Corporate Law

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 advent of globalization, technological advancements, transborder transactions, frequent employment shifts and increased competitionbetween businesses have necessitated increased complexity in the relationship between an employer and an employee calling for adetailedemploymentcontract to be executed between both these parties....

In India, contract labourers are protected by the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition Act), 1970. A contract labourer is defined as one who is hired in connection with the work of an establishment by a principal employer through a contractor. While a contractor is the supplier of contract labour for the organization, a principal employer is the person responsible for the control of the establishment....

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....

Globally, private equity and venture capital funds have gained prominence as the dominant forms of investment in companies. A natural corollary of the above has been the evolution of innovative and complex mechanisms designed to protect such investment and gain maximum returns on the same. ...

In one of our Articles published in September-Amendments to the Negotiable Instruments Act, we discussed the amendments that were brought to the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 ("Act") with an intention of amending the law related to promissory notes, bills of exchange and cheques. The Act has been amended time and again to ensure and enhance trust in negotiable instruments. With an aim to further streamline theAct, the Central Government incorporated Sections 143-A and 148 vide  Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018 ("Amended Act"). These new sets of provisions have been effective since 1st September 2018....

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....

On May 1^st, 2019, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs ("MCA") released e-form MSME 1 ("MSME 1"), requiring all companies obtaining supplies of goods/ services from micro and small enterprises ("Enterprises") and whose respective payments to such Enterprises exceed forty-five days from the date of acceptance or the date of deemed acceptance of such goods/ services to file MSME 1, by 30^th May, 2019....