Corporate Commercial

January 9, 2023 In Channels, Corporate Commercial, Legal, Video By editor

Hostile Takeovers – Bindiya Raichura, Juris Corp

Are you looking for an expert opinion on hostile takeovers and its legal aspects?

We have Bindiya Raichura, Partner, Juris Corp, to help you understand about the legalities involved in hostile takeovers and how to protect yourself from hostile takeover attempts.

In her conversation with Avani Shukla, LawWiser, she talks about –

1) What is a hostile takeover?

2) What are the factors that drive a hostile takeover?

3) What laws govern hostile takeover in India?

4) What type of defences or measures can businesses take against hostile takeovers?

5) What are some known hostile takeovers that have taken place in India?

6) Key takeways for our audience on hostile takeover.

April 5, 2022 In Corporate Commercial, Healthcare and Pharma, Legal, MSME/Startups, Premium, SME/MSMEs, Start-Ups By editor

MSME in the Medical Devices Sector | Neeraj Dubey | LawWiser Premium

The medical devices sector has been receiving a lot of impetus for promoting its domestic manufacturing. For this, the government of India has released various schemes. Watch all the details on these schemes in #LawWiser video on MSME in the Medical Devices Sector with Neeraj Dubey, Partner, Juris Corp.

Neeraj takes us through these critical schemes that aim to develop and promote the medical devices sector and bring them on par with global standards. He begins with the Production Linked Incentive scheme that applies only to the Greenfield projects and intends to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the sector.

Other schemes that are relevant for the sector are:

Promotion of Medical Device Parks- The central government will finance the creation of common infrastructure facilities with a grant-in-aid to 4 medical device parks which will come up in 4 different States. By this, the Government aims to attract investment in the medical device sector and provide support to the capital expenditure of the manufacturers.

Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, this revised order issued by the DPIIT and revised guidelines issued by the Department of Pharmaceuticals aims to implement the provisions of the public procurement order relating to goods & services related to the Medical Device Sector.

Neeraj also shares insights on the Marketing Development Assistance scheme and much more. Tune in now to watch the full video for more such insights.

April 4, 2022 In Corporate Commercial, Healthcare and Pharma, Legal, MSME/Startups, Premium, Sectors, SME/MSMEs, Start-Ups By editor

MSME in the Pharmaceutical Sector | Neeraj Dubey | LawWiser Premium

Major segments of the pharma industry in which MSMEs can make a mark are generic drugs, OTC medicines, and APIs, bulk drugs, vaccines, contract research, biosimilars and biologics. The Department of Pharmaceuticals aims to make India a leader in end-to-end drug production.

All medical devices including Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Clinics are eligible for MSME registration under the Udyam Registration scheme that can be done online. The government has enacted multiple reforms and the production-linked incentive scheme, the PLI scheme is the most crucial of them.

Watch now #LawWiser explainer on “MSME in the Pharmaceutical Sector” featuring Neeraj Dubey, Equity Partner at Juris Corp, where he shares crucial aspects of MSME in pharma.

The Production Linked Incentive scheme for pharmaceuticals aims to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities in two ways: increasing investment & amp; production and contributing to product diversification to high-value goods.

The other key schemes are:

1) PLI Scheme for Promotion of Domestic Manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials/ Drug Intermediates and APIs which provides financial incentives on sales of 41 identified products for 6 years for Fermented Based Products and Chemical Synthesis

Based Products.

The second scheme is

2. Bulk drug parks

A scheme for promoting domestic manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials/Drug Intermediates and APIs aimed at attracting investment to ensure sustainable domestic supply and reduce dependence on imports. How will it be done? By providing grant-in-aid to 3 Bulk Drug Parks for creation of Common Infrastructure Facilities like solvent recovery plant, distillation plant, power and steam units, common effluent treatment plant etc.

The third scheme is

Pharmaceutical Technology Upgradation Assistance Scheme, to help SMEs upgrade their plant and machinery to WHO/Good Manufacturing Practices standards so that they could participate and compete in global markets.

The fourth important scheme is

Pharmaceutical Promotion & Development Scheme aims at promotion, development and export promotion by extending financial support for conducting seminars, conferences, exhibitions, mounting delegations to and from India for promotion of exports as well as investments, conducting studies, etc.

#pharmaceuticalindustry #MSME #pharmaceuticalmanufacturing #promotion #investments #medicaldevices #lawfirmmarketing #law #legalknowledge #legalnews #knowledge #legalindustry #legalcommunity

March 25, 2022 In Corporate Commercial, Legal, MSME/Startups, Others, Premium, SME/MSMEs, Start-Ups By editor

Use of surety bonds: credit guarantee scheme- Sujjain Talwar ELP

The MSME sector is well catered for in all aspects of law and tax in India. In the Union Budget of 2022-23, the Finance Minister announced that the surety bonds will now be made acceptable in government procurements as a substitute for bank guarantees.

Watch now #LawWiser explainer video on “Use of surety bonds as a substitute for Bank Guarantees for MSMEs” featuring Sujjain Talwar, Partner, Economic Laws Practice (ELP) sharing key insights on this.

Sujjain shares that this announcement has been made with an aim to reduce the indirect cost for suppliers and work contractors. MSMEs are the strength of India’s entrepreneurial economy and the contractors are the assets. They depend heavily on payments coming on time, for their salaries and goods that have to be paid further. Their margins are also quite less. If in addition, MSMEs have to get a bank guarantee, it takes away from them high collateral margins, money commissions and puts the risk of NPA on them. This costs almost 10% of their tender cost that goes into procuring a bank guarantee, which is not allowed to be used elsewhere. On the other hand, insurance companies also seek to insure the risk.

There is a need for such products by the Insurance Companies that are less rigid in terms of commissions and premiums and therefore more palatable and acceptable to the MSME sector.

The MSME sector has also been asking for a reduction of the amount by the Government Financial Rules or GIFR on the procurement of contracts. This requires that there should always be performance security which is ranged from 5 to 10% of the contract value.

Learn more about the Use of surety bonds as a substitute for bank guarantees for the MSMEs by watching the full video.

#msmeindia #msme #msmesector #compliancesolutions #suretybonds #surety #GIFR #collateral #nps #margin #contracts #contract #assets #startup #startupindia #lawfirmmarketing #legalknowledge #legalindustry #video #knowledgesharing #platform

March 21, 2022 In Corporate Commercial, Legal, MSME/Startups, Others, Policy and Regulatory, Premium, SME/MSMEs, Start-Ups, Video By editor

Government’s Initiative and Challenges for Manufacturing Sector

The government of India adopted a series of measures to improve the economic situation including major reforms undertaken under the Atmanirbhar package to include Credit Guarantee for MSME loans, sectoral structural reforms, reduction in compliance burden and single window systems for clearances.

To boost the make in India drive, the government has also undertaken sectoral reforms such as in May 2020, the FDI was increased in defense manufacturing under the automatic route from 49% to 74%.

Watch now #LawWiser premium video on “Government’s Initiative and Challenges for the Manufacturing Sector” featuring Namrta Rai, Partner at Juris Corp, analyzing government initiatives in the manufacturing sector.

The government of India has also rolled out various schemes, which play a key role in business promotion and local manufacturing by MSMEs in the country, thereby providing impetus to them for further growth such as:

Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) has been set up with an aim at providing financial assistance to self-employment ventures, in order to generate employment opportunities for unemployed youth and traditional artisans.

2. Credit Guarantee Trust Fund for Micro & Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) aims at motivating first-generation entrepreneurs towards self-employment by providing credit guarantee funding for third-party guarantee-free / collateral-free loans.

3. Financial Support to MSMEs in ZED Certification Scheme – To boost and support the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the scheme aims to inculcate Zero Defect & Zero Effect (ZED) practices in manufacturing done by Indian MSMEs and SMEs. MSMEs that supply to Defense can avail reimbursement additionally on Defense-related certificates/ Standards, but only once.

4. Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme – The scheme aims at enhancing the manufacturing competitiveness of MSMEs by introduction of Lean Manufacturing (LM) techniques – Increasing productivity; Inculcating good management systems; Reducing waste and Imbibing a culture of continuous improvement.

5. Then there is also the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme, which is also called (NMCP) – An umbrella scheme that aids MSMEs through the following sub-schemes:

Credit Linked Capital Subsidy for Technology Upgradation (CLCSS)
Marketing Support/Assistance to MSMEs (Bar Code)
Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness for MSMEs
Design Clinic for Design Expertise to MSMEs
Technology and Quality Upgradation Support to MSMEs
Entrepreneurial and Managerial Development of SMEs through Incubators
Enabling Manufacturing Sector to be Competitive through Quality Management Standards (QMS) and Quality Technology Tools (QTT)
Building Awareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

#manufacturingindustry #manufacturing #defence #defenceindustry #msmeloans #msmeindia #msmesector #sector #legalsector #Legalknowledge #legal #compliances #services #legalservices #schemes #financialassistance #intelligence #video

March 21, 2022 In Corporate Commercial, Legal, MSME/Startups, Others, Premium, Sectors, SME/MSMEs, Start-Ups, Video By editor

Investments Scenario in the Manufacturing Sector

Talking about investments in this sector, as per the statistics shared by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India has registered the highest ever annual FDI inflows of USD 81.97 billion in 2020-2021. Furthermore, from April 2000 to March 2020, the Cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the manufacturing sector of India was amounting to USD 100.35 billion, making India a preferred destination for manufacturing sector investments.

Watch now #LawWiser’s explainer on “Investments Scenario in the Manufacturing Sector” featuring Namrta Rai, Partner at Juris Corp sharing insights about MSME investments.

Some of the key investments in the manufacturing sector are:

In March 2020, Oricon Enterprises entered into a joint venture agreement with Italy-headquartered Tecnocap Group to set up a new company, Tecnocap Oriental, for manufacturing lug caps.
Last year in February, Amazon announced to start manufacturing electronic products in India, starting first with manufacturing of Amazon Fire TV stick.
Samsung started manufacturing mobile display panels at its Noida plant since last year. During the same time, Bharti Enterprises Ltd. and Dixon Technologies (India) Ltd., formed a joint venture to take benefit from government’s PLI scheme for the manufacturing of telecom and networking products.
Godrej Appliances rolled out a range of ‘Made-in-India’ air conditioners (AC) in April 2021. The investment plan of the Company involves investment of Rs. 100 Crore in its manufacturing units to boost its AC production capacity to 8 lakh units by 2025.
First Solar, an American solar panel company, plans to invest Rs. 4,800 crore (US$ 645.7 million) in its new 3.3-gigawatt (GW) manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu.

#Manufacturing #Investments #Sector #fdi #inflow #commerce #msmeindia #MSME #amazon #appliances #amazon #entrepreneurship #knowledge #legalknowledge #legalnews #legalnewsindia #msmes #complianceservices

March 16, 2022 In Corporate Commercial, Legal, MSME/Startups, Others, Premium, Sectors, SME/MSMEs, Start-Ups, Video By editor

MSME Registration Benefits- Sheena Ogra- Alhawat & Associates Part 2

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (“MSMEs”) form the foundation of India’s economy and are integral for the growth of employment, entrepreneurship and production in India. The functioning of the MSMEs in India is under the control of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Watch Now #LawWiser’s explainer on “Benefits of MSME Registration Part 2” featuring Sheena Ogra, Partner, Ahlawat and Associates sharing useful insights on proposals shared in the Union Budget 2022-23 for the advancement of the MSME Sector

Watch Sheena take us through the proposals introduced and benefits extended under Union Budget 2022

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a special scheme, i.e., the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (“ECLG Scheme”) was launched by the Government of India which basically provides for 100% guarantee coverage to banks and NBFCs to enable them to extend emergency credit facilities to MSMEs in order to help the MSMEs meet their additional term loan and/or additional working capital requirements. Now, the finance minister has extended this ECLG Scheme up to March 31, 2023 and has further expanded the guarantee cover from INR 50,000/- crore to the total cover of INR 5,00,000/- crore.
Further, the Credit Guarantee Scheme will be revamped with the required infusion of additional credit of INR 2,00,000/- crore for MSMEs.
Udhyam (portal created for online registration of MSMEs),
e-shram (portal created for maintaining the database of the unorganized workers),
NCS (National Career Service) (portal created for providing employment and career-related services to the Indian citizens) and
ASEEM (Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping) (portal which acts as a directory of the skilled workforce) will be interlinked and their respective scopes will be widened.

They will now perform as portals that will provide G2C, B2C and B2B services.

In view of the foregoing, benefits that are extended to the MSMEs can only be availed through registration under the MSME Act.

Sheena also takes us through other details, tune in to watch the full video!

Stay tuned to more useful content related to #MSME and #Startups.

#MSME #registration #Benefits #compliance #scheme #tender #collateral #loan #subsidy #legalnews #legal #legalknowledge #unionbudget2022 #proposalsforMSME #aatmanirbharbharat

March 16, 2022 In Corporate Commercial, Legal, MSME/Startups, Others, Premium, Sectors, SME/MSMEs, Start-Ups, Trending, Video By editor

MSME Registration Benefits- Sheena Ogra

Watch Now #LawWiser’s explainer on “Benefits of MSME Registration Part 1” featuring Sheena Ogra, Partner, Ahlawat and Associates sharing useful insights on MSME registration and its benefits.

These are some of the MSME Registration Benefits that Sheena takes us through.

>Collateral Free Bank Loans

The Ministry, Government of India and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) have jointly established a Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE/Trust).

>Subsidy on Patent and Trademark Registration

A subsidy of 50% (fifty per cent) on the cost of filing is given to the enterprise which is registered under the MSME Act.

>Tender preference to MSMEs

The MSMEs can get tender preferences as a result of the policies which have been notified under the MSME Act, allowing them benefits such as exemption from payment of Earnest Money Deposits under the tenders floated by the central ministry, department or public sector unit.

>ISO Certification Charges Reimbursement

The MSMEs can avail financial and monetary incentives in the form of reimbursement of the expenses incurred in obtaining certain ISO certifications such as ISO-9000 (which prescribes

>Protection against Delayed Payments

The MSME Act provides for the resolution of disputes in case of delayed payments made to MSME’s through the Micro and Small Enterprise Facilitation Council (“Council”), which is established by each State Government.

The government has also targeted additional MSME registration benefits such as:-

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a special scheme, i.e., the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (“ECLG Scheme”) was launched by the Government of India which provides for 100% guarantee coverage to banks and NBFCs to enable them to extend emergency credit facilities to MSMEs to meet their additional term loan and/or additional working capital requirements.

Sheena also takes us through other details, tune in to watch the full video!

Stay tuned to more useful content related to #MSME and #Startups.#MSME#registration#Benefits#compliance#scheme#tender#collateral#loan#subsidy#legalnews#legal#legalknowledge

March 16, 2022 In Corporate Commercial, Legal, MSME/Startups, Others, Premium, Sectors, SME/MSMEs, Start-Ups, Video By editor

Factory Licensing – Procedure and Renewals

The Factory Act, 1948, was introduced to protect the workers and to ensure that the owner is providing a healthy environment. As per the Factory Act 1948, every factory owner must register their premises with the local authorities before commencing their business. Factory License acts as a document of approval given by authorities to carry out manufacturing activities.

Watch LawWiser’s video on Factory Licensing – Procedure and Renewals by Neha Gupta, Principal Associate, Athena Legal. Neha explains in detail what is a factory license, the registration procedure. She also takes us through the step by step process for obtaining the license along with the process for renewal of such factory license.

She explains that the Department of Factories and Boilers issues Factory License. It is the duty of the Factories and Boilers Department to keep a check on the health, safety, and welfare of workers.

Also, a factory registering under the Factories Act, 1948 must obtain its building plan

approval from the labour and employment department before covering themselves for a

factory registration.

Further, the government of India has set a simple process to procure a Factory license. The process varies in the case of hazardous factory licenses and non-hazardous factory licenses.

Tune in now to watch the full video and understand the procedure for obtaining Factory License and its renewal.

March 16, 2022 In Corporate Commercial, Legal, Others, Premium, Sectors, Video By editor

Exclusion Of Work Contracts From MSME Act- Rhea Dube- Athena Legal

MSMEs are a very important component of the industry and commerce of our country today, with them contributing 30% to the GDP single-handedly. Therefore it is necessary to protect their interests and promote them. In this regard, it is important to draw attention to and discuss the exclusion of “work contracts” from MSMEs.

Watch Rhea Dube, Associate, Athena Legal, sharing insights on Exclusion of Work Contracts from MSME Act. She helps us understand what is a works contract, the interplay of MSME and the works contract, and the current legal scenario on this issue.

She shares that a works contract is one that includes the provisions of goods as well as services, with both being indivisible parts of the same contract. It differs from an agreement for the provision of goods as a works contract compulsorily includes services like installation, servicing and maintenance.

Rhea also highlights the case of M/s Kone Elevators India Pvt Ltd v. State of Tamil Nadu, where the Supreme Court has laid down a few distinctive characteristics of a works contract.

She also shares that MSMEs tend to indulge in simple transactions for the provision of goods or services. The MSME Act contemplates supply of goods, purchase of goods, and rendering an acceptance of services. However, in case of a works contract with the same being indivisible and absents the need to deconstruct the contract into its components of sale supply and performance of labour-related work by its nature, Courts across the country, as well as the Supreme Court, have held that in such a case the MSME Act cannot be made applicable.

One particular case to note is the one pending before the Supreme Court challenging the judgment of Bombay High Court in the case of M/s P.L. Adke v Wardha Municipal Corporation/Council in SLP (C) No. 4970 of 2021. In this case, it was observed that the subject matter of dispute was a contract for planning, designing, constructing, operating and maintaining water supply and sewerage scheme, wherein the contractor claimed to be an MSME. The High Court of Bombay has held that the nature of the contract was composite, indivisible and continuous, and hence was a works contract. To such a contract, the provisions of the MSME Act will not apply. In absence of an arbitration clause, it was observed that even the Arbitration Act will not apply.

However, considering that the MSME Act is beneficial legislation, this issue has to be decided in light of the same. It is also imperative that the Government undertakes the necessary measures to ensure that in case an MSME is issued work contracts, they ensure that the same includes a valid dispute resolution clause to ensure that they are not left remediless in case of violations/ breach of such contracts.

Watch the full video to understand the subject better. Stay tuned for LawWiser for more interesting updates