union of India v. Ilmo Devi (7 October 2021), the Supreme Court reiterated the fact that a temporary or casual worker in a State-run authority cannot seek parity with the regular employees of the...
New Materiality Threshold for RPTs: Nagging Questions on Shareholder Approval
[Vinita Nair and Sikha Bansal are Partners at Vinod Kothari & Company, Practicing Company Secretaries] Related party transactions (RPTs) are perceived as potential tools for unjust enrichment of those in a fiduciary capacity. Hence, SEBI has recently revamped RPT norms (most of which are to take effect from 1 April 2022) intending to impose a greater scrutiny on RPTs. With the above, all...
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