[Harsh Srivastava is a 5th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] For long, India has been seen as a ‘non-arbitration friendly’ jurisdiction owing, inter alia, to the length, costs and inefficiency of the proceedings. Efforts have been made to improve the arbitral framework of the country by incorporating international best practices and...
Litigation against Credit Rating Agencies: Delhi High Court Delineates the Scope
[Kajal Singh and Nikunj Maheshwari are 4th year law students at the Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad.] Credit rating is a mechanism to address the asymmetry of information in the debt investment market, where the independent credit rating agencies (‘CRA’) rate the debt instruments issued by the borrower company (‘client’). Clients, to get their instruments rated, enter into an...
Arbitrability of Fraud and the ‘Public Flavour’ Standard
[Karan Kamath is a 2020 B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) graduate from Symbiosis Law School, Pune.] On August 19, 2020, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court decided Avitel Post Studioz Ltd. v. HSBC PI Holdings (Mauritius) Ltd., wherein the central question related to arbitrability of fraud, in an appeal arising out of the Bombay High Court’s decision in a petition under section 9 of the Arbitration and...
Call for Submissions: 5th Gary B. Born Essay Competition on International Arbitration
[Announcement on behalf of CARTAL] The Centre for Advanced Training and Research in Arbitration Law (‘CARTAL’) provides a platform for academicians, professionals and students to interact and discuss contemporary issues in arbitration law. The mandate of the Centre is achieved by the organization of workshops, conferences and guest lectures to facilitate the understanding of such issues. ...
Banning Short-Selling During Financial Crises – An Optimal Approach?
[Talin Bhardwaj is a third-year student of B.A. LL.B (Hons.) at the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala] The unprecedented circumstances emanating from the Covid-19 pandemic have created major instability in the financial markets of various countries that has been detrimental to the confidence of investors. This economic crisis has forced financial regulators around the world to take...
Amendment to CIRP Regulations: Another Step towards a Creditor Friendly Code?
[Priyasha Goyal is a graduate of the Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat] The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 (‘CIRP Regulations’) were amended vide a notification dated 7 August 2020. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘the Code’) has been formulated with the objective of reducing the time taken for resolution...
Analysing MCA’s Proposed Framework on Business Responsibility Reporting
[Yash More and Hitoishi Sarkar are III year students at Gujarat National Law University] On August 18, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) released the Consultation Paper on the format for Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting in India. Interestingly, on August 11, 2020, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) had also released the Report of the Committee...
End to the Confusion on Amended Timelines under Section 29A of the Arbitration Act
[Divyansha Agarwal and Kunwar Abhay Singh are practicing lawyers at the Delhi High Court, and are associate lawyers with Advani and Co.] On July 21,2020, the Delhi High Court, in the matter of ONGC Petro Additions v Fernas Constructions Co. Inc., finally brought an end to the long-drawn confusion on the applicability of the amended timelines under section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation...
UKSC Decision in Sevilleja: Reflective Loss, Creditors and Implications for India
[Rohan Deshpande practices as a Counsel at the Bombay High Court, and Karan Kamath is a 2020 B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) graduate from Symbiosis Law School, Pune. The authors would like to thank Mihir Naniwadekar for his comments on a draft version] The UK Supreme Court in its decision dated July 15, 2020 in Sevilleja v. Marex Financial Ltd. had to determine whether the rule against ‘reflective loss’...
The Future of Virtual Meetings under the Companies Act
[Gaurav Pingle is a Practising Company Secretary and Renucka Vaiddya a Research Associate at Gaurav Pingle & Associates] The Companies Act, 2013 has, at the outset, provided for conducting board meetings through video conferencing. In Achintya Kumar Barua v Ranjit Barthkur [2018] 91 taxmann.com 123, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) held section 173(2) of the Act read with...
E-Commerce Rules 2020: Protecting Consumer Welfare or Harming Individual Enterprise?
[Dhanush Dinesh is a graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has come into force on July 20, 2020. This statute supersedes the older Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and has been updated to reflect and incorporate modern forms of commerce, such as online shopping and tele-commerce. In furtherance of this, specific rules have been notified...
NLS Business Law Review: Call for Submissions
[Announcement on behalf of the National Law School Business Law Review] The Board of Editors of the National Law School Business Law Review is pleased to invite original and unpublished manuscripts for publication in the Volume 7 of the Review. About the Institution The National Law School of India University is an institution of legal education focusing on legal and policy education in India at...
Examining the Issues with Free Supplies under GST
[Manasvin Andra is a 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at NALSAR University, Hyderabad] Promotional offers have long been used by companies to draw attention to their products. These strategies have generally proved successful, as they incentivise consumers to buy more of the designated good. However, the tax treatment of these free supplies changed with the emergence of the GST, leading to...
Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020: An Analysis
[Sumit Kumar Gupta is a 4th year student at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences] Governments across jurisdictions have always maintained a delicate balance between the competing interest of consumers and the dynamics of the market. True to its nature, markets have undoubtedly been inclined towards profit maximization, while consumers have sought to exploit the scant margin...
Recent Antitrust Issues in the US – Learnings for the Indian Competition Regime
[Vanshika Katiyar and Rajat Maloo are 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) students at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore.] On 29 July 2020, the heads of America’s largest tech giants, namely, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook testified before the United States’ Congress. The members of the antitrust committee of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives...
Force Majeure, Frustration and Impossibility: A Qualitative Empirical Analysis
[Smaran Shetty is a Senior Associate with Keystone Partners and Pranav Budihal is an LLM Candidate at the National University of Singapore] Force majeure has become a fairly common ground to avoid the performance of contractual obligations in a post Covid-19 world. In a time when lawyers and parties seek to examine their force majeure clause and reassess their contractual arrangements, we have...
Call for Blogs: The IP Law Post
[Announcement on behalf of the IP Law Post] We are a group of HNLU students with a keen interest in Intellectual Property Law. By means of this blog, we aim to facilitate dialogue and debate on recent domestic and international developments. With the tremendous growth in technology, art and industry, IP has touched many facets of our lives such as business, innovation, sports, fashion, media...
Tug of War between Nominee and Legal Heir: The Debate Continues
[Abolee Vilas Vaidya is a Legal Analyst at Landryt and Priyanka Pillai an Associate at IC Universal Legal, Mumbai] The tussle between nominees and legal heirs in respect of shares of a company has always been a cause of sizeable confusion. The solution may seem to be a simple determination of whether the rights of the nominee under section 72 of the Companies Act, 2013 can override the rights of...
Call for Papers: NLSIU’s Indian Journal of Law & Technology
[Announcement on behalf of the Indian Journal of Law & Technology] The Indian Journal of Law & Technology (IJLT) is now accepting submissions for Volume 17. Please send in your submissions before October 31, 2020 in order for them to be considered. About the Journal The Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT) is a student-edited, peer-reviewed, completely open access law journal...
Input Tax Credit under GST: The Misery of Innocent Buyers
[Yash More and Hitoishi Sarkar are II year students at Gujarat National Law University] In 2017, the Indian Parliament introduced the concept of Goods and Services Tax (“GST“). Designed to be a single, comprehensive, destination-based taxation system, it aimed to overhaul the existing indirect tax framework and unify the country in terms of how taxes are collected. An uninterrupted...
The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance 2020: A New Beginning?
[Manasvini Vyas is a 5th year student at National Law University Odisha] On 26 June 2020, the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (“the Act”) was amended by way of a presidential ordinance (the Ordinance’). The amendment seeks to bring urban cooperative banks (‘UCBs’) and multi-state cooperative banks (‘MCBs’) under the complete regulatory control of the RBI. This development assumes significance in the...
Post-Resolution Determination of Claims: A Dilemma for Creditor Rights
[Anchit Jasuja is a 3rd year law student at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] Given, the limitations of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘IBC’) in determining the value of disputed claims during the resolution process, most resolution plans notionally admit the disputed claims with their repayment being dependent on the adjudication of the claim post the approval of the...
India’s Equalisation Levy, Digital Services Trade, and the Evolutionary Approach – Part II
[Ayushi Singh is a 5th year student at National Law University, Jodhpur] As mentioned in the previous post, USA could challenge the equalisation levy and similar digital services taxes for violation of the most favoured nation [MFN] treatment under article I of the General Agreement on Trade in Services [GATS]. Before unpacking the possible arguments for an MFN action, some unique ambiguities...
India’s Equalisation Levy, Digital Services Trade, and the Evolutionary Approach – Part I
[Ayushi Singh is a 5th year student at National Law University, Jodhpur] Multilateral trade relations have suffered numerous blows from proponents of unilateral protectionism in the form of trade wars and economic warfare. The issue of digital taxation has the potential of becoming an additional blow. The United States Trade Representative [USTR] has announced the initiation of investigations...
The MSME Act and Arbitration Agreements: First Mover Advantage?
[Vaishnavi Chillakuru is a lawyer based in Mumbai] The primary objective of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (“MSME Act”) is to “provide for facilitating the promotion and development and enhancing the competitiveness” of micro, small and medium enterprises. To further this objective, the MSME Act contains provisions for dispute resolution which are applicable to...
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