General Corporate Advisory

Legacies, while the sturdiest, are often the most vulnerable to that harsh cousin of time, change. The battle royale being played out between Tata Sons and Cyrus Mistry, of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, certainly seems to echo the thought, and is being closely monitored, as the outcome will set the way forward for one of the biggest conglomerates in India....

In a recent judgment delivered by Hon’ble Judge Indu Malhotra in the case of Dalmia Power Limited and Ors. Vs. The Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle 1, Trichy[1], the Supreme Court of India ("Court") upheld the validity of filing of revised returns by an amalgamated company beyond the time limit prescribed under the Income Tax Act, 1961 ("IT Act")....

Ever since India was ranked at 178 out of 189 nations in the world in contract enforcement, the government has attempted to take different steps to facilitate quick enforcement of contracts and hasten the process of dispute resolution through arbitration, so as to encourage investment and economic activity. As part of these measures to change the country’s image with regard to contract enforcement, the government has made amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”)with the most recent amendment coming into effect on August 30, 2019 (“2019 Amendment Act”)....

Rule against bias is one of the fundamental principles of natural justice which applies to all proceedings, compliance with which is the pivot point of a judicial process. This principle has been reinforced by the Supreme Court of India, on November 26, 2019, in the case of Perkins Eastman Architects DPC v. HSCC (India) Limited ,wherein the Apex Court reiterated that a person who has an interest in the outcome or decision of the dispute must not have the power to appoint a sole arbitrator....

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs ("MCA") vide its press release dated November 15, 2019 has notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Insolvency and Liquidation Proceedings of Financial Service Providers and Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2019 ("Rules"). The Rules provide a framework for the insolvency and liquidation proceedings of systematically important Financial Service Providers ("FSPs") excluding banks. ...

It is widely considered that independent directors on the board of a company would improve corporate governance, especially given the responsibility of the board to balance various interests. The reason for such belief stems from the opinion that the directors representing specific interests would be confined to the perspective dictated by those interests, whereas, an independent director could bring an element of objectivity to the decision making process of the board with regards to the general interests of the company and also protect minority shareholders ....

In a bid to facilitate mergers and acquisitions ("Combination") in the country, the Competition Commission of India ("CCI") has taken inspiration from the customs department and established a 'green channel'. No, it won't save you paper, but it is designed to save you precious hours. ...

The Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) has released a discussion paper on ‘Guidelines for Payment Gateways and Payment Aggregators’ for public comment (“Discussion Paper”). The Discussion Paper envisages payment gateways such as Paytm, Mobikwik, Bharat Bill Pay, PayUmoney etc. having to adhere to RBI guidelines. The Discussion Paper highlights the RBI’s concern for safeguarding the online experience of consumers while making payments and the role of intermediaries in conducting such transactions....

India opened up its economy in 1991 and has since considerably eased foreign direct investment (FDI) norms across various sectors of the economy, with a viewpoint of liberalizing the FDI regime in the country. Fast forward to 2019 and the current government, in order to further boost the economy and FDI inflows, has approved certain amendments to the existing FDI policy ("FDI Policy") of the country....