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On February 15, 2021, an arbitral tribunal (the “Tribunal”) issued an award in a dispute between Zostel Hospitality Private Limited (“Zostel”) and Oravel Stays Private Limited (“Oyo”). The parties to the dispute operate accommodation management and booking business in India. In its award, the Tribunal held that a term sheet executed between Zostel and Oyo was binding in nature despite the express declaration in the preamble of the term sheet stating that it was non-binding and merely exploratory.

Whether the initiation of insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) imposes a moratorium on proceedings against the corporate debtor, including those initiated under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (NI Act) dealing with the dishonour of cheques, has been the subject matter of many litigations.

In two interesting cases, one from the Delhi High Court and the other from the Chennai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (the “Chennai ITAT”), the importance of a share valuation report in settling tax disputes has, once again, come to the fore.

With regard to an over two-decade-old software royalty tax dispute, India’s Supreme Court (“SC”) has ruled that software payments made by Indian end-users or distributors and resellers to overseas software suppliers are payments for sales and not for royalties. Therefore, such payments are not subject to withholding tax in India unless the non-resident seller has…

Background On February 25, 2021, the Indian government unveiled the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (the “New Rules”).  Once notified in the Official Gazette, the Intermediary Rules will supersede the decade old Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules, 2011 (the “Intermediary Guidelines”) as the Indian government strives to keep…

In April 2014, the Indian government introduced a detailed corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) regime as a part of the then newly introduced Companies Act, 2013 (the “Act”). As per Section 135 of the Act, CSR obligations apply to all companies, who, in the preceding financial year have a: net worth of at least INR5 billion…

Recently, in the case of Technip France SA, the Authority for Advance Rulings (the “AAR”) dealt with the issue of taxability in India of an offshore supply of equipment and provision of offshore services. The AAR held that the payment for the offshore supply was not taxable in India, as the delivery and title of…

Recently, in Ireo Grace Realtech Private Limited v. Abhishek Khanna and Ors. (C.A. 5785 of 2019), India’s Supreme Court (the “SC”) examined the binding value of oppressive and one-sided contracts, and the recourse for affected parties under Indian consumer protection laws.

Enforcement action in the US In March 2020, the Securities Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) formed a Coronavirus Steering Committee to actively oversee the monitoring of COVID-19-related misconduct by listed entities. On December 4, 2020, the SEC issued its first enforcement order against a listed entity for making misleading disclosures about the financial impact of the…

Introduction India’s Union Budget (the “Budget”) was announced today (February 1, 2021), and the Finance Bill, 2021 (the “Finance Bill”) was tabled in Parliament. The Finance Bill will be discussed in Parliament before its enactment, and therefore, it is likely that the Finance Bill may be amended because of these discussions. Once enacted, unless specified…