I welcome the report of the committee chaired by Justice Bhagwati and the amended regulations on takeovers which has been produced and I found the arguments which were put forward in support of the proposed changes very convincing.
My questions about the future conduct of takeovers in India would be less on the detail of the regulations, which must be designed to deal with the actual circumstances of control and ownership in India, and more on the way that practitioners in the field of takeovers will be able to apply these regulations in practice.
It seems that the authorities are not seeking to follow the approach to regulation used by the American Securities and Exchange Commission, with its demanding requirements for the dissemination of information about listed securities to shareholders.
Its reliance on the legal system, but rather, is leaning toward the British system which relies, particularly as regards takeovers, on a set of principles and practice notes which seek to set out the rules under which companies may properly bid to acquire each other, and professional advisers may help them to do so.
This system works, first, because those concerned in the business have accepted that these rules should be followed, and second, because where such uncertainties of interpretation arise
