News and developments

Environment

INDIAN GREEN BOND MARKET: A STEP TOWARDS “GREEN FINANCING”IN A GROWING TAXONOMY

Over the last few years, the Indian Government has been taking measures towards environmental sustainability along with economic growth. As enumerated in Article 48-A of the Indian Constitution, preservation of the environment is enshrined in the Indian Constitution itself.  The Finance Minister while tabling the Union Budget 2023-24 specified green growth as one of the seven priorities of the Government of India and while specifying the same, the aim of achieving net-zero carbon emission by 2070 was highlighted. Over the last year, the Indian Government has introduced significant regulatory updates in the green bonds space. Whether it be the introduction of the Sovereign Green Bonds Framework or the amendment by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) to the SEBI (Issue and Listing of Non-Convertible Securities) Regulations, 2021[1] which widened the definition of green bonds and stressed on green washing, the regulatory framework for green bond financing has seen a considerable development.
06 March 2023
Insolvency

PRE-PACKAGED INSOLVENCY: TO UPHOLD THE LEGISLATIVE INTENT OR THE LETTER OF THE LAW?

Pre-packaged insolvency resolution process ("PPIRP”) was introduced by amending the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (“Code”) in April 2021[1]. This currently applies to Micro Small Medium Enterprises (“MSMEs”). This was enacted to provide ‘PPIRP’ as an alternative to Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (“CIRP”) to mitigate the financial distress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to MSMEs.
14 February 2023
Derivatives

CLASSIFICATION OF SUSTAINABILITY LINKED DERIVATIVES IN INDIA

Sustainability Linked Derivatives (“SLDs”) are emerging as a powerful new instrument in the toolkit of financiers globally in the context of the growth of use of Environmental Social and Governance (“ESG”) factors in the financial world. For an orderly evolution, a suitable regulatory framework suited for this type of derivative contract is a must. SLDs require robust standardisation with respect to Key Performance Indicators (“KPIs”) and ESG linked metrics in order to ensure the success of such derivative contracts.
18 January 2023
Litigation & Dispute Resolution

TO BE OR NOT TO BE: An Assessment of a Pathological Arbitration Clause

The Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, placing reliance on a catena of judgments, has reiterated that the main attribute of an arbitration agreement is consensus ad idem to refer the disputes to arbitration. In the matter of “Sapna Gupta v. Ajay Kumar Gupta & Ors[1].”, it has been held that in case the same is missing, it is not an arbitration agreement, as defined under Section 7 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) and in the absence thereof, petition under Section 9 of the Act seeking interim measures, is not maintainable. 
02 February 2022
TMT (Technology, Media & Telecoms)

CCI order on WhatsApp policy: Is CCI filling up the vacuum of the Data Protection Regulator?

In a recent order dated 24th March 2021, the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) has taken suo-motu cognizance of the updated privacy policy and terms of services of WhatsApp which were rolled out by WhatsApp on 4th January 2021 (“Updated Policy”).[1] It directed the Director General to investigate the anti-competitive issues in relation to the Updated Policy. Earlier, the users had to give their consent to WhatsApp to share their personalized data with other Facebook companies. This has been changed by the Updated Policy, which makes it mandatory for users to give consent to such sharing to continue using WhatsApp.
18 June 2021
Juris Corp