[The following guest post is contributed by Bhushan Shah and Neha Lakshman from Mansukhlal Hiralal & Company. The views expressed in the article are personal.] The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has notified the Companies Incorporation (Third Amendment) Rules, 2016 by way of a notification in the official gazette on 27 July 2016. This update captures some of the important changes brought...
Bonus Debentures: A New Perspective on Certain Issues and Concerns
[The following post is contributed by Priya Garg, who is a student at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WB-NUJS). An earlier post on this Blog discussing the features and implications of bonus debentures is available here.] Bonus debentures are those debentures which a company issues to its shareholders by using its reserves’ balance. Their issue does not require cash...
Supreme Court Resolves Conflict Between Companies Act and SICA
[The following guest post is contributed by Aditi Jhunjhunwala, who is a partner at Vinod Kothari & Co. The author can be contacted at [email protected].] In a recent ruling in the case of Madura Coats Limited v. Modi Rubber Ltd. & Anr., the question before the Supreme Court on appeal was: where an order for winding up is passed under the Companies Act and the company has made a...
Scheme of Amalgamation: Leeway on Appointed Date and Effective Date
[The following guest post is contributed by Bhavika Gohil, who is working with a multinational consulting firm in Mumbai] The Madras High Court by way of its order dated 6 June 2016 (accessible through Judis) permitted petitions filed by Equitas Micro Finance Limited (“Transferor Co. 1”), Equitas Housing Finance Ltd. (“Transferor Co. 2”) and Equitas Finance Ltd. (“Transferee Company”) (“the...
National Company Law Tribunal Constituted: A Phased Induction
Although the Companies Act, 2013 was enacted nearly three years ago, significant parts of the legislation were not brought into force. These related to the role of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Although the NCLT was conferred legislative status as early as 2002 (under the Companies Act, 1956), it did not see the light of day as it was mired in litigation. After two judgments of the...
Interim Dividends – Is the Confusion Clearing?
[The following guest post is contributed by Siddharth Raja and Neeraj Vyas, who are Founding Partner and Associate respectively of Samvad Partners. Views are personal, and comments are welcome] The concept of ‘interim dividend’ was only introduced into the Indian companies statute in 2000 — that was legislative recognition of a move that had started to develop and gain...
Gender Diversity and Government Companies
It has been more than a year since a provision in the Companies Act, 2013 came into effect that requires all listed companies to have at least one woman director. As we had previously discussed, companies scrambled to comply with the requirement as of April 1, 2015, the effective date. However, a recent news report in the Business Standard indicates that 57 companies listed on the NSE are yet to...
Stamp Duty on Inter-State Amalgamations
[This post is slightly longer than our usual posts. I would like to thank a reader for drawing attention to a judgment that is the subject matter of this post] Stamp duty on schemes of amalgamation undertaken through sections 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, 1956 have tended to experience a great deal of controversy, as we have previous discussed on this Blog (here, here and here). A recent...
Private Companies Subsidiaries of Overseas Holding Companies — Changes in Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2016
[The following guest post is contributed by Siddharth Raja, Founding Partner of Samvad Partners. Views are personal, and comments are welcome] In an earlier blog post, I had examined in detail the issue whether Indian “private” companies that are subsidiaries of foreign or overseas bodies corporate retain their incorporation status for all purposes of the 2013 Companies Act; or...
Equity-Based Crowdfunding as an Early-Stage Financing Alternative: Critique of the Regulatory Proposals in India
[The following guest post is contributed by Shwetha Chandrashekar, who is a Senior Associate in Bangalore, India at GameChanger Law Advisors. She can be contacted on [email protected].] With over 4200 start-ups, India is the fastest growing start-up ecosystem worldwide. It has the third-largest number of start-ups in the technology sector following the US and the UK.[1] However, India is...
Recent Comments