[Palash Varyani is a 3rd-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at the Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad] In a recent development, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has mandated foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) who meet the stipulated criteria to demonstrate an unprecedented level of transparency regarding their beneficial ownership structures. This disclosure requires...
India’s Commitment to the Cape Town Convention: A Recent MCA Notification
[Tanay Dubey is a third year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at National Law University Odisha] Through a notification dated 3 October 2023, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) exempted transactions, arrangements, or agreements relating to aircraft, aircraft engines, airframes and helicopters from the application of the moratorium clause under section 14(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code...
RBI’s Draft Directions on Wilful Defaulters: Implications and Concerns
[Aamir Kapadia and Tejas Venkatesh are penultimate year BBA L.L.B. (Hons.) students at Jindal Global Law School] On September 21, 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) released the Draft Master Direction on treatment of Wilful Defaulters and Large Defaulters. The purpose behind the draft is to solicit public comments on proposed regulations to tighten the norms applicable to wilful defaulters...
Navigating Regulation 62A of SEBI’s Listing Regulations: Implications on India’s NCD Market
[Tanishq Vijay Vargiya and Vaibhav Nishad are 3rd year students at the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has on 21 September 2023 published the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) (Fourth Amendment) Regulations, 2023 (the ‘Amendment’), by which it introduced regulation 62A of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and...
Algorithmic Anti-Discounting in F.T.C. v. Amazon: Neo-Brandeisian Lessons for Competition Law
[Chytanya S Agarwal is a 3rd-Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] Recently, the American Federal Trade Commission (‘FTC’) sued Amazon alleging that its practices unlawfully maintained its monopoly. The complaint was based on two main grounds – first, the algorithmic processes used by Amazon to curate its search results penalise the retailers...
Critiquing SEBI’s Narrow Interpretation of the Inter-Se Transfer Exemption
[Simran Sharma is a fourth year B.A.,LL.B (Trade and Investment Law Hons.) student at National Law University, Jodhpur} The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) provided informal guidance in June this year on the interpretation of the “inter se transfer exemption” under the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 (“Takeover Code”). This post aims to...
Capital Reduction: Tax Conundrums
[Sumit Bansal (Partner), Shivani Chhabra (Associate) and Taranjeet Singh (Associate) are with S&R Associates, Advocates] Capital reduction refers to the technique of reducing a company’s share capital in any form. It is a mechanism usually adopted by companies for re-modelling their capital structure, amongst other means (viz., buy-back of shares and redemption of preference share capital)...
Tussle for Jurisdiction: CCI vs. The Controller General of Patents
[Jishnudeep Kolay and Saumya Bapna are second-year B.A. LL.B (Hons.) students at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru] In July 2023, the Delhi High Court in Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson v. Competition Commission of India (‘Ericsson II’) ruled that in an issue of abuse of dominance by a patentee in the exercise of their rights under the patent, the Patents Act, 1970 will...
Supreme Court’s Caution against an Infinite Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process
[Praveen Sharma is a 5th Year Student at MNLU Mumbai] Earlier this month, in RPS Infrastructure Ltd. v. Mukul Kumar (2023INSC816), the Supreme Court addressed a crucial issue concerning the timing of claims in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP). The Court was deciding on the question of whether a claim relating to an arbitral award, undergoing an appeal process under section 37 of...
Establishing Performance Validation Agency: Examining SEBI’s Consultation Paper
[Daksh Kasliwal and Prakhar Singh are 3rd year BSW LL.B. (Hons.) students at Gujarat National University, Gandhinagar] Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has taken multiple steps to enhance the regulatory landscape to foster a more reliable and secure market environment for investors and entrepreneurs. Weeks after releasing a consultation paper to control unregistered...
Navigating the Data Integration Conundrum: A Closer Look at IBC
[Aayushi Choudhary and Vaibhav Gupta are fourth year students of Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar] The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) brought about a major change in the landscape of corporate insolvency proceedings in the country. Nevertheless, despite the IBC’s transformative potential, its effective implementation has been hampered by a significant challenge: the...
Analysing the Tax Implications of Bonus Shares
[Arjim Jain is a 3rd year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student at National Law University, Odisha] The ruling in DCIT v. Smt Aruna Chandok rendered on 5 September 2023 by the Delhi Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (“ITAT”) has shed light on a crucial aspect of taxation in India – the treatment of bonus shares under the Income Tax Act (“IT Act”). In this landmark decision, the ITAT has...
A Bank’s Post-Merger Liability for Pre-Merger Crimes
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court in Religare Finvest Limited v. State of NCT of Delhi (2023INSC819) considered the question whether the transferee bank in a merger can be fastened with corporate criminal liability for offences committed by the officials of the transferor bank prior to a merger of the two entities. The Court answered in the negative given the specific facts and circumstances...
Restoring Equity: Supreme Court on Liquidator Discretion in IBC Bidding Process
[Priyanshu Mishra is a III year BA, LLB (Hons) student at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru] Recently, in Eva Agro Feeds Pvt Ltd v Punjab National Bank (2023INSC809), the Supreme Court decisively clarified the extent of authority granted to a liquidator in rejecting the final bid within an online bidding process. This legal dispute revolved around the rights of the highest...
SC Expands Scope of Enquiry under Section 11 of the Arbitration Act
[Raghav Bhatia is an advocate practising at the Supreme Court of India. He can be contacted at [email protected]] In April this year, the Supreme Court of India in NTPC Ltd. v. SPML Infra Ltd. has expanded the scope of enquiry to be exercised by a court while referring the disputes for arbitration under section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘Arbitration Act’). Background...
SEBI’s Proposed Regulations on Finfluencers: Navigating Unresolved Practicalities
[Aamir Kapadia and Avinash Kotval are penultimate and final year BBA LL.B. (Hons.) student at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat, respectively] On August 25, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) released a consultation paper on ‘Association of SEBI Registered Intermediaries/Regulated Entities with Unregistered Entities (including Finfluencers)’. The purpose behind the...
Receipt of Demand Notice under IBC: Whether Price Sensitive Information?
[Ravishekhar Pandey and Amarpal Singh Dua are with MDP & Partners, Mumbai] The Securities Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) on 12 July 2023 passed an order relating to the scrip of Shilpi Cable Technologies Limited (“STCL”) imposing penalty on the Managing Director (“MD”) as well as the Compliance Officer for violations of securities laws. In the order, the Adjudicating Officer (“AO”)...
Unwinding and Rewinding the Clock: Revisiting Interim Reliefs under Section 9 of the Arbitration Act
[Sumit Chatterjee is an Advocate at Arista Chambers, Bangalore] Interims reliefs under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) underwent a significant change following the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 (“2015 Amendment”). Under the Act, parties can approach the Court under section 9 of the Act to seek interim reliefs before, or during the arbitral proceedings, or...
Hybrid Settlements and Presumption of Innocence: The Conundrum of Verdict Under Veil
[Ishita Mishra is a fourth-year B.B.A. LL. B (Hons.) student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune] The European Commission (‘Commission’) issued its decision to establish the participation of Barclays, Deutsche Bank, RBS, and Société Générale in a cartel in the market for Euro Interest Rate Derivatives (‘EIRD’). The decision was adopted through a settlement procedure wherein the banks received a 10%...
Evaluating India’s Regulatory Regime for ESG Rating Agencies
[Shouvik Kumar Guha is an Associate Professor of Law and Sourav Paul a fourth year undergraduate student, both at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata] On July 3, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’), introduced the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Credit Rating Agencies) (Amendment) Regulations, 2023 (‘Regulation’) to amend the Securities...
ITC-J&J Deal: Unravelling the Complexities of NCLAT’s Decision in the Merger Control Regime
[Aryan Birewar, Rishabh Guha, and Dhanshitha Ravi are 4th Year BBA LLB (Hons.) students at Symbiosis Law School, Pune] On 27 April 2023, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”) passed an Order (“the Order”) favouring ITC Pvt. Ltd., reversing the penalty that was levied on it by the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) for not notifying a combination under section 43A of the...
Company’s Interest vs Duty to Protect the Environment – A Director’s Balancing Act
[Abhijnan Jha is a partner and Urvashi Misra is a senior associate at AZB & Partners, New Delhi] In April 2022, António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, drew the world’s attention to the alarming findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its third report. Concerned that major emitters were not taking requisite steps to fulfil their climate pledges, the Secretary...
Rajasthan’s Gig Workers’ Legislation: Paving the Way for Transformation?
[Esha Rathi is a final year B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student at Jindal Global Law School.] Rajasthan has taken the lead as the first Indian state to regulate and support the burgeoning gig economy workforce through a comprehensive legal framework titled “Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act, 2023” (Act), the Bill for which was brought before the Rajasthan Legislative...
Supreme Court Holds Maternity Benefits Could Extend Even Beyond Contractual Term
[Lavanya Chawla is an Associate at J-Law Offices, New Delhi.] A three Judge bench of the Supreme Court in Dr. Kavita Yadav v The Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Department & Ors (17 August 2023) held that if a woman has worked in an establishment for 80 days, she would be eligible for full maternity benefits, even if such benefits exceed the term of contract. Facts An...
Navigating the Regulatory Landscape: ICAI and CCI at Loggerheads over CPE Program
[Shruti Srivastava is a fourth-year law student from National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam] Delegated legislation is a vital framework that allows specialized bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to regulate their respective professions effectively. As a statutory body, the ICAI derives its regulatory authority from the Chartered Accountants Act 1949...
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