[Subodh Asthana and Madhur Bhatt are penultimate year law students at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur] Cairn Energy PLC has approached the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (“US Court”) seeking enforcement of a $1.2 billion arbitration award against India. It won the award in December 2020 for proving the breach of fair and equitable treatment (“FET”)...
Unqualified Fair & Equitable Treatment Clause: It’s Time to Revamp
[Ameya Vikram Mishra is an associate at J. Sagar Associates, New Delhi and Nikhil Pratap an advocate practising in Delhi] Recently, Cairn Energy plc filed a petition in the South District of New York to attach Air India’s assets. This action has been taken pursuant to an award by an arbitral tribunal (“Tribunal”) constituted under the Bilateral Investment Treaty between the United Kingdom and...
SPAC Listings in India: Regulatory Hurdles and the Way Forward
[Devarsh Shah is a third-year law student at Gujarat National Law University] One of the most significant developments in the international capital markets in the past couple of years has been the revival of ‘Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicles (SPACs)’. In 2020, around $80 billion was raised in the US by 247 SPACs representing almost 50% of the raised capital of about $174 billion. While SPAC...
FDI Limit Hiked to 74%: An Impetus for the Insurance Sector
[Ekta Janghu is an Associate at Wadia Ghandy & Co., Mumbai and Riya Gupta is an Associate at Algo Legal, Mumbai] On February 1, 2021, the Finance Minister announced a host of reforms vide its first paperless budget. Amongst these, was the proposal to increase the threshold for foreign investment in the Indian insurance sector to 74% from the erstwhile threshold of 49%. The announcement was...
Flip Structure Transactions: Regulatory Implications in India
[Divyansh Nayar is a 5th Year B.A.LL.B student and Arth Singhal a 4th Year B.A.LL.B student, both at National Law University Odisha] Over the last decade, the concept of a “flip” has gained popularity in the venture capital circles, especially amongst Indian startups seeking support from foreign investors. A “flip” transaction is one where an Indian company incorporates a company in a favourable...
China’s Claim concerning App Ban Under International Investment and Trade Law – Part II
[Angeline Priety and Rohin Goyal are fourth-year law students at Gujarat National Law University] In Part I of this post, we explained the possible recourse that Chinese investors may have against India’s app ban under the Indo-China Bilateral Investment Treaty (“BIT”). In Part II, we shall first examine India’s possible defence against claims by Chinese investors under the Indo-China BIT and...
China’s Claim concerning App Ban Under International Investment and Trade Law – Part I
[Angeline Priety and Rohin Goyal are fourth-year law students at Gujarat National Law University] On September 2, 2020, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology released a press note banning 118 mobile applications of Chinese origin. This blocking order, the third such order in a span of two months, was prompted by concerns with respect to the sovereignty of India, particularly...
A Review of “Investment Funds in India – A Legal Handbook”
[Ganesh Rao is a partner at Trilegal] Alok Verma and Karan Trehan’s Investment Funds in India – A Legal Handbook focuses on the legal regime governing investment funds in India and, in doing so, is probably one of the first books to be published in this field. The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (“SEBI”) SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012 (“AIF Regulations”) are...
CCI’s Market Study on Private Equity: Time to Clear the Air?
[Priya Maharishi is a 4th-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat, Haryana] The issue of common ownership and its impact on the competition landscape has preoccupied the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a long time. The concern has become pressing in the light of increase in private equity (PE) investments in India. To show some teeth in the game, the CCI...
Call for Submissions: Trade, Law and Development
[Announcement on behalf of Trade, Law and Development] The Board of Editors of Trade, Law and Development is pleased to invite original, unpublished manuscripts for publication in the Winter ’20 Issue of the Journal (Vol. 12, No. 2) in the form of ‘Articles’, ‘Notes’, ‘Comments’ and ‘Book Reviews’. Manuscripts received by August 15, 2020, pertaining to any area within the purview of international...
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