General Corporate Advisory

External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) are commercial loans raised by eligible resident entities from recognised non-resident entities which should always conform to the parameters prescribed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) such as minimum maturity, permitted and non-permitted end-uses, maximum all-in-cost ceiling etc.The ECB framework is governed by the regulations of the RBI framed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 ("FEMA"), and the Master Direction – External Commercial Borrowings, Trade Credits and Structured Obligations (the "MasterDirection")....

On July 03, 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs through a written statement informed the Rajya Sabha that the present Government has no plans on amending the laws on sedition in the country so as to ensure that the Government has effective means to combat anti-national, secessionist and terrorist elements. In an election, where national security was a huge factor for the political parties, a stance that was taken by certain political parties was that they would like to amend the present sedition laws in our country^[1], whereas, the ruling party’s stand was that they would like to toughen the existing sedition laws.^[2]...

In recent years, there has been increasing clamour and debate around implementing a framework for enabling issuance of shares with Differential Voting Rights (“DVRs”) where listed companies are concerned. In a move that is bound to significantly change the way certain transactions are structured, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) approved the Framework for Issuance of Differential Voting Rights Shares (“Framework”) on June 27, 2019....

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vide a 2012 circular, stipulated that Indian companies which have received FDI and/or made FDI abroad (i.e. overseas investment) in the previous year(s) including the current year, should file the annual return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets (FLA) in the soft form which can be duly filled-in, validated and sent by e-mail to the Reserve Bank by July 15 of every year. The coverage was enhanced to reporting of inward and outward foreign affiliate trade statistics (FATS) and reporting by the limited liability partnerships (LLPs) through the subsequent circulars....

The theory of separability for arbitration agreements has been developed over time. It has been well recognized in India and other jurisdictions that an arbitration clause in a contract is an agreement independent of the contract executed between the parties. This theory of separability of an arbitration agreement has well elucidated by the Supreme Court of India in the case of M/S Sms Tea Estates P.Ltd v. M/S Chandmari Tea Co. P.Ltd...

In January 2009, India witnessed one of its biggest corporate scandals - the ‘Satyam scandal’ also referred to as ‘India’s Enron’. Satyam Computers Services Limited ("SCSL") was under the microscope for fraudulent activity and misrepresentation of its accounts to its board, stock exchanges, regulators, investors and all other stakeholders. Thereafter, shareholders of SCSL, approximately 300,000 were unsuccessful in claiming damages worth millions due to the absence of the provision for filing a class action suit under the Companies Act, 1956.American investors on the other hand were able to claim their part of damages in the US courts through a class action suit against SCSL....

If one were to be asked whether Dim Sum, Matador, Samurai, Kangaroo, Maple and Bull Dog share anything in common, one would be hard-pressed for an appropriate reply.To answer the question posed, the above are all international bonds. International bonds are debt investment instruments issued in a country by a non-domestic entity, in the currency of that non-domestic country. These bonds have been colourfully named, as demonstrated, to evoke an association with their home country. “Dim-Sum” bonds are the Chinese variant, the Japanese version are the lofty “Samurai” bonds, and one can probably guess which countries Matador, Maple and Kangaroo belong to....

In a caricatured simplified world, there are three broad sources of finance: equity, debt, and borrowing. In each case, in terms of origin, funds can come from domestic and foreign sources. Interestingly, when one looks at Balance of Payments (BoP) representation of a country, it majorly comprises of the following two components: investments and borrowing....

In order to catalyse entrepreneurship and let the start-up segment flourish, the Indian government has issued a notification dated February 19, 2019 ("Notification"), which sets out certain tax exemptions available to start-ups under the Income-tax Act, 1961 ("Act")....