Diwali is one of the most anticipated and celebrated festivals in India. It is also a festival of giving gifts, which is often a challenge for compliance professionals who struggle with policies and nuances of law around this time, on giving gifts that might seem like bribes. Under the Prevention of...
Blogs by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
The RBI has amended the Master Directions on Financial Services provided by Banks. This is a significant move permitting Banks to invest in Category II Alternative Investment Funds. As of June 30, 2017, Alternative Investment Funds ( AIFs ) had raised the cumulative figure of Rs. 48, 129 crores, aga...
Image credit: Scroll.in, September 26, 2017 Sociologists know that the formation and survival of civilization is conditional upon the universal adherence to a framework of acceptable norms and guidelines of human conduct and interaction. Moses therefore set out as God’s message, the directive to lov...
Financial investors in India are scared of regulatory uncertainties. Not that uncertainties are exclusive to our country but it’s a critical risk factor that is assessed by those making substantial investments. Historically, one of the most important regulatory concerns for such investors is related...
India has long recognised the right of foreign creditors to participate in the winding up of Indian companies. As early as 1961, the Supreme Court of India, in Rajah of Vizianagaram (AIR 1962 SC 500) , clarified that foreign creditors have the same right as Indian creditors in winding up proceedings...
Photo credit: Indian Express, August 23, 2017 Through its historic ruling delivered by a five-judge bench in the case of Shayara Bano and Ors v. Union of India on August 22nd 2017, the Supreme Court of India ( SC ) liberated Muslim women from the perpetual fear of arbitrary and whimsical divorce. Th...
The ability to attract large scale Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI ) into India has been a key driver for policy making by the Government. Prime Minister Modi seems to be going along the right track, with India receiving FDI inflows worth USD 60.1 billion in 2016-17, which was an all-time high. Henc...
On August 31st 2017, the Supreme Court of India in the case of Innoventive Industries Limited v. ICICI Bank Limited* delivered its first extensive ruling on the operation and functioning of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ( Insolvency Code ). The Court said that it is pronouncing its detail...
Mergers are compared to marriages. As a union of companies, they require patience and understanding, but they also involve a large amount of paperwork. Mergers, like marriages, can flourish with the right synergies, but if there are differences between the entities, the arrangement can often collaps...
Many issues crop up from the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( SEBI ) letter dated August 7, 2017 (the Directions ) to the BSE Limited, the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and the Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India Limited (collectively, the Stock Exchanges ) instructing the Stock ...
Second in our series of Employment Law blogs on the Maternity Benefit Act. The earlier piece was published here . The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 ( MB Act ) was amended by the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2016 ( MB Amendment Act ) which became effective on April 1st, 2017 (except for the provi...
Offshore Derivative Instruments ( ODI ) have been a focal point for the Government in India and over the years, the regulatory boundaries of doing business in this space have been re-aligned by the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( SEBI ), quite frequently. As a part of SEBI’s efforts towards...
“ The foundation of every state is the education of its youth, ” said Diogenes, the ancient Greek philosopher. Herein lies the crux of why education remains vital for any government across the world, often as a charitable and social responsibility. This piece intends to provide an overview of the ed...
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2016 ( “Amendment Act” ), which was passed by Parliament on March 9th, 2017, introduced certain significant changes to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 ( “MB Act” ). The Amendment Act received Presidential assent on March 27th, 2017 and came into effect from Apr...
It seems we live in an independent director-bashing era. News articles, blogs, scholarly write-ups are replete with criticism relating to independent directors, whether it’s to do with their appointment, ‘true’ independence, removal, resignation or generally their very existence! Anything remotely c...
Until recently, whilst it was possible for a foreign company to merge with an Indian company, it was not possible for an Indian company to merge with a foreign company within the court sanctioned merger framework set out under Indian corporate law. This finally changed in April 2017, when the compan...
The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( SEBI ) recently issued an informal guidance in response to a request for an interpretive letter from Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited ( KMBL ) on the continual disclosure requirements under the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 ( PIT Regu...
In a landmark judgment recently delivered by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ( NCLAT ) in the case of Innoventive Industries Limited v. ICICI Bank Limited , the NCLAT has held that the National Company Law Tribunal ( NCLT ) is bound to issue only a limited notice to the corporate debtor ...
Intellectual property ( IP ) forms part of our overall growth strategy. This is the message that the Indian government is sending out like never before, as is evident from a number of measures that have been put in place in recent times. The trends show that the government is keen not just to augmen...
At least since 2012, there has been a fair amount of legal uncertainty on the ambit of powers of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission ( CERC ) and the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions ( SERCs ) under the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 ( the 2003 Act ) to award what came to ...