Indian courts determine whether a payment is a loan, a gift, a capital contribution, or a distribution of profit by examining the substance of the transaction and the parties' contemporaneous intention, not the label a bookkeeper attached to it, a principle the Supreme Court of India affirmed in the context of book entries under the Income-tax Act, 1961. The same reasoning now governs disputes between partners, shareholders, and contracting parties under the Indian Contract A

A company cannot act on its own — it acts through its board of directors and, for certain matters, through resolutions passed by its shareholders. The Companies Act, 2013 prescribes which decisions a

When money has been distributed among partners as profit and remuneration, a common situation later arises where some of the partners agree to bring those sums back into the business by treating them as loans. This raises two distinct questions that are frequently confused: whether every partner is bound by that decision, and what happens to the money once it returns. The answers turn on settled principles of Indian partnership law and on the statutory scheme governing limite

A force majeure clause is a contractual provision that excuses one or both parties from performing their obligations when circumstances beyond their control make performance impossible or impractical.

Indian law applies no presumption that a payment to or from a partner is a loan; under Section 102 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (Section 105 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023), the party asserting that a payment was a loan carries the burden of proving it. Absent such proof, a payment made in the ordinary course of a partnership or limited liability partnership is more naturally characterised as profit, remuneration, or a drawing against the partner's own entitleme

When a business is acquired through a share purchase, the buyer acquires shares in the company from the existing shareholders. They do not acquire the company's assets or contracts directly. The compa

Non-compete clauses are standard features of employment contracts in India's technology, finance, and services sectors. They restrict an employee from joining a competitor or setting up a competing bu

Choosing the right legal structure is one of the first decisions a founder makes when starting a business in India. The two most common choices for a new venture in India are a private limited company

A practical guide to drafting enforceable NDAs in India — defining confidential information, carve-outs, duration, injunction remedies, and dispute resolution clauses for Mumbai businesses.

Most business disputes in India don’t begin in court, they begin the day someone signed a poorly drafted contract. Here are nine drafting mistakes that consistently turn business disagreements into expensive litigation.

People always ask me why lawyers make huge contracts for something as simple as hiring an employee. Is it to justify the fees? No. Well, at least most of the time it isn’t. We try to ensure that employment contracts cover every possible scenario, so that there isn’t any ambiguity and any dispute between employer and employee can be resolved quickly and with the least amount of bitterness. Below are some terms you should get in writing from your employees. For new employees yo