Practice Areas

The year 1991 was a critical year for the Indian economy due to the fact that the then policy & decision makers shifted gear from the earlier control-based economy to a free capital-based economy. The securities law which was still in an evolving stage then could not be left behind. This resulted in several changes in the landscape of securities law. A statutory Apex Board to promote orderly and healthy growth of the securities market for investor protection viz Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) was formed as an interim body. The SEBI Act was given statutory status on 30.01.1992 to regulate all aspects of the securities market. This phase witnessed large-scale changes in the way the secondary market conducted its market operations and the phase to convert the trading from physical shares to electronic form commenced. SEBI forced market players to get the shares dematted and not to be left behind the Companies Act 1956, witnessed a major revamp and the Companies Act 2013 came into being from April 2014. The introduction of Section 125 and Section 126 under Chapter VIII made it compulsory for all the listed Companies that all those shares on which the dividends are not claimed for a period of 7 years will be compulsorily transferred to and kept under the custody of an Authority constituted under the Act.