In its recent judgment in Bhagwati Developers v Peerless General Finance, the Supreme Court has considered some important questions relating to the interpretation of the Securities Contract (Regulation) Act, 1956 [“SCRA”]. There were principally two questions before the Court: (i) the applicability of the SCRA to public unlisted companies and (ii) the construction of a settlement agreement to...
Enforceability of Put and Call Options: Reality Soon?
Although put and call options are quite common in investment agreements, its enforceability under Indian law has been in serious doubt due to age-old provisions in securities laws which have not been updated to meet with the requirement of the times. I have discussed the issue in detail in this paper and also called “for a reconsideration of the legal regime so that physically settled options...
The Options Saga Continues
A few months ago, we had discussed a change of policy stance by the Government of India in allowing options (such as puts and calls) on shares of Indian companies to foreign investors. While the Government initially specified that the existence of such options would turn the foreign investment into an external commercial borrowing, it was quick to withdraw this stipulation due to the immediate...
Commencement of Disinvestment Process
Following the Finance Minister’s announcement in Budget 2009 to undertake disinvestments, the Government has now announced stake sales in 25 public sector companies through public offers. Its zeal to ensure the success of these public floats of shares is evidenced by a proposal to grant significant powers to the Department of Disinvestment. The truth, however, is that disinvestments tend to be a...
Derivatives as speculative transactions
A recent post here discussed the decision of the ITAT Special Bench at Kolkata in Shree Capital Services v. ACIT, commenting on its relevance for derivative transactions in India. Another detailed examination of the decision, and of the legal issues surrounding the taxation of derivatives, is now available here. In sum, the author argues- “[a] Firstly, prior to the insertion of clause [d] by...
Enforceability of Options in Securities
The Mint carries an article by Archana Rajaram and Amrita Singh that discusses the current position on the enforceability of put and call options on securities of an Indian company. The Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 (SCRA) and the notifications issued under that permit only ‘spot delivery’ contracts in securities transactions outside the exchange. A spot delivery contract is one...
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