The author’s interesting viewpoint about attracting
and retaining talent
In consulting terms, they say that you can herd
sheep but you cannot herd cats. The legal
profession, when seen from the prism of a law
firm, is nothing short of herding cats. Lawyers by
nature tend to have opinions and are generally quite
independent in their thinking. In the realm of counsel
practice, individual brilliance is what ultimately counts. In
contrast, in a collective environment, individual brilliance
always helps but can also become counter-productive if an
individual does not gel well with the other members of the
team. A firm environment is a team environment. Passing
the ball at the right time is equally, if not more, important
than scoring a goal.
In this challenging landscape, it is always difficult to
attract talent; and more importantly, to retain it – and
that too, happily. Not only does this need to be achieved,
but also a perfect rhythm needs to be maintained
in order to drive excellence in output. There are
various theories on how to achieve it, but I don’t
think there is an exact science. Ultimately, we are dealing
with the human mind, which is different from person
to person.…
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Should the draft bill on cross-border insolvency be approved, Switzerland will
be able to provide broader, faster and better international cooperation to
foreign insolvency office holders
This article deals with the new provisions under
Swiss law concerning the use of cross-border
insolvency tools in relation to asset recovery.
India has dozens of cases of cross-border willful
default loans, ranging in value between US$250
million and US$5 billion. These cases typically involve
Indian companies borrowing large sums of money from
Indian banks, defaulting, and then falsely asserting that
they have no means to repay.
Frequently, willfully defaulting borrowers use offshore
counterparties to manufacture a loss, while in reality, they
beneficially own and control these counterparties. The
proceeds of such credit fraud are then laundered through
offshore companies holding bank accounts abroad, notably
in Switzerland.
Switzerland is thus highly relevant to Indian lenders both
to gather information and to recover assets since it remains a strong financial center in which significant portions of the
assets may be well protected.
On 16 March 2018, Swiss Parliament adopted a bill on crossborder
insolvency, which is expected to enter into force
early 2019. Considering preserving the Swiss particularities
of cross-border insolvency necessary, the Swiss legislator
regretfully refrained from fully incorporating the
UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency.…
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In light of the Cambridge Analytica incident, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is looking at regulating app data flow and data ownership so that the government has additional control over telecom networks.
Several phone details such as call logs, microphone and photo gallery—which aren’t essential to an app’s services—can be accessed by app manufacturers. TRAI is planning to create a framework that will calm all data privacy and security worries and the recommendations will probably be out this month.
However, app makers are not happy with this move as they are already governed by the IT Act. App users underestimate the power of data and app makers sometimes sell that data and profit from it. App makers have rejected the idea being set by the TRAI which means TRAI will face issues with technology companies. For instance, the government body faced issues with technology company Apple over Apple’s lack of support for the TRAI’s Do Not Disturb app service. The Supreme Court is also looking at a law on data protection which will be India’s first such law and it will hopefully mitigate data privacy concerns.…
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Bitcoins worth Rs. 20 crore were stolen from Coinsecure, a Delhi-based cryptocurrency exchange. The company tried to trace the hackers and found that data logs had been erased.
The company named its CSO as a suspect and filed an FIR with the cyber cell under Section 66 of the IT Act. The bitcoins, used by two lakh users in India, had vanished due to passwords being leaked online. Coinsecure posted a message for its users and also issued a letter explaining the incident.
The police found that the passwords which were never saved online were online for more than 12 hours. Possible malware issues are also being investigated.…
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The article takes a close look at the highlights of
Union Budget 2018 in terms of direct and indirect taxes
While Budget proposals of 2018 were
in all aspects people-friendly with
announcements on major reforms in
healthcare, agriculture, air pollution, job
creation, roads and railways and other
common problems of the common man, the direct tax
and indirect tax proposals were also landmarks on their
own account. 2018 being the first budget after introduction
of GST, a few changes are proposed on Indirect taxes
front. The nomenclature of central indirect tax regulatory
body has been proposed to be changed to demonstrate
the subsuming of excise duty on major goods within GST
ambit.
Accordingly, existing name is proposed to be changed from
Central Board of Excise & Customs (‘CBEC’) to Central Board
of Indirect Tax & Customs (‘CBIC’). Education cess and
Secondary and Higher Education cess has been proposed
to be abolished on imported goods. A new cess namely
‘social welfare surcharge’ shall be introduced (not to
be included while computing Integrated GST). Other
significant proposal is the levy of ‘road and infrastructure
cess’ of INR 8 per litre (from existing INR 6 per litre) on
petrol and diesel, as an additional excise duty on imported
goods.…
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While we understand that the taxation of a private
trust majorly depends on what structure is being
followed while forming and operating a trust, it
is advisable that the real intention of the settlor
be explicitly set out in the trust deed along with
details regarding beneficiaries
In India, the creation, affairs of the trust, rights,
obligations, removal, duties and legal remedies to
seek redressal of grievances by the settlors, trustees
and beneficiaries are governed by the archaic
legislation, Indian Trust Act, 1882 (“Trust Act”).
Settlement of property in private trusts for better estate
management and succession planning offers several
advantages, one of which is that private trusts qualify
as bankruptcy remote structures, since the property
settled by the author of the trust (after complying with
the prescribed time period) no longer vests in the settlor,
and hence the same cannot be attached in bankruptcy
proceeding. It has always remained as an effective tool for
inheritance planning since it allows flexibility in transfer
of assets amongst the legal heir. Such settlement of family
property helps in protecting and preserving the assets and
safeguarding the interest of incapacitated or dependent
family members/minors or senior citizens with assured
income being set aside.
Declaration Of Private Trusts
Settlement of
property in private
trusts for better
estate management
and succession
planning offers several
advantages
A private trust can be declared either by execution of a nontestamentary
instrument (if the trust is created during the
lifetime of the settlor) or through a testamentary instrument
(if the trust is to be created after the death of the settlor).…
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If a lawyer receives unsatisfactory instructions from a client or
information which is incomplete, then the lawyer should cease to act
if he or she believes that the client may be seeking to act illegally
In April 2016, the world learned about a rather obscure
law firm in Panama, Mossack Fonseca, that had been
attending to the offshore needs of clients (large and small
companies, trusts, politicians, socialites and just the plain
old-fashioned wealthy) for many years.
In late 2017, Panama moved to Paradise where a rich history of
client dealings of a well-known Bermuda law firm, Appleby, was
published, along with client information, for all to see.
Both firms appeared to have suffered from cyber security failings
as their confidential information was removed, downloaded
by persons unknown (at least publicly) and presented to the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, then to be
published worldwide in a coordinated manner. From Panama to
Paradise – what does it all mean for lawyers in India, in Australia
and elsewhere and where are governments going?
The immediate consequences for Mossack Fonseca and Appleby
are serious. Mossack Fonseca shut numerous offices and its
principals are under arrest and subjected to investigation over
their conduct1. Appleby is engaged in litigation before the English
High Court against the BBC and The Guardian seeking damages,
the return of all documents and a permanent injunction for breach of confidence2.…
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Historically speaking, economic crises or disasters natural or man-made have never occurred in isolation. There have always been warning signals which, many a times, were not heeded
Extreme events do not come out all of a sudden; their trend and information are always available through data points. However, those data points are often ignored and it is believed that nothing will happen, but that ignorance has been proven to be costly in the past. If any of those past extreme events are analyzed, it could be found that the vital signs were available but ignored, resulting in a disaster/crisis.
In the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, it was “overconfidence” about the ability of the ship not to sink keeping few lifeboats and that too for other sinking ships.
The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 in USSR was a combination of a design fault, safety system intentionally turning off, and safety negligence.
In the Bhopal gas tragedy in India in 1984 where thousands of people died and health of millions got affected due to the emission of a poisonous gas in the atmosphere, the prime cause was a reduction in maintenance expenses by the management, leading to poor upkeep of the plant.…
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From putting Ranbaxy on the global pharmaceutical map to selling their stake in it to daiichi sankyo to their subsequent downfall, Legal Era chronicles the saga of the company’s former Promoters, Malvinder and Shivinder Singh
Back in 1937, when cousins Ranjit and Gurbax started a drug distribution firm in Amritsar, Punjab, little did they imagine that Ranbaxy would go on to become the face of India’s booming pharmaceuticals industry. After defaulting on a loan however, the duo was forced to sell the company to one Bhai Mohan Singh, a man who had left Rawalpindi, Pakistan, for Delhi, following the Partition. Under Bhai Mohan Singh, the firm launched its first bestselling drug, Calmpose, in 1961. Over the years, the baton passed from Bhai Mohan Singh to his son Parvinder Singh and finally to his grandsons Malvinder and Shivinder Singh who became Promoters of Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals. In 2008, when Ranbaxy was at the peak of its glory, particularly in the generics’ space, Malvinder and Shivinder Singh decided to sell their stake in it to Japanese drug manufacturer Daiichi Sankyo for a jaw-dropping $4.6 billion.
A marriage gone wrong
The Ranbaxy deal could not have come at a more opportune time for Daiichi Sankyo which was looking to enter the generics’ space.…
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With due government intent falling into
place and the Indian education market
projected to grow to USD 180 billion in a
few years’ time, the need for capital,
technology, and best practices from
a private player will be invaluable
to the sector
Background
In two of the earlier pieces in a three-part series on the
education sector, we had discussed the setting up of K-12
schools and higher education institutions. In the concluding
piece, we focus on the investment climate in the sector and
key considerations in this regard.
The above shall be looked at through two broad lenses,
namely:
(i) Regulatory regime
(ii) Regulatory climate
Regulatory Regime
Hereunder, we look at some of the key factors that may come
up in the context of investment in the education sector:
(i) Which sub-sector to invest in?
Unlike many other sectors which have harmonious sectoral
regulators, the education sector has certain distinctive subsectors.
Chief among these are:
(a) Pre-school education
(b) K-12 schools
(c) Higher education (colleges, universities, technical
education)
(d) Ed-tech (education provided through technology,
media, and innovation)
Each of these sectors is sizeable, with some statistics
indicating that the K-12 segment is the largest by revenue.
It contributes about 52% of a total education sector market
that is estimated at a value of USD 100 billion.…
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Human Resource Development and customer-centric behavior
have become modern managements’ article of faith. It is for
the corporate governance theory to change itself to keep pace
with the practice. In short, it is moving from the linear thinking
of about shareholder value to the n-dimensional space that
includes everyone
1. The Anglo-Saxon system is typical for countries such
as UK, USA and Australia and is also known as the
shareholder system. Large and liquid stock markets, low
concentration of ownership, one-tier board of directors,
and relatively high level of protection for minority
shareholders and dominant role of institutional
investors are basic characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon
corporate governance system. Management is not
controlled nor supervised by any of the corporation’s
stakeholder groups except the shareholders. The stock
market and investors through the Board exert control
over the management.1 The Anglo-American model of
the firm emphasizes shareholder value as the only or
last purpose of the firm to which the other (stakeholder)
purposes are instrumental or, at least, functional. The
European model of the firm emphasizes that the firm is
a multi-purpose institution in which shareholder value
plays the central but not the only role. Labor as the most
important stakeholder group besides the shareholders
should be represented and have a right to participate in
the decision-making on the level of the second board,
i.e.…
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The Apex Court on rulings of the NCLAT under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
A year since its coming into force, infirmities couched in the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 concerning the scope and object of the provisions and applicability of other enactments had arisen from the rulings of the Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal which in effect have affected parties approaching the tribunals. Issue concerning but not limited to the applicability of Limitation Act, 1963 to the Insolvency Resolution Process in Neelkanth Township v. Urban Infrastructure, construal of provisions of the Code so as to include statements issued by foreign banks other than ‘Financial Institutions’ under the provisions of the Code, Service of a Demand Notice by an Advocate in Macquarie Bank v. Shilpi Cable Technologies Pvt. Ltd etc. have been adjudicated upon by the authorities. However, in some cases, parties have sought clarification on rulings and conclusions arrived at by the Tribunals from the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Read on to know more.
Applications barred by time – When admissible?
Under the provisions of the other enactments1, if an application was brought after the period prescribed under the Limitation Act, 1963, it would be barred by time.…
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