14 Dec 2011

Corporate Laws In India

Corporate world is witnessing a considerable growth in India. Similarly, regulatory issues pertaining to corporate environment are also changing rapidly. It is very important for the corporate community to keep itself updated of these fast changing and dynamic regulatory changes and growing corporate merger and acquisitions happening in India.

Corporate laws in India fall in various categories. Companies law of India, 1956 is the main corporate law of India. Other laws that fall in the corporate law category pertain to intellectual property rights (IPRs), anti competition laws, banking and financial laws of India, insurance laws, etc.

Collectively, corporations in India are required to follow an array of laws and regulatory requirements. A failure to comply with these legal and regulatory requirements results in imposition of fines and at times imprisonment as well. So corporations in India must religiously follow various laws and regulations applicable in India.

With the growth of information and communication technology (ICT), now techno legal regulatory requirements have emerged. For instance, cyber laws due diligence requirements have become very stringent in India under the information technology act 2000. Internet intermediary liability in India is now a big challenge for e-commerce, e-governance, search engines, blogging platforms, social media, etc operating in India.

Cyber security requirements have further added additional obligations upon various stakeholders and corporate entities in India. For instance, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently asked all banks in India to ensure cyber security mechanisms. Further, appointing suitable experts at the board level for ensuring cyber security compliances by banks in India has also been recommended by RBI.

Corporations in India must also keep in mind the competition policies and regulatory requirements in India. They must not indulge in anti competition practices that may trigger the anti competition law of India.

Employer employee relationships and owner workmen relationships are also governed by various employment and labour laws in India. Corporations in India must also fulfil the requirements of these laws to avoid employment related disputes.

Financial frauds, serious frauds and white collar crimes are also applicable to various companies and corporate houses running in India. Financial frauds are unearthed by using well known financial, legal, technical and scientific methods of auditing the accounts, transactions and dealings of various companies. Forensics auditing and cyber forensics is very useful in investigating these frauds and crimes.

This blog would cover all these issues in a systematic manner suggesting various scientific, legal, policies and strategic, forensics and investigative methods to resolve various techno legal issues relating to corporate laws applicable in India.