vLex India

 India’s twin achievement of receiving the highest-ever FDI[1] and touching record highs at the bourses[2] occurred in the Financial Year 2020-2021. While the former came about in the first five months of the fiscal year (i.e. during the COVID-19 lockdown), the latter took place near the end of the calendar year 2020. The year 2020... (See Article)

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) came out with its consultative paper on “promoter reclassification/ promoter group entities and disclosure of the promoter group entities in the shareholding pattern”[1] to seek public comments on November 23, 2020. The topic of promoter reclassification has been a talking point since 2015, wherein the power to... (See Article)

On December 16, 2020, the Committee of Experts within India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a revised report on the Non-Personal Data Governance Framework for India. This post details the key takeaways from the revised committee report. (See Article)

The Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”), through a press release issued on January 13, 2021, has set up a working group on digital lending (“WG”), to study all aspects of digital lending activities in the regulated financial sector as well as by unregulated players so that an appropriate regulatory approach can be put in place.... (See Article)

A plan to transform the food environment in India that includes improving food safety and hygiene has been named as a winner of an international award. Eat Right India was one of 10 programs recognized by the Rockefeller Foundation for plans to tackle food-related problems by 2050. The initiative was launched in mid-2018 and includes... (See Article)

The USDA’s Organic Program (NOP) is changing its approach to oversight of imports from India.  The USDA is ending its recognition agreement that had allowed Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority accredited certifiers to provide USDA organic certification in India. The APEDA is an apex body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry... (See Article)

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (UST) has issued determinations in the investigations of digital services taxes (DSTs) adopted or considered by India, Italy, and Turkey, finding that “each of the DSTs discriminates against U.S. companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international taxation, and burden {sic} or restricts U.S. commerce.”  Notably, USTR is... (See Article)

We asked our member firms around the globe to provide some insight on employer and employee rights when it comes to requiring the COVID-19 vaccine to return to work. Bhuvana Veeraragavan of AZB & Partners shares her view from India. (See Article)

Issue number #6-2 (October 2020) of publication Unnes Law Journal is now available

Two important arbitral jurisdictions in Asia have recently amended their arbitration laws. On November 4, 2020, the President of India passed an ordinance amending the Arbitration and Conciliation Act (the Indian Act), which entered into force with immediate effect. On December 1, 2020, amendments to the International Arbitration Act (the Singapore Act) entered into force. (See Article)

SEBI has been continuously streamlining the regulatory architecture governing schemes of arrangements under Sections 230-232 of the Companies Act, 2013 (“Companies Act”) and Regulations 11, 37 and 94 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (“LODR”) involving listed companies with the introduction of the SEBI Circular dated... (See Article)

India is motivated towards stronger energy transition actions beyond its current climate change initiatives, aggressive renewable energy, electric vehicle (EV) Infrastructure buildout; and energy diplomacy initiatives. The imperative to de-carbonise the Indian economy is drawn from the poor air quality in Indian cities, high fossil fuel import bill and concerns about India’s energy security. Despite national efforts with climate change actions, India’s fossil fuel consumption, of both oil and gas, as well as that of coal, is expected to continue to rise to meet the economy’s voracious appetite for energy in any form. Electric vehicles, battery technology and renewable energy growth seemed to (See Article)

Listen HERE or stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Amazon Music, Stitcher, or Soundcloud! The large-scale shift to telework brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic is prompting businesses around the world to explore new avenues to engage with clients and friends. Harris Bricken is no exception, and we are happy to provide this podcast series: Global Law and Business, hosted by international... (See Article)

Introduction: Recognising that an arbitration agreement between parties is an agreement independent of the substantive contract, the Delhi High Court in Dholi Spintex Pvt. Ltd. v. Louis Dreyfus Company India Pvt. Ltd.[1] has held that two Indian parties can choose a foreign law as the law governing the arbitration between them. The Court has also... (See Article)

Can allottees approach Consumer Forum under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986[1] (the “CP Act”), despite the remedies available under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (the “RERA”), if they don’t want to take a recourse under the latter? This question was long debated and the Supreme Court of India (“Supreme Court”) finally answered... (See Article)

Introduction: In our blog post titled “Maintenance and Women[1]”, we had inter alia discussed various statutory provisions under which women in India can claim maintenance. This blog post is in furtherance to the said post. Recognising the dire need to have uniformity, consistency, procedural fairness and time efficiency in disposal of maintenance applications, the Supreme... (See Article)

A recent award passed by an Emergency Arbitrator at the instance of Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings in relation to Reliance Retail Ventures Limited’s (RRVL) ongoing acquisition of Future Group’s retail, wholesale, logistics, and warehousing arm, has once again brought into sharp focus a gap in India’s aspirations to improve Ease of Doing Business in the... (See Article)

On November 09, 2020, the President of India issued a notification under Article 77(3) of the Constitution amending the Govt of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, according to which the Information & Broadcasting  Ministry (“I&B Ministry”) will now have the power to regulate and formulate policies, issue orders, instructions, notifications etc., pertaining to online... (See Article)

On November 10, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) announced the initiation of antidumping (“AD”) and countervailing duty (“CVD”) investigations on Utility Scale Wind Towers from India, Malaysia, and Spain (Spain is AD only). The petitioners in this case are the Wind Tower Trade Coalition. See our previous post summarizing the petition for details... (See Article)

India has one of the most detailed set of laws and regulations governing disclosures and approvals of related party transactions (RPT) regulating both listed and unlisted companies. The provisions of Section 188 of the Companies Act, 2013 (the Act) are applicable if: a company enters into a transaction with a ‘related party’ as defined under... (See Article)

  The Government of India recently issued a clarification on FDI in digital media sector. The pre-cursor to this clarification is Press Note 4 of 2019 (“Press Note 4”) that allowed up to 26% FDI in entities engaged in uploading/ streaming of news and current affairs through digital media platforms under the Government approval route,... (See Article)

CAM authors collaborate for this article with our Guest Authors – Michael J. Cochran, Partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton and Gabrielle Gollomp , Associate at Dentons _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _... (See Article)

Government approval is required for all foreign investments from countries sharing a land border with India - Non-residents investing in India are required to comply with India's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI Policy and other foreign investment and foreign exchange regulations, including the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the regulations and notifications thereunder. The FDI Policy is issued and revised from time to time by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India (GOI). (See Article)

The European Commission has strengthened checks on sesame seeds from India as recalls due to pesticide residue contamination continue. The move was prompted by food safety incidents notified through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) portal and information from official controls by member states on the seeds from India. An alert was... (See Article)

Cases in India can take years to be disposed of. Stay of proceedings on account of interim orders has been greatly responsible for causing inordinate delay in disposal of cases. These orders typically stay effective unless expressly vacated, or until a final order is passed, which then subsumes the interim order. Interim orders that stay... (See Article)

 From SSRN: Timothy Lubin, Dignity and Status in Ancient and Medieval India, (Human Dignity in Asia: A Dialogue between Law and Culture, edited by Jimmy Chia-Shin Hsu (Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming). Neil James Foster, Statutory Construction and Biblical Hermeneutics- Law in the Service of the Gospel?,  ((2020) 252 St Mark’s Review 106-128). From BYU Law Review,... (See Article)

As part of the Indian government’s initiatives to revitalize the Indian economy, particularly defense manufacturing, it recently announced new initiatives aimed at foreign defense contractors and investment. The Indian government will allow direct purchases from foreign contractors as long as the procured item contains a minimum of 50 percent domestic content that is manufactured by an Indian subsidiary... (See Article)

Introduction Norms concerning corporate governance in India have evolved over a period of time. Since markets and businesses are inherently dynamic, they continue to evolve globally. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”), to its credit, has been on the ball and contributed significantly towards raising the standards of corporate governance for listed... (See Article)

Corporate scandals and frauds in India are as old as the hills. The 1950s witnessed the infamous LIC/ Mundhra scam, which was the first major financial fraud of the independent India. Frauds continued with an alarming regularity thereafter in every decade – the infamous Harshad Mehta, Ketan Parekh, Sahara, and Satyam scams are just a... (See Article)

The deadline for Person of Indian Origin (PIO) cardholders to apply for Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards at Indian Consulates around the world is now December 31, 2021, extending the previous deadline of September 30, 2020. Applications are typically processed within four to five business days. However, PIO cardholders are urged to register for... (See Article)