The NSE Centre for Excellence in Corporate Governance has published its quarterly briefing on “Related Party Transactions”, which has been authored by Professor Vikramaditya Khanna. The executive summary is as follows: – Related Party Transactions (RPTs) are a topic of increasing interest around the world, especially as some of them have been associated with quite well known frauds. –...
Derivative Action for Patent Infringement Disallowed
Spicy IP has a post discussing a judgment of the Bombay High Court in Darius Rutton Kavasmaneck v. Gharda Chemicals Limited, which involves a derivative claim by a shareholder of a company that traverses issues of company law and patent law. In disallowing the claim, the Bombay High Court dealt with issues pertaining to derivative actions and clarified circumstances where they would be allowed to...
Disqualification of Directors: A Dichotomy in the Companies Act, 2013
[The following post is contributed by Nivedita Shankar, who is a Senior Associate at Vinod Kothari & Company. She can be contacted at [email protected]] In case a director were to incur disqualification under section 164(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 (the “Act, 2013”), then such director shall not be eligible to be re-appointed as a director of that company or be appointed in other...
Winding-up Petitions and Arbitration Clauses
The relationship between the statutory remedies provided by the Companies Act and the Arbitration Act has proven to be controversial in recent times. The difficulty arises usually because the basis on which the statutory remedy is invoked (eg oppression, winding-up) is often an underlying commercial dispute which is the subject matter of an arbitration clause. The courts have given different...
Proposed Amendments to the Companies Act, 2013
It has been just a year since certain provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 (the 2013 Act) were brought into force, and the Government has already yielded to pressure from industry to address some concerns within the legislation. The Union Cabinet has approved the introduction of the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014 in Parliament. At the time of this writing, only a press release of the...
SEBI’s Proposal for a Dividend Policy
Last week, media reports indicated that SEBI is considering imposing a requirement on listed companies to come out with a dividend policy that will compel (or at least nudge) profitable cash-rich companies to distribute their profits to shareholders. The introduction of more stringent requirements on companies to state their dividend policies will introduce a great deal of transparency on this...
Financial Year Status of Foreign Owned and Controlled Companies
[The following post is contributed by Esha Chakraborty of Vinod Kothari & Co. She can be contacted at [email protected]] The financial year (F.Y.) 2014-15 seems overwhelming for India Inc. as it faces the daunting task of meeting regulatory time-lines on the implementation of several new provisions introduced under the Companies Act, 2013 (the ‘Act, 2013’). The requirement of ‘Uniform...
CSR in Government Companies
The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has acquired tremendous prominence in India since the enactment of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014 (the CSR Rules). They are applicable to large companies, whether or not they are listed on the stock exchange. Now, the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises of the...
Report on Gender Diversity in Corporate Boards
The issue of board diversity has acquired considerable prominence in recent times. Although there can be various hues to the concept of diversity, one manifestation relates to gender diversity and the requirement for women directors on corporate boards. What began as a useful management strategy has acquired regulatory overtones. Several countries have incorporated gender diversity into their...
Guest Post: Guarantee Against Loan from Banks and Financial Institutions
[The following post is contributed by Abhishek Bansal and Stuti Bansal, Corporate Professionals, Advisors & Advocates. The authors can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected] respectively] Recently, India saw the enactment of the Companies Act, 2013 (“Act”), replacing the Companies Act, 1956, which governed the incorporation, functioning, transactions and other activities of...
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