[Anirudh Goyal and Vishal Hablani are 4thand 3rdYear B.A.L.L.B. (Hons.) students respectively at West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata] The Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) on 14 August 2018 took the view that the recent issue of preference shares by Kotak Mahindra Bank to dilute the stake of Uday Kotak, the promoter of bank, does not meet the regulatory norms. The bank on 2...
Prospects of Regulation of Initial Coin Offerings by SEBI
[Aishwarya Singh is a 5th year law student at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat] The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had, by way of a circular, ring-fenced banks from dealing with cryptocurrencies. However, the status of cryptocurrencies in India is far from decided. The RBI circular has been recently challenged in the Supreme Court. On the other hand, the Government had also constituted an Inter...
Cryptocurrency on the Path to Legalisation?
[Vineet Ojha is a Manager at Vinod Kothari Consultants Pvt Ltd] From conservative investors to cryptocurrency enthusiasts, cryptocurrency has been the hot button issue. In the tech world, a common phrase is “that’s so crazy it just might work”, and hence, an open-source, unregulated, P2P currency has been thriving for the better part of the last decade. The Indian regulators have not taken...
Circumstances where Resolution Process can be Declared Void after Initiation
[Shreya Routh is an Executive at Vinod Kothari & Company] Gains through unjust fraud are never secured. The same goes for a company against which a process of corporate insolvency has been initiated. If the sole intent for initiation of a case is to defraud the creditors, there can be no possibility of revival of the company. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (the “Code”) comes with...
IBBI Expects to Usher in Effective Decision-Making at Creditors’ Committee Meetings
[Vinod Kothari is an insolvency practitioner at Vinod Kothari & Co and can be reached at [email protected]] The circular dated 10 August 2018 issued by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) makes for interesting reading. While it is lamenting the fact that the hard timeline-bound regime of the insolvency process will lead to unintended corporate mortality if the bank...
Improperly Stamped Arbitral Awards: When Can Courts Interfere?
[Athira Sankar is a 5th year B.A. LL.B student at National Law University, Jodhpur] Introduction The effect of non-payment of stamp duty at the time of enforcement of an award has been the subject of varied judicial interpretation. The conflict arises from the fact that an award passed by a tribunal is not always produced before the courts, unlike decrees in civil suits. In civil proceedings...
Call for Submissions for the 11th Volume of the Indian Journal of International Economic Law
[Announcement by the Indian Journal of International Economic Law] The Board of Editors of the Indian Journal of International Economic Law (IJIEL) is pleased to invite original and unpublished manuscripts for publication in Volume 11. About the Journal The IJIEL is a student-edited and peer-reviewed law journal published annually by National Law School of India University, Bangalore (NLSIU)...
Are Uber or Ola Drivers ‘Workmen’ under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947?
[Shourya Bari is an associate with a law firm in Mumbai and Aditi Singh Kashyap a 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat] Introduction This post will explore the question whether Uber or Ola Drivers fall within the scope of ‘workman’ as defined in section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (“ID Act”) to be able to obtain the benefits stipulated under that...
Fraudulent Initiation of Insolvency Proceedings
[Richa Saraf is a Legal Advisor at Vinod Kothari & Co.] Section 65 was incorporated in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (the “Code”) so that the provisions thereof cannot be misused by any person who has initiated the insolvency resolution process or liquidation proceedings with a fraudulent or malicious intent, and for any purpose other than for the resolution of insolvency or...
Madras High Court Grants Reprieve to Disqualified Directors
The Madras High Court in Bhagavan Das Dhananjay Das v. Union of India (decided on 3 August 2018 and accessible via Judis) struck down the order of the Registrar of Companies, Chennai (“RoC) which had disqualified a number of directors from their position in various companies. The Court was considering a large group of writ petitions that various disqualified directors had filed before it. In...
Concept of Related Party: Interpretation by Letter or Spirit of the IBC?
[Richa Saraf is a Legal Advisor at Vinod Kothari & Co.] In J.R. Agro Industries P. Limited v. Swadisht Oils P. Ltd. (decided on 24 July 2018), the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Allahabad observed that“if claim of related party is given priority over operational creditors, it would not be just to operational creditor”. In the instant matter, the related party and the corporate debtor...
NCLAT Settles the Fate of Proceedings under Section 138 of the NI Act during Bankruptcy
[Aayush Mitruka is a lawyer based in Delhi] The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (the NCLAT) settled a very important question of law under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (the Code) which has been troubling practitioners. The question whether proceedings filed under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (the NI Act) against the corporate debtor will be stalled...
Cryptocurrencies: Their Nature and Prospects for Taxation – Part 2
[Anirudh Singh is a 4thyear B.A LL.B (Hons.) student at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. This is the second post in the series, the first of which can be accessed here] Cryptocurrencies are decentralized in nature, and no governmental authorities are responsible for the success or failure of transactions in Bitcoins. However, quite recently, some countries, which have accepted crypto...
Competition Law Concerns with Android Operating System: European Commission Throws a Hammer on Google
[Rajat Sharma is a 4th year B.A. LL.B (Business Law Hons.) student at National Law University, Jodhpur] Introduction It is an undeniable fact that mobile internet services make up for more than half of the global internet traffic, as also stated by European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The statement came after the European Commission (EC) imposed a mammoth fine on Google...
CCI Proposes Amendments to the Combination Regulations To Disentangle the Minority Acquisition Exemption
[Ahkam Khan is a 3rdYear B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University in Lucknow] India contemplates an ex ante merger control regime under the Competition Commission of India (Procedure in regard to the transaction of business relating to combinations) Regulations, 2011 (Combination Regulations). The process for filing of combinations with the Competition...
Accounting for a Brief Stint of Unconstitutionality: Equalisation Levy Fixed by GST
[Debarshi Chakraborty is a 3rd year B.A., LL.B. student at National Law University Odisha] Considering the potential of the booming digital economy and the fast expanding nature of its business operations, it is essential to address the challenges extensively, particularly in terms of taxation of digital transactions. In addressing such challenges, and in keeping abreast with the emerging global...
Cryptocurrencies: Their Nature and Prospects for Taxation – Part 1
[Anirudh Singh is a 4thyear B.A LL.B (Hons.) student at NALSAR, Hyderabad] Cryptocurrencies have gained significant prominence in the market since the inception of “Bitcoins”. (In this post, Bitcoins and cryptocurrencies are treated interchangeably for the sake of simplicity). The popularity of Bitcoins can be estimated from the fact that upon its introduction in 2009 the value of one Bitcoin...
The Data Protection Report: Protection or Protectionism?
[Varnita Singh is a 4th year B.Sc., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Gujarat National Law University in Gandhinagar] After much anticipation, the Data Protection report (Report) and draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 made by an expert committee under the chairmanship of Justice B.N. Srikrishna was presented to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on 27 July 2018. The Report is a...
Google “Search Bias” Case: A Law and Economics Analysis
[Madhavi Singh is a is a 5th year B.A. LL.B. (Hons) student at National Law School of India University, Bangalore] Google has in many parts of the world faced allegations of abuse of dominant position for several practices. This post is limited to the Google “search bias” case before the European Commission (EC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Competition Commission of India (CCI). I...
Demystifying the Arbitrability of Patent Disputes in India
[Prarthna Bathija is a fifth year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student, and Apoorv Madan a fourth year B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student, at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat] The Booz-Allen Case and Conceptual Jurisprudence Relating to Arbitrability of Disputes In the landmark case of Booz-Allen Hamilton v SBI Home Finance (“Booz-Allen”), the Supreme Court summarised the conceptual jurisprudence relating to...
Analysing Some Insider Trading Implications For M&A Transactions
[Priya Garg is a 5th year student at West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS), Kolkata] Consequences of Creating the Due Diligence Exception to the Bar on the Communication of UPSI For the first time, under regulation 3 of the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 (“PIT, 2015”), communication of unpublished price sensitive information (“UPSI”) per se has...
Proposed New Regulatory Framework for Delisting Companies
[Manal Shah a 4th year student pursuing B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) with specialization in Corporate Law from the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi] Introduction The delisting process is presently regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Delisting of Equity Shares) Regulations, 2009 (‘Delisting Regulations’). The Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) on 26 July...
Will SEBI Succeed in Creating a Vibrant Bond Market?
[Rajeev Jhawar is an Executive at Vinod Kothari Consultants Pvt Ltd] As part of the budget this year, India sought to expand its bond market beyond the traditional ambit of sovereign debt. Pursuant to this, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated efforts to diversify borrowings of Indian corporates by mandating them to raise at least a quarter of their incremental funds from...
Analysis of ‘Bulk Deal’ under the SEBI Takeover Code
[Tanmay Purohit and Mayank Sen are 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) students at School of Law, Raffles University, Neemrana (Rajasthan)] The Securities Appellate Tribunal (“SAT”) on 28 May 2018, while deciding on appeals against several orders of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) in Tarun Jiwarajka v. Securities and Exchange Board of India, undertook a comprehensive interpretation...
Protecting the Interests of First Charge Holders under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
[Shivam Ahuja is a Final year B.A.,LL.B. at Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat] Introduction A charge as defined in section 2(16) of the Companies Act, 2013 is created over an asset to secure the repayment of a debt. The terms and conditions of the charge are governed by the contract between the parties. Some contracts allow for creation of a subsequent charge while some do not, while some warrant...
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