White Collar Crimes – India
A series of high-profile financial and corruption scandals since the year 2011 galvanized the Indian anti-corruption movement into action, resulting in increased enforcement activity and legislative actions. Though India has taken strides to achieve the status of a global player yet appears to not have made substantial efforts in improving its ranking in the Corruption Perception Index, recently being ranked at 85. Particularly, these ranking shows no drastic change even in the aftermath of amended provisions concerning corruption and other reporting regulations. India’s tryst with white collar crimes which includes money laundering, tax evasion, bribery, insider trading etc. dates to several decades and several legislations enacted to counter white-collar crimes. Some of the key legislations are
Pre-packaged Insolvency Resolution Process: A tailored mechanism but an effective one?
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code) was introduced with an objective to consolidate and amend the laws relating to reorganization and insolvency resolution in a ‘time bound’ manner. Prior to the enactment thereof, the resolution and revival of a sick, distressed corporate body in India was governed by multiple legislations, due to the multiplicity of which there was considerable lack of coherence in the insolvency regime. As a result, it was imperative to have a comprehensive, consolidated and streamlined legal framework to deal with the revival of corporate body, which did away with the implementation deficits even as the symbolic existence of laws remained in place. Accordingly and repeatedly so, both the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) have emphasized the importance of enacting the Code as an effective mechanism by the stakeholders, of the stakeholders and for the stakeholders.
Corporate Governance | Piercing of the Corporate Veil– Latest Trends
In line with this year’s World Economic Forum theme of “Cooperation in a Fragmented World”, inthis globalized business economy marked by co-existence and interdependence, with the corporate world witnessing frauds, insider trading and other forms of mismanagement, good corporate governance built upon the tenets of accountability, transparency, participation, fairness and responsibility is the need of the hour and a linchpin for building a high-performance culture. In view of a company being an artificial person having its separate juristic identity, with a perpetual succession, Chief Justice Marshell has rightly said,
Competition, Innovation and Inclusive Growth
Innovation is a systemic phenomenon that takes place within an economic environment in which the law has a full role to play. However, no definition of the term innovation has general acceptancy. According to the Oslo Manual definition adopted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), “An innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation or external relations”. It is important to note that in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2017, India is indexed at the 60th position in the adoption of innovative technology. Whereas, Switzerland is at the top position followed by the US is in 4th position, it is also lagged behind by the countries like Ireland (10), South Korea (11) and China (22).
Break-Fee Clause in Merger and Acquisition Agreements: An Overview
India has experienced a significant increase in the demand for merger and acquisition activity over the past several decades, as well as for the relevant rules and regulations to control it. According to professionals, these merger and acquisition operations have a significant influence on shareholder interests and, as a result, the whole economic system. In general, these have a great chance to promote and push economic efficiency by permitting interesting improvements in business management and allowing businesses to combine or merge. In addition to helping the affected firm become more cost-effective, a merger or acquisition transaction may promote trade rationalisation, to the benefit of the economy as a whole. This may enable the incorporated firm to achieve gains due to the absence of duplication of expenditures on research and development, redundant production, and various other harmful factors to growth. Currently, these transactions, when completed at the right moment, have the potential to increase shareholder value in addition to providing benefits to society and private parties on top of that. It is exciting that the law may offer a dependable method for determining the legal propriety of activities that could either help or obstruct these transactions.