The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has lifted the restriction to allow the same insolvency professional for the resolution process of a company as well as its personal guarantor for a better harmonisation and effective coordination of both processes. The changes made to IBBI - Bankruptcy Process for Personal Guarantors to Corporate Debtors, Regulations, 2019 -- came into effect on January 31. IBBI has also amended the provision regarding the meetings of the Committee of Creditors to make them mandatory in insolvency matters about personal guarantors.
Edtech company Byju's, which was once India's most valuable start-up worth an estimated $22 billion, will face insolvency proceedings for failure to pay Rs 158.9 crore to cricket board BCCI. The Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday allowed bankruptcy proceedings against the firm and appointed an interim resolution professional, suspending the company's board of directors and freezing its assets.
At its meeting held on Friday, the company's board rejected the minority shareholders' demand and termed the requisition as "invalid and illegal". "In its meeting held on 1st October 2021, the board has arrived at a conclusion that the requisition is invalid and illegal; and has accordingly conveyed its inability to convene the Extraordinary General Meeting to Invesco Developing Markets Funds and OFI Global China Fund, LLC," ZEEL said in a statement.
Uber has rolled out the 'women rider preference' feature, an industry-first initiative that allows women drivers to choose to accept only women riders.
Students from de-notified tribes, nomadic tribes and semi-nomadic tribes will receive coaching fees of up to 1,20,000 and additional benefits for preparing for entrance examinations such as JEE, NEET, CLAT and the NDA.
Edtech firm Think and Learn, which owns Byju's brand, has not paid the July salary to employees as the company was unable to access its accounts due to a temporary stay granted by the Supreme Court on the NCLAT's decision, a top official said on Tuesday. On August 2, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) approved the Rs 158.9 crore dues settlement with BCCI and set aside insolvency proceedings against Byju's.
There is no specific requirement for a private company under the new legal framework to appoint a company secretary.
Following a deadly stampede at New Delhi Railway Station that claimed 18 lives on Saturday night, authorities have implemented stringent security measures, including prohibiting loitering on the foot overbridge. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) is also monitoring trains heading towards Prayagraj and deploying additional personnel to manage crowds. CCTV surveillance has been enhanced, and announcements are being made to guide commuters and prevent panic. The stampede occurred due to a mix-up in train announcements, leading to a surge of passengers rushing towards platform 16 via a narrow stairway.
Byju's founder Byju Raveendran on Saturday said the edtech company will not be able to pay salaries to employees as the recent funds raised through a rights issue are inaccessible due to a legal dispute with certain investors. In a letter to staff, Raveendran said the rights issue, launched a month ago, has been successfully closed. "This was supposed to be a happy correspondence.
'Studying was never an important part of our life, surviving was.'
User protection and a proposal for a licensing framework for companies seeking to operate in the cryptocurrency area will be part of an upcoming consultation paper on the sector, said a senior industry executive. Even as specific regulations around crypto are yet to take shape, companies are setting up baseline user protection processes, including a redressal mechanism, fraud detection, regular filing of suspicious transaction reports (STRs), among others.
The United Kingdom extracted USD 64.82 trillion from India over a century of colonialism between 1765 and 1900 and USD 33.8 trillion of this went to the richest 10 per cent -- enough money to carpet London in notes of 50 British pound almost four times over.
Media major Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has cancelled its board meeting, scheduled to be held on Wednesday for considering the results for the July-September quarter, due to lack of quorum. In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, ZEEL said, "A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company, which was scheduled to be held on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, inter alia, to consider and approve the unaudited financial results of the Company both on a standalone and consolidated basis for the 2nd quarter and half year ended September 30, 2021, has been cancelled due to lack of quorum." The development comes at a time when the company is battling it out the single-largest shareholders Invesco Developing Markets Fund (formerly Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund) and OFI Global China Fund LLC that together hold 17.88 per cent and have been pressing for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders for removing managing director Punit Goenka, besides opposing ZEEL's proposed merger deal with Pictures Network India (SPNI).
Edtech major Think and Learn, which operates under Byju's brand name, is learnt to have received a commitment of $300 million from investors for its ongoing rights issue which will close by the end of February, sources aware of the development said. Byju's floated a rights issue in January to raise $200 million at an enterprise valuation in the range of $220-250 million which is a 99 per cent reduction in its peak valuation of $22 billion. Sources also shared that Byju's has offered miffed investors to appoint two independent directors to enhance transparency but only after the rights issue and declaring its financial results for the 2023 fiscal.
A huge controversy erupted after the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises flouted strict Islamic laws by promoting surrogate advertisements of off-shore online betting platforms.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
Benches of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) should not get into questioning a company's default once it is established by the creditors, particularly financial creditors, for admission to the corporate insolvency process. This is one of the key themes of the draft guidelines for the NCLT, which are being finalised by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), a senior official said. According to the official, while the company law matters could involve the "principle of natural justice" and justify extended proceedings to hear all parties concerned, the same does not apply to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) proceedings.
"If HR isn't responsive, it's critical to keep records of all interactions -- e-mails, dates and any conversations you had. If HR fails to help, escalate the matter to higher management or the internal complaints committee," says Smita Shetty Kapoor.
The corporate affairs ministry has asked its field officers to expedite the inspection of the books of Byju's and submit the report, a senior official said on Monday as trouble continues to brew at the edtech firm. The ministry, which is implementing the companies law, will decide the further course of action after receiving the report from its regional office. In July 2023, the ministry had asked the office of the regional director in Hyderabad to conduct an inspection of the company Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, which is registered in Bengaluru.
With billionaire Gautam Adani charged in the United States with alleged bribery and fraud, the Congress on Thursday said it 'vindicates' its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the various 'scams' involving his conglomerate.
'This case is not a good example of intellectual property strategy for either sector.'
Insurance sector regulator IRDAI has given conditional approval to Hinduja Group firm IndusInd International Holdings Ltd (IIHL) for the takeover of debt-ridden Reliance Capital. "We are happy to acknowledge the receipt of approval from IRDAI yesterday (May 10, 2024) on the auspicious occasion of Akshay Tritiya. "The approval is subject to certain 'regulatory, statutory, and judicial' clearances/compliances," an IIHL spokesperson said in a statement.
A three-member NCLAT bench set aside an earlier order passed by the Kolkata bench of the NCLT and asked the interim resolution professional (IRP) to handover all the assets and records of the company to its board.
India's anti-corruption ombudsman, the Lokpal, has dismissed a complaint alleging corruption against former Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, citing a lack of jurisdiction. The complaint, filed in October 2024, alleged abuse of office, corruption, and favoritism by Chandrachud while he was CJI. The Lokpal, in its order, concluded that sitting judges of the Supreme Court, including the CJI, are not subject to its jurisdiction under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act. The Lokpal stated that the Supreme Court was established by the Constitution of India, not an Act of Parliament, making it outside the scope of its jurisdiction.
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday said it will auction 27 properties of Rose Valley group of companies on November 25 at a reserve price of Rs 63.26 crore in a bid to recover money raised by the firm from the public through illicit schemes. The properties to go under the hammer include flats, buildings, land parcels and hotels located in West Bengal and Bihar, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice. The e-auction will be conducted on November 25 between 11 am to 1 pm.
Coffee Day Global Ltd (CDGL) and its financial creditor IndusInd Bank have reached a settlement, following which NCLAT has set aside an insolvency order against the company which owns and operates coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day. Counsel representing CDGL and IndusInd bank on Wednesday informed the Chennai bench of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) about the settlement and sought permission to withdraw insolvency litigations. A two-member bench comprising Justice M Venugopal and Shreesha Merla took their submissions on record and set aside the order admitting CDGL to insolvency.
In a boost to the embattled Adani Group, Mauritian Financial Services Minister Mahen Kumar Seeruttun has told the nation's Parliament that Hindenburg Research's allegations of the presence of 'shell' companies in the Island nation are 'false and baseless' and that Mauritius was in compliance with OECD-mandated tax rules. US short seller Hindenburg on January 24 alleged that billionaire Gautam Adani used shell companies based in Mauritius to manipulate stock prices of his Indian-listed companies.
Apple and its vendors are aiming to assemble 32 per cent of iPhone's global production volume and 26 per cent of its value in India by 2026-27 -a year after the final year of the five-year production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile devices. This could translate into a production value of over $34 billion, assuming global iPhone sales remain consistent with 2023-24 (FY24) levels. The estimates are based on discussions between Apple Inc and its vendors, along with central and state governments, regarding the assembly of products in India, according to sources.
Here stood a man who embodied the legacy of whatever Brand Tata stood for, embellished it, and departed into the long night, leaving the brand legacy for others to further enrich, notes R Gopalakrishnan.
Mauritius-based Hinduja group firm IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL) has informed the administrator of Reliance Capital that it is ready with its equity contribution of Rs 2,750 crore in cash to acquire the bankrupt firm, but it wants certain conditions to be met in accordance with the resolution plan before transferring the amount. IIHL has also filed an application with the Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking directions for the administrator and the committee of creditors (CoC) to complete all pending activities to close the transaction and not let the lenders invoke the bank guarantees provided by the firm earlier.
The central government is looking to strengthen the boards of public sector banks (PSBs) by specifying terms of office and conditions of service for whole-time directors, and also seeking disclosures from all directors about interests in other companies. Through the Banking Laws Amendment Bill, the government is likely to introduce conditions for disqualification of whole-time and independent directors which are not specified in the current legislation. The Centre is seeking to introduce fresh changes that are aimed at strengthening the boards of PSBs, and holding their directors accountable, an official said.
Decision of Indu Shahani, principal of Mumbai's HR College, to become a director of United Spirits raises an ethical issue.
Three leading domestic voting advisory firms are not on the same page over the proposed demerger and separate listing of ITC's hotel business, ITC Hotels. Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) has recommended a vote "against" the resolution, while InGovern and Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES) have advised their clients to vote in favour. Voting on the resolution is currently underway.
'So, we would work with our members to ensure that we as an SRO create some sort of due diligence for fintechs.'
Byju's first came on board with the BCCI back in 2019 when mobile manufacturer Oppo transferred the sponsorship rights to the online tutorial firm.
The Reserve Bank on Monday superseded the boards of Srei Infrastructure Finance as well as Srei Equipment Finance, citing concerns over governance and payment defaults, and decided to refer the two NBFCs for resolution under the insolvency law. This is only the second time in as many years that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is referring entities for the resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) after taking first ever such step in the case of DHFL back in 2019. Superseding the boards of the crisis-hit Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL), the RBI has appointed Rajneesh Sharma, former Chief General Manager of Bank of Baroda as the administrator to manage the affairs of the two companies.
Superseding the boards of two non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in the Srei group will neither create liquidity challenges for sound entities, nor build systemic crises because the markets have factored in the problems with the Kolkata-based firms. Such regulatory steps will help in making the NBFC space more robust, bankers and market experts said. The action should have begun earlier because the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had done a special audit last financial year and asked the group to make provisions for assets considered stressed, analysts said.
Reuters reported earlier this week that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has sent a warning notice to the companies expressing concern that the merged entity will effectively have a monopoly on cricket broadcast rights worth billions of dollars, allowing it to squeeze advertisers.
Two days after the termination of the merger agreement by Sony Group, Zee Entertainment on Wednesday hit back by filing a petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking a direction to implement the merger scheme. Besides, it has also initiated appropriate legal actions to contest the claims of $90 million (Rs 748.5 crore) filed by Sony Group before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), according to a regulatory update by Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL).
More than 60 per cent of shareholders of edutech Byju's on Friday voted for removal of founder CEO Byju Raveendran and his family over alleged "mismanagement and failures" at what was once India's hottest tech startup, but the company dug in its heels, calling the voting done in the absence of founders as "invalid". Prosus - one of the six investors who had called the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) - in a statement said "shareholders unanimously passed all resolutions put forward for vote.