Private Equity Archives - S&R Associates

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.

Lessons from OpenAI: Boards and the Spin of Corporate Governance

Insights | November 18, 2024 | Practice Area: Corporate Governance and ESG, General Corporate, Private Equity, Technology; Media and Telecommunications

Widely regarded as the most innovative AI organization in the world, OpenAI’s management model presents a unique approach to corporate governance involving a majority-independent board of directors as final decision makers. In 2023, OpenAI’s CEO was fired and immediately reinstated, within a short period of a week. Such events highlight the reality of independent corporate governance models and suggest that truly independent structures may struggle in modern business environments. This note also briefly considers removal of directors from an Indian perspective.

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.

Landscape for Green Hydrogen in India

Insights | September 19, 2024 | Practice Area: Clean Energy, Corporate Governance and ESG, Investment Funds, Private Equity, Projects; Infrastructure and Energy

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and has the potential to store tremendous amounts of energy. Under the right circumstances, it can be a viable alternative to fossil fuels and can significantly contribute to decarbonization. Accordingly, in India’s quest to decarbonize and achieve net zero emissions by 2070, it seeks to manufacture and deploy Green Hydrogen (“GH2”), and its derivates such as Green Ammonia. Policy initiatives including the National Green Hydrogen Mission (“NGHM”), and the Green Hydrogen Certification Scheme (“GHCI”) create a framework, while incentivizing investments in the sector by providing financial incentives and creating robust and transparent monitoring systems. Other key consideration for investors would be the ease of financing and longevity of business operations, dependent in part on the regulatory framework. The availability of low cost renewable energy and skilled workforce also show good promise to transform the country’s energy infrastructure and position it as an export hub for international trade. In this backdrop, investors are keenly looking at the landscape for GH2 in India to meet both financial and ESG goals.

Investing in AI in India (Part 1): Key Considerations

Insights | July 22, 2024 | Practice Area: Data, Intellectual Property, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Regulatory, Technology; Media and Telecommunications

While investments in the AI sector in India present significant opportunities, they also present a unique set of risks within an evolving legal and regulatory landscape.
Before making an investment decision, investors should consider IP issues, data-related rights and compliance, any industry-specific concerns, the then-applicable regulatory framework as well as potential developments in AI regulation. In addition, investors should evaluate operational and contractual arrangements, undertake a technical due diligence, and assess potential liabilities and risks. Such risks include product and professional liability, algorithmic bias and discrimination, cybersecurity and data breaches, market and reputational risks, along with concerns related to transparency and explainability.