In two earlier posts published in July (here and here), our guest contributors had voiced their trenchant criticism of the Government’s move to introduce restrictions of the ability of companies to create layers of subsidiaries. After a round of consultation, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has decided to implement the restrictions, which have now been brought into force. The MCA has...
NCLAT Ruling on Maintainability in the Tata Sons Case
Earlier this week, the National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLAT”) issued its ruling in Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd v. Tata Sons Ltd on whether the Mistry group’s action for oppression and mismanagement in respect of Tata Sons is maintainable. Although the NCLAT ruled that the Mistry group’s petition did not meet the requirements of maintainability under section 244 of the Companies Act, 2013 (the...
Conversion of Tata Sons into a Private Limited Company: In Whose Interest?
The proposed conversion of Tata Sons Limited from a public limited company to a private limited company has reignited the corporate governance issues that the Tata Group has faced over the last year or so. Menaka Doshi has an interesting piece (and an accompanying interview with two corporate lawyers) in BloombergQuint that sets out some of the background to why Tata Sons proposes (and that too...
Conflicts and Gaps in Regulatory Aspects of Schemes of Arrangement
[Guest post by Purvi Khanna, a 4th year student at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.] The Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ recent notifications formalise an overhaul in the procedure for Schemes of Arrangements (“SoA”). . This post attempts to shed light on certain commercial aspects, and the inconsistencies and overlaps in the provisions of the Companies Act 2013 (the “Act”), the...
Object Clause under the Companies (Amendment) Bill: A Flip-Flop
[Guest post by Naman Kamdar, a 5th year BA LLB student at National Law University Odisha] The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was introduced in Parliament to usher in more changes to the recently amended Companies Act, 2013 (the “Act of 2013”). The Bill seeks to make substantial changes in the pattern of trade and commerce in the country by liberalizing the procedures and requirements for...
McDonald’s Case: NCLT Decision on Oppression
[Guest post by Enakshi Jha, who is a graduate from NALSAR University of Law and is currently working at a corporate law firm in Mumbai] McDonalds India has recently been in the news for shutting down 43 of its 55 Delhi outlets. The bone of contention leading to this event is the ongoing dispute between Mr. Vikram Bakshi and McDonalds India Private Limited (“MIPL”). This case has clarified that...
Arbitrability of Oppression and Mismanagement in India
[Guest post by Aishwarya Singh, 5th year student at Jindal Global Law School] Background Sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act, 2013 (“CA, 2013”) provide the National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT”) the present day authority to deal with the petitions pertaining to oppression and mismanagement. Under the previous Companies Act, 1956 (“CA, 1956”), this power was exercised by the Company Law...
The Companies Amendment Bill, 2017: Proposed Changes to Section 185
[Guest post by Amitabh Robin Singh, who is a corporate lawyer practising in Mumbai] With the Companies Amendment Bill, 2017 (“Amendment“) being passed by the Lok Sabha and sent to the Rajya Sabha, it would be pertinent to discuss one of the major changes proposed by the Amendment. The Amendment proposes to completely replace Section 185 of the Companies Act, 2013 (“2013...
Update on Layering of Subsidiaries
[The following guest post is contributed by Siddharth Raja, Senior Partner & National Executive Director, Argus Partners, Solicitors & Advocates. Monica Umesh and Divya Mirlay, Associates of the Firm, assisted in the preparation of the post. Views are personal and do not reflect or incorporate the views or positions of the Firm. Comments are welcome.] This...
Companies (Amendment) Bill Resurrected in an Altered Shape
Readers will recall that early last year the Government introduced the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (the “Amendment Bill”) in Parliament. This was in response to the report of the Companies Law Committee (CLC) that sought to address some issues that arose in the implementation of the Companies Act, 2013 (the “Act”). The theme of the legislative effort and the recommendations of the CLC were...
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