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Cyril Shroff

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Managing Partner of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. With over 37 years of experience, Cyril is regarded as the leading and authoritative figure in corporate law in India. He can be reached at cyril.shroff@cyrilshroff.com.

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Children and consent under the Data Protection Act: A Study in Evolution

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023[1] (“Act”) has, at long last, been past before both houses of Parliament and been published in the official Gazette upon receiving Presidential assent.

The Act is intended to provide legislative expression to the contours of the right to privacy as outlined by the Supreme Court of India in the Puttaswamy Judgements[2] and since then, by other constitutional Courts. The principle, which now stands more or less crystallized, is that the autonomy of a person is inalienably linked to their autonomy over their personal data. Therefore, in a regime which continues to be firmly consent based, the questions of who is a child, who can consent to allowing their personal data to be collected, as well as what can and cannot be done with it, are key to their status as ‘Digital Nagariks’ in years to come.…

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Of Consent and Lawful Uses: Where the Rubber meets the Road

While the concept of consent, in consonance with the current consent based regime under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”)[1] as well as the constitutional primacy of consent and autonomy under various court decisions dealing with the right to information privacy has remained firmly entrenched as the primary basis for collection and processing of personal data under the various drafts of general personal data protection legislation in India over the years,[2] the newly notified Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“Act”)[3]also provides for “legitimate use” as key additional basis available to Data Fiduciaries[4] for collection and processing of personal data[5].…

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A Fine Balance: The DPDA and Data Localization

On November 18, 2022, when the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MEITY”) tabled an entirely new draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 (“Draft”)[1], the concerns around one section, namely Section 17 dealing with cross-border data transfers, were perhaps more pronounced than the shock which accompanied the withdrawal of a long debated previous draft.…

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Preparing for the DPDA

PREPARING FOR THE DPDA

In the culmination of a decade long process,[1] the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 (“Bill”)[2] was passed before the Lok Sabha on August 7, 2023.

While the important subject matter of the Bill, its long legislative history, and the widely publicised dissents in the Parliamentary Standing Committee[3] portend that it may not pass unchanged, its enactment seems likely within the next few weeks or months.

Further, given its relatively concise nature and, the limited rulemaking and regulatory framework that is needed to enable it, it seems likely that while the Bill will be brought into force in a phased manner,[4] operative portions of it may come into effect relatively quickly.…

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Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 (“Bill”)[1] tabled before Parliament on August 3, 2023 is the culmination of a decade long process for evolving general data protection regime for India.

By withdrawing an elaborate, prescriptive draft which was under consideration by Parliament until 2021, to introducing a new, lean, principles based draft for consultation on November 18, 2022 (“Draft”),[2] and then engaging an extensive consultation process which reportedly involved in excess of 20,000 submissions,[3] and several dozen discussions involving personal participation at the highest levels of the Ministry, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has set the stage for the evolution and adoption of a customized and Indian legislation that seeks to find a balance between enabling ease of doing business, and protecting sovereign imperatives and citizens’ rights, which has proved elusive globally.[4]…

Continue Reading The DPDP Bill Overview: A New Dawn for Data Protection in India

SEBI Delisting Regime

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”), after much deliberation, replaced the 2009 SEBI Delisting Regulations with the SEBI Delisting Regulations in 2021. The current delisting regime is essentially under two routes, (i) voluntary delisting by the exiting promoters under the SEBI Delisting Regulations, and (ii) delisting by non-promoters/ third party acquirers under Regulation 5A of the SEBI Takeover Regulations.…

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Takeover of Publicly Traded Companies Flashback 2022

It was a buzzing year for control deals in India. Year 2022 saw 93 control deals in the listed space, implemented through the tender offer route under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 (Takeover Regulations)[1]. This marks the highest number of tender offers in the last five years.…

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Flashback 2021

The year 2021 saw 81 tender offers aggregating to INR 43,602 crore for acquisition of shares of publicly traded companies in India under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 (Takeover Regulations)[1]. This is higher in terms of both value and number when compared to the pandemic-hit 2020 and the pre-pandemic 2019. During this period, strategic players took centre-stage in driving deal activities, making 78 out of 81 tender offers.…

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Takeover of Publicly Traded Companies - Flashback 2020

 India’s twin achievement of receiving the highest-ever FDI[1] and touching record highs at the bourses[2] occurred in the Financial Year 2020-2021. While the former came about in the first five months of the fiscal year (i.e. during the COVID-19 lockdown), the latter took place near the end of the calendar year 2020.

The year 2020 saw unprecedented business disruption due to the pandemic. Many Indian businesses were forced to reorganise and innovate to tackle the pandemic, which also resulted in revaluation of many firms by their acquirers. Cash rich and savvy investors took advantage of this unrivalled opportunity to make acquisitions and investments which is evident from the overall high deal activity in the calendar year 2020, especially in Q4.
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Indian Insolvency Law responds to the COVID-19 Pandemic- Part-II

Introduction

On June 5, 2020, the President of India promulgated the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 (“Ordinance”), in furtherance to the economic measures announced by the Ministry of Finance[1] to support Indian businesses impacted by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ordinance has introduced the following amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”) (effective immediately):

  • Section 10A has been inserted in the IBC, restricting filing of any application for initiation of the corporate insolvency resolution process (“CIRP”) of a corporate debtor (being a company or a limited liability partnership) for any default[2] arising after March 25, 2020, for a period of six months or such further period, not exceeding one year from March 25, 2020, as may be notified in this behalf (such period being “Specified Period”).[3]

Further, a proviso has been inserted in section 10A to specify that no application shall ever be filed for initiation of CIRP of a corporate debtor for the said default occurring during the Specified Period i.e. CIRP can never be initiated on the basis of a default during the Specified Period, even if the default is continuing after having occurred during the Specified Period.

  • A non-obstante clause has been inserted in to section 66 (Fraudulent trading or wrongful trading) of the IBC to give protection to the directors of a corporate debtor. Accordingly, no application can be filed by a resolution professional under sub-section 66(2), in respect of such defaults against which initiation of CIRP is suspended under Section 10A of the IBC.[4]

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