Corporate Law

In the year 2020, work from home gained popularity and various sectors in the country were able to shift gears and adopt a total work from home or a hybrid work model. However, companies in Special Economic Zones faced challenges with enabling a work from home structure for their employees due to a lack of uniform guidelines/directions for the same. ......

The Companies Act, 2013 was passed in 2013 with the aim to revamp the Indian corporate governance regime. The new act superseded the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956 and is based upon the three pillars of liberalization, globalization and privatization. ......

The Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI"), vide its notification dated August 13, 2021, introduced the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Share Based Employee Benefits and Sweat Equity) Regulations, 2021 ("2021 Regulations") . This was after an expert group, constituted to merge the SEBI (Share Based Employee Benefits) Regulations, 2014 and the SEBI (Issue of Sweat Equity) Regulations, 2002 into the 2021 Regulations recommended various changes to the earlier regulations. ... ...

On May 12, 2022, the Supreme Court considered the interplay between the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (“Contract Act”) and the Depositories Act, 1996 (“Depositories Act”) in relation to the pledge of shares and held that the Contract Act does not recognise the sale of the pledged goods by the pawnee to himself in the event of default of payment by the pawnor. ......

In recent years, ESG, or environmental, social and governance, investing has slowly and steadily made its way to becoming an investment strategy whereby investors put their money in companies that are looking to make the world a better place. ......

The Government of Delhi aims to create business leaders and entrepreneurs and make Delhi the “start-up destination of the world”. With this aspiration at the helm, on May 5, 2022, the Delhi Cabinet approved and announced the “Delhi Start-up Policy” (“Policy”). The Policy aims to provide an enabling ecosystem for an innovation-based economy to help Delhi become a global innovation hub. ......

Recently, the Ministry of Labour and Employment notified Infosys that a joint conversation on the implementation of the non-compete provision prohibiting employees from joining a competing technology business within six months of leaving Infosys has been scheduled. ......

Alternative Investment Funds ("AIF") in India are governed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Alternative Investment Regulations), 2012 ("AIF Regulations") and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI"). AIFs are investment funds that are established or incorporated in India that are privately pooled from foreign or Indian sources, in the form of trusts, companies, bodies corporate and limited liability partnerships. ......

The Company Law Committee published its third report ("Report") on April 13, 2022 which makes recommendations to the Government on changes to the Companies Act, 2013 ("Companies Act"), the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 ("LLP Act") and the rules framed thereunder. The amendments and new additions proposed in the Report aim to bring Indian company law in line with global practices and improve the ease of doing business in India. ......