Mergers and Acquisitions Archives

The Legal Framework for Nuclear Energy in India: The Way Ahead

Insights | March 17, 2025 | Practice Area: Clean Energy, General Corporate, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Projects; Infrastructure and Energy, Regulatory

Despite significant progress made by India with respect to renewable energy, its nuclear power capacity remains relatively small. Recognizing the necessity of nuclear energy deployment to achieve net-zero targets, including the advantages that such deployment offers over renewable sources of power, the Indian government has renewed its focus on the nuclear sector in the budget announced on February 1, 2025, including through permitting private and foreign investment in the sector.
However, India’s plans to promote private/foreign investment in the nuclear sector require certain changes to the existing legal regime, including with respect to civil nuclear liability. In that regard, the government appears keen to introduce necessary legislative amendments soon. This note aims to discuss current challenges and potential modifications with respect to such laws.

Fast Track Mergers in India: Feasibility and Key Legal Challenges

Insights | March 4, 2025 | Practice Area: Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity

The Companies Act, 2013 introduced the Fast Track Merger route for certain companies as an alternative to the cumbersome National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) process. This note outlines the procedural requirements, analyzes recent amendments aimed at strengthening and broadening the Fast Track Merger framework and attempts to identify key procedural challenges and suggestions that may be considered to increase the efficacy of the Fast Track Merger route.

Investing in India: An Overview of Legal Considerations – 2025 Checklist

Insights | February 5, 2025 | Practice Area: Capital Markets, Competition/Antitrust, InvITs, InvITs; REITs and Business Trusts, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Regulatory, Tax

Foreign investment continues to play a crucial role in India’s economic growth with India achieving the milestone of having received USD 1 trillion of foreign direct investment since April 2000. While the cumulative FDI received in the financial years ended March 31, 2023, and March 31, 2024 remained similar, there has been an increase in the FDI received between April 2024 to September 2024 in comparison to previous years.
This note examines certain key legal considerations for foreign investors investing in India and highlights key updates included in the legal framework during the calendar year 2024.

Fiber Opportunity in India: Regulatory Framework and Right-of-Way Management

Insights | January 16, 2025 | Practice Area: General Corporate, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Regulatory, Technology; Media and Telecommunications

With increasing demand for high-speed internet, 5G roll-out and data center growth, deployment of a robust and reliable optic fiber cable (“OFC”) infrastructure has become essential to support India’s expanding digital ecosystem. Fueled by this market opportunity, companies are focusing on expanding their OFC networks and investors are exploring potential opportunities for fiber investments in India. Several telecom operators have already consolidated their fiber assets in a path towards monetization of such assets.
This note explores the legal framework and recent developments regarding Right-of-Way for OFC in India.

Accessing Space for Commercial Activities and Satellite Spectrum Allocation in India

Insights | January 6, 2025 | Practice Area: General Corporate, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Regulatory, Technology, Technology; Media and Telecommunications

The Government of India has been actively working towards liberalizing the space sector and enhancing private sector participation. In this regard, given the stakes involved and the positions taken by various interested parties, the process for allocation of satellite spectrum remains a contentious point.
There has been a major debate among service providers regarding the appropriate way to allocate satellite spectrum.
While the Telecommunications Act, 2023 (“Telecom Act”) favors administrative allocation of satellite spectrum, the details of such process are yet to be finalized. This note considers the debate involving auctions and administrative allocation and provides an overview of past and recent developments with respect to Supreme Court judgements, digital communications policy, frequency allocation plan, space policy and the Telecom Act. It also discusses past consultation papers and recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on satellite spectrum allocation, as well as the recent provisional satellite spectrum allocation approved by the Department of Telecommunications.

Jurisdiction of the National Company Law Tribunal in Corporate Restructurings: Protecting Tax Revenue as Public Interest

Insights | December 23, 2024 | Practice Area: Mergers and Acquisitions, Tax

In India, the National Company Law Tribunal (“NCLT”) has, on several occasions, rejected or scrutinized schemes of corporate restructurings based on objections raised by the Income Tax Department (“ITD”). These objections often focus on whether the scheme is structured primarily to avoid taxes, taking advantage of set-off of losses or avoidance of tax liabilities by overvaluation of assets. This note discusses case law where the NCLT has taken into account tax matters and evaluated the impact of the General Anti Avoidance Rules (“GAAR”) as a matter of ‘public interest’, thus setting important precedents in Indian corporate jurisprudence.

Permissibility of Selective Capital Reduction Under the Companies Act, 2013 and the Wider “Take Private” Question

Insights | November 20, 2024 | Practice Area: General Corporate, Mergers and Acquisitions

In a departure from existing precedents, the National Company Law Tribunal, Kolkata bench (NCLT), pursuant to its order dated September 19, 2024, rejected a petition for reduction of capital under Section 66 of the Companies Act, 2013 filed by Philips India Limited, an unlisted company, to cancel and extinguish the equity shares held by the non-promoter shareholders. The rejection was on the basis that the company’s main objective was a buy-back of equity shares from the minority public shareholders and that the reduction of share capital was only incidental to the company’s main objective. This note analyzes the permissibility of selective capital reduction under the Companies Act, 2013 in light of the decision of the NCLT in Philips India and the wider question on ‘take private’ transactions.

M&A in the Ports Sector in India: Key Regulatory and Contractual Considerations

Insights | November 14, 2024 | Practice Area: Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Projects; Infrastructure and Energy, Regulatory

The Indian ports sector is witnessing increased private sector participation, particularly by way of Public-Private Partnerships (“PPP”). The government has facilitated private sector participation by adopting investor friendly PPP models and streamlining tender processes and concession agreements for major ports. Due to multiple regulatory authorities and differing practices of port authorities, mergers and acquisitions in the ports sector in India are associated with unique considerations that potential acquirers should bear in mind. This note discusses the key regulatory and contractual considerations relevant to mergers and acquisitions in the ports sector in India.

The New India-UAE BIT: Changing the Model BIT by BIT

Insights | November 5, 2024 | Practice Area: Litigation and Arbitration, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Regulatory

The new bilateral investment treaty (“BIT”) signed by India and the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) earlier this year replaces the 2013 India-UAE BIT and entered into force on August 31, 2024. The 2024 India-UAE BIT seeks to stimulate investment across a broad range of sectors and marks a key policy shift in India’s foreign investment protection regime. Importantly, the new treaty departs from India’s Model BIT in several significant aspects. These include extension of investment protection to portfolio investments, reduction in the timeline for exhaustion of local remedies before commencing arbitration, and a blanket prohibition of third-party funding.
In this note, we analyze some of the key features of the 2024 India-UAE BIT, including the indications, if any, regarding India’s position on its Model BIT and what this may signify for ongoing negotiations on other BITs.

Key Changes to the Competition Act, 2002

Legal Updates | October 3, 2024 | Practice Area: Competition/Antitrust, Mergers and Acquisitions

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, and the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) have introduced certain amendments to the Competition Act, 2002 (“Competition Act”) and the regulations framed thereunder. These include introduction of deal value thresholds to the Competition Act, relaxations for open offers and implementation of stock exchange purchases, changes to certain exemptions to test the notifiability of transactions, and changes to the CCI review timelines. This note describes the changes introduced to the Competition Act and the regulations framed thereunder.