It is well-known that directors of a mutual fund trustee company carry onerous responsibilities, both under the Companies Act, 2013 as well as the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996. The trustee company of a mutual fund and its directors are responsible for ensuring that transactions carried out by the fund are in accordance with the relevant regulations. This is despite the fact that the day...
Drawing the Line between Corporate Debtors and Personal Guarantors
[Partha N. Mansukhani is a fifth-year B.A. LL. B (Hons.) student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune] The Supreme Court in State Bank of India v. V. Ramakrishnan & Anr. held that an order of moratorium passed under section 14 of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“Code”) will exclusively apply to the corporate debtor against whom an insolvency application has been admitted by the...
Settlements in Antitrust in India: The Right Road Ahead?
[Yash Bajpai is a 5th year B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Symbiosis Law School in Hyderabad] Introduction The concept of settlements is not something new to the global anti-trust regime. It is a regulatory mechanism used worldwide for disposing off anti-trust matters; however, this still seems to be a far fetched dream in the Indian competition regime. Several jurisdictions across the world...
The Influence of Foreign Investors and Proxy Advisory Firms on Corporate Governance
Institutional investors have begun taking an active role in companies that have dispersed shareholding. This played out demonstrably in the case of HDFC in July when the chairman Mr. Deepak Parekh retained his position in the company by a narrow margin. This was attributable to a number of foreign institutional investors having voted against his continuation in the company. They did so on the...
Merger of Public Sector Banks and Competition Concerns
[Kruthika Venkatesh is a 4th year B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at School of Law, Christ (Deemed-to-be) University in Bangalore] Background The media has reported that the Government of India is all set to ask the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) to prepare a list of candidates for merger among the 21 government controlled lenders with the primary agenda of overcoming bad debts. It all began two...
The Taxation Predicament of Slump Exchanges
[C. H. Anvita and Anirudh Venkatesh are 4thYear BA LLB (Hons.) students from School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University, Bengaluru] Background The Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (“ITAT”) has, in two sequential decisions in the months of January and May, 2018[1] (in which, the latter case reiterated the reasoning and decision of the former), reignited discussions on the...
New issue/transfer of securities in unlisted public companies now to be only in demat form – step towards curbing benami holding/convenience of demat
MCA has inserted a new Rule 9A to Companies (Prospectus and Allotment of Securities) Rules, 2014, requiring unlisted public companies from 2nd October 2018 to issue/transfer shares only in demat form. They are also required to register with a depository and give facility to existing shareholders to convert their shares to demat form. In case of a fresh issue or buyback of securities, the...
Fast Track Debt Resolution Programme – Achilles Heel Of The Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code
[Tushar Kumar is a 4th Year BA LLB (Hons.) student at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow] The Ministry of Finance, in July 2018, accepted the recommendations of a committee constituted for review on Non-Performing Assets of Public Sector Banks, headed by Sunil Mehta (Non-Executive Chairman of Punjab National Bank) proposing “Project Sashakt”, calling for a five-tier approach...
The Vodafone Anti-Suit Injunction – A Cautionary Note
[Siddharth S. Aatreya is a V Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) Candidate, National Law School of India University, Bangalore] In May 2018, the Delhi High Court issued its judgment in Union of India v Vodafone Group plc. The judgment vacated an interim order that had been passed in August 2017, by which the Court had temporarily restrained Vodafone from commencing arbitration proceedings under the India-UK...
Impact Analysis of Committee Recommendations on Offences under the Companies Act
[Gaurav Pingle is a practising Company Secretary in Pune and can be reached at [email protected]] The Government of India had constituted a Committee to review the existing framework dealing with offences under the Companies Act, 2013 (‘Act’) and related matters. The Committee was also required to make recommendations to promote better corporate compliance. The Committee submitted its final...
The Rise and Fall of the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill
[Apoorv Madan and Rushil Anand are fourth year B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) students at Jindal Global Law School in Sonipat] Background It may be considered common knowledge, at this time, that failure of some financial institutions can have far-reaching implications on economies, sometimes resulting in full-blown financial crises. Further, because of the increasingly interconnected and globalised world...
Juristic Persons and the Embargo under Section 29A(d) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016
[Rishabh Sinha is a 4th year B.A. LL.B. (Business Law Hons.) student at National Law University, Jodhpur] Introduction The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) recently interpreted section 29A(d) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (the Code) in Renaissance Steel India Pvt. Ltd. v. Electrosteels Steel India Ltd(10 August 2018). In this case the appellant had challenged the...
Resolution of Disputes in the Insolvency Code: Need for Appellate Review
[Shubham Jain and Vishvesh Vikram are BA.LLB (Hons.) students at National Law University Delhi] The limits of the discretion which can be exercised by a resolution professional with regard to adjudication of claims of creditors under the Insolvency Code remain to be tested. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (‘NCLAT’) in Saraogi Udyog v Vedanta Ltd (20 August 2018) refused to interfere...
SEBI’s new requirement for separation of post of Chairman/CEO – cosmetic and harmful
SEBI had recently amended Regulation 17 of the SEBI LODR Regulations 2015 by inserting a new clause (1B). The clause requires that top 500 listed companies in terms of market capitalisation should have a Chairperson who (i) is a non-executive director; and (ii) is not related to the Managing Director or CEO. This was SEBI’s version of the popular western corporate governance good practice of...
Venture Global v. Tech Mahindra – Complicating the Public Policy Debate under Indian Arbitration Law
[Siddharth S. Aatreya is a V Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) Candidate at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] Introduction The public policy ground for challenging an arbitral award has been the subject of much controversy in India. In the Supreme Court’s decision in Venture Global v. Tech Mahindra (2017) two issues within this broad area entered the spotlight – the applicability of...
Implications of India Adopting the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency
[Aastha Kaushal (B.A.,LLB (Hons.)) and Saurav Gurjer (BB.A.,LLB (Hons.)) are 4thyear students from School of Law, Christ(Deemed to be University), Bengaluru] The management of international insolvencies are aimed to be resolved through a formal cross- border approach through the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (Model Law) which was approved by the United Nations General Assembly...
Ultratech Cements: Understanding Trends in the Economics of Market Power
[Lianne Lucia D’Souza is a 4thyear B.A. LL.B. student at School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University, Bengaluru] Introduction Since the enforcement of merger control provisions in the Competition Act, 2002, the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) has played an active role by assessing over 500 combinations in a short span of seven years. All transactions meeting the jurisdictional...
Supreme Court on the Scope of “Dispute” under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
[Shourya Bari is an associate at a law firm in Mumbai having graduated from Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat (JGLS) in 2018 and Aditi Singh Kashyap is a 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at JGLS] The Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (“IBC”) stipulates that the adjudicating authority (i.e. the National Company Law Tribunal or NCLT) would not admit an application by an operational creditor to...
Taxation of Bonus Shares: Deciphering the Law
[Unnati Ghia is a 4th year BA LLB (Hons.) student at National Law School of India University, Bangalore] There is no steadfast rule or statutory provision governing the taxation of bonus shares, save for its statutory exclusion from the category of ‘dividends’. This category of shares has presented a dilemma to both the Revenue and the judiciary in multiple instances, given that determining...
The Curious Case of Cryptocurrencies: Part II
[Pranav Tolani is associated with a corporate law firm in Mumbai and can be reached at [email protected]] The first post in this series is available here] The Indian Position While India has active cryptocurrency traders as well as cryptocurrency exchanges, there has been no serious development on the regulatory front, except, of course, the repeated warnings by Reserve Bank of India and the...
The Curious Case of Cryptocurrencies: Part I
[Pranav Tolani is associated with a corporate law firm in Mumbai and can be reached [email protected]] Cryptocurrencies have made waves in financial markets around the globe. According to leading cryptocurrency exchanges, the August 2018 global cryptocurrency market capitalisation is somewhere short of USD 400 billion – less than half of what it was in December 2017 (on the back of...
The Continuing Saga of Homebuyers under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
[Karan Sahi is a lawyer and company secretary. He can be contacted at [email protected]] Introduction The recent slump in the real estate industry culminated in a grim situation where several major builders have been unable to complete their housing projects and hand over possession to their customers, leaving them in the lurch. As is the usual practice, many of these customers have taken...
Charter Hire Agreements: Abuse of Dominance in a Monopsonist Procurer Market
[B.V.S. Aditya Santosh is a 4thYear BBA.L.L.B. (Hons.) Student at ICFAI Law School, Dehradun] In Indian National Shipowners’ Association Vs. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (order dated 12 June 2018), the Competition Commission of India (CCI) dealt with abuse of dominant position of an enterprise in a monopsonist procurer market (buyer’s monopoly) by virtue of unfair charter...
NCLT Approves Amalgamation of LLP with Company: Did the Legislature Intend This?
[Ritika Bharti and Siddharth Subramanya Raj Urs are 4th year B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) students at School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru] Giving a new dimension to corporate restructuring, the Chennai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (“Tribunal”), in its first of a kind order dated 11 June 2018, laid down a fresh interpretation to the provisions pertaining to the...
Corporate Insolvency Proceedings: Can Interest be Claimed as a Part of Debt?
[Lyssa Maria Brito is a 4thyear B.B.A.L.L.B. (Hons.) student at School of Law Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru] Introduction Earlier, in section 433(e) of the Companies Act, 1956, there was no distinction provided between a financial and an operational debt. Section 433(e) only provided that a company may be wound up by the court if it is unable to pay its debts. Therefore, the issue...
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