Indian corporate law firms seem to have come of age globally.

Indian corporate law firms seem to have come of age globally.

According to a recent report on legal firms' services sought in M&A (Merger and Amalgamation).

The report says that between January 1 and September 22, 2009, China topped M&A activities in the region with a 38.8% marketshare. It was followed by Japan (23.1%) and Australia (12.7%), while India stood fourth with a 9.7% share.

India ranks fourth in the Asia-Pacific region with three Indian law firms doing deals in excess of $3 billion this year.  Many international investors are looking at new opportunities. All those deals which were abandoned or jeopardized because of the slowdown are now being revived because of increased confidence in the India Story.

Things were quiet from January to May. Starting June, a significant increase is seen  in the flow of transactions," the second half of the year will witness more deals. Among other Indian firms, Khaitan & Co was involved in 13 deals aggregating $3.23 billion, while Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co worked on nine deals worth $3.03 billion.

Indian law firm, Desai & Diwanji & Co (D&D ) also features in the top ten across the region. By sealing 14 deals accounting  for over $3.6 billion, it is ranked eight in the region.D&D advised Quippo Telecom Infrastructure in its acquisition of Wireless TT Service.

The firm was also involved in advising Avendus Capital and W.L. Ross in the acquisition of Satyam Computer Services by Tech Mahindra. The other large transactions where D&D was involved was Shantha Laboratories' acquisition by Sanofi Pasteur and the sale of SPS Ltd's steel facility's sale to Essar Steel. Law firm Khaitan & Co. was a part of Bahrain Telecom's investment into S Tel as well as NTT DoCoMo's investment in Tata Teleservices. It was also involved in Sterlite Industries' acquisition of Asarco. It seems that the effect of slowdown is almost over and India is witnessing large foreign investment in the domestic market. This will help to the law professionals in getting good opportunities in coporate law firms.But the point to be noted is that this will benefit to the competent professionals only who are well versed with the international and national coporate laws including cyberlaw and IPR.
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Dr.Tabrez Ahmad,
Associate Professor of Law,
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,
Website: www.kls.ac.in, www.technolexindia.com
Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/tabrezahmad7.
Blogs: http://www.blogger.com/profile/15337756250055596327
Research Papers: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1189281

Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2008 of India

Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2008 which has been approved by the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha is still awaiting approval of the President.

Information Technology Act 2000 (ITA-2000) is by and large, an Act of the Indian Parliament notified on October 17, 2000. It is worthwhile to mention that the United Nations General Assembly by means of resolution A/RES/51/162, dated the 30 January 1997 did accept the Model Law on Electronic Commerce adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. This is referred to as the UNCITRAL Model Law on E-Commerce.

It has to be stated that the Government of India, by now, has proposed major amendments to ITA-2000 in form of the Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2006, passed by the Cabinet Committee of the Government of India and are prepared for being placed before the Indian Parliament for discussion. Nevertheless some substantial developments have taken place in all these years and the bill is known as, at the moment, Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2008 which has been approved by the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. The Bill is still awaiting approval of the President along with the formal notification.

There has been the inclusion of many changes, as already said, and at the same time it does incorporate the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.  What surprises many persons is the dearth of media recognition afforded to the amendment. Apart from this the amendment was passed in 26 minutes the 22nd of December 2008 along with 4 other bills, and another 8 in just 17 minutes the next day. This indicates that there was hardly any debate on what should have been very contentious laws.

--
Dr.Tabrez Ahmad,
Associate Professor of Law,
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,
Website: www.kls.ac.in, www.technolexindia.com
Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/tabrezahmad7.
Blog:http://tabrezahmad.technolexindia.com, http://www.blogger.com/profile/15337756250055596327
Research Papers: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1189281