Blog Posts
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Commercial Arguments against Corruption
An issue discussed repeatedly in commercial circles is the dilemma between the ethical arguments against corruption, and the commercial arguments in favour of ‘efficient grease’. This dilemma is particularly felt when facing bureaucratic bottlenecks in countries like India (the ‘when in Rome’ argument). The latest edition of the Economist carries an interesting piece, arguing that…
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Changes to Minimum Pricing Norms for Transfers of Indian Securities
(In his previous post, Tanmay Amar examined the new base pricing norms for issue of securities by Indian companies to non-resident investors. He now follows it up with an analysis of the new RBI circular, which is hot off the press, that amends pricing norms for transfers of securities between a resident investor and a…
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FDI in Trusts
(In the following post, Abhishek Tripathi, an independent legal practitioner, and Mani Gupta, an Associate at Luthra & Luthra examine some complexities in the regulations pertaining to FDI in trusts) The recently notified Consolidated FDI Policy of the Government of India (“FDI Policy”), in para 3.3.3, prescribes that ‘FDI in Trusts other than VCF is…
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Proposed changes in India’s arbitration law: Part I
The Ministry of Law and Justice has recently released a Consultation Paper on Arbitration on ‘Proposed Amendments to the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996’. We would like to thank Mr. Bhushan Shah for bringing this to our attention. In this post, I will briefly look at two of the main changes proposed; and some more…
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Core Investment Companies – Draft RBI Guidelines
(The following post has been contributed by Vijay Kumar, a lawyer and a company secretary by qualification, who is practising as an Advocate in the Chennai High Court with the law firm of Iyer and Thomas) Non – Banking Finance Companies have been classified as a. Asset Finance Company b. Investment Company c. Loan Company…
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The ULIPs controversy and a Delhi High Court decision
The ULIPs SEBI/IRDA tussle takes new turns practically every week and would not warrant further posts to my last one, (which was also followed by another post by a learned contributor) till either the Court decides the issue or the law is amended. However, I stumbled across a recent decision of the Delhi High Court…
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Changes to Minimum Pricing Norms for FDI in Unlisted Companies
(The following post is from Tanmay Amar, senior associate at Luthra & Luthra. Tanmay discusses a significant change to the minimum pricing norms for issue of shares by Indian companies to foreign investors. This change is bound to affect the manner in which valuations are to be arrived at, especially for investments by financial investors…
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Porrits & Spencer: Form over Substance Reaffirmed
We have extensively discussed issues around tax avoidance previously; and one of the questions in this regard is the exact relationship between the 5-Judge Bench decision in McDowell and the subsequent 2-Judge Bench decision Azadi. To briefly recapitulate, in McDowell, Justice Chinappa Reddy took a strong stance against tax avoidance and effectively equated avoidance with…
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Meaning of ‘work’ under section 194C
In a decision last delivered last month, the Bombay High Court once again visited the debate over the meaning of ‘sale’, in the process of clarifying the scope of the obligation to deduct tax at source under section 194C of the Income Tax Act. The factual matrix before the Court involved a unique business model…
