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By Cyril Shroff, managing partner and Rishabh Shroff, associate, Amarchand & Mangaldas

Labour and employment in India continues to be a priority area for law firms. With domestic companies and foreign companies running operations on the ground, competition for talented workers is high. The demographic dividend in coming years, with a youthful workforce joining the ranks of employees and workers, has been optimistically viewed by practitioners as the onset of a golden age – for both the growing economy as well as for the business of law.

Haldiram petition revealed trade mark file loss India’s intellectual property regulatory and tribunal frameworks have been under great scrutiny over the past 12 months. The country’s IP office has endured a challenging year, with embarrassments such as the loss of 44,000 trade mark files as well as allegations of corruption among officials. And the tribunal process did not escape criticism, with the constitutionality of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and the Copyright Board (CB) questioned in public interest litigation (PIL) permitted by the Madras High Court.

The Indian government is striving to shrug off its country’s unwanted reputation for infrastructure project delays and inefficient regulations. As part of its proposed five-year plan starting from 2012, it has announced it will spend US$1 trillion in an attempt to bring Indian roads, ports and airports up to international standards. This mission statement has been well received by investors and industry participants, though significant hurdles remain.

In its annual review of the 50 most influential people in intellectual property, Managing IP magazine has included three entrants from India – or six individuals to be precise

The notification of merger control regulations this year was a pivotal development in competition law in India. Having come into effect in June, these regulations will play a crucial role in mergers and related transactions in future. Lawyers warn however that the regulations are at a nascent stage, with a number of concerns still to be addressed

Multiplex cinemas hit by revenue sharing dispute The Competition Commission of India has issued orders regarding two pivotal competition law cases over the past year. The case between FICCI-Multiplex Association of India and United Producers/Distributors Forum dealt with the issue of cartels, and was seen by practitioners in the market as an important indication of the regulator’s stance on this issue. The other significant case was between the MCX Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India, which considered issues relating to abuse of dominance and anti-competitive pricing policies.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) guidelines on structured products released in May 2011 allow for greater corporate transparency and disclosure, according to one Indian derivatives specialist.

India equity IPO issuer advisers (ranked by volume) 1/1/10 – 31/12/10 2010 2009 Mkt share change (%) Firm Rank Mkt share Volume INR (bln) Deal count Rank Mkt share Luthra & Luthra Law 1 30.5 116 8 - - - DLA Piper Singapore 2 20.4 77 1 - - - Amarchand & Mangaldas 3 15 57 14 1 76 -61 Crawford Bayley & Co 4 7.3 28 6 - - - AZB & Partners 5 5.7 22 4 - - - Fox Mandal & Co 6 4.5 17 2 - - - Khaitan & Co 7 4.2 16 6 4 2.1 2.1 S&R Associates 8 2 8 1 - - - Gide Loyrette Nouel 9 1.7 6 1 - - - Trilegal 10 1.4 5 1 - - - Rajani Associates 11 1.2 5 4 5 0.8 0.4 Udwadia & Udeshi 12 1.1 4 1 - - - Corporate Law Chambers 13 0.7 3 4 - - - ALMT Legal 14 0.7 3 1 9 0.2 0.5 JurisPrudent Consulting Partners 15 0.7 3 2 - - - J Sagar Associates 16 0.6 2 2 3 2.7 -2.1 Kanga & Co 17 0.5 2 2 10 0.2 0.3 Skadden 18 0.3 1 1 - - - Vaish Associates 19 0.3 1 1 7 0.4 -0.1 Pepper Hamilton 20 0.2 1 1 - TOTAL 100% 380 63

DSP Merrill Lynch’s general counsel for India, Abhimanyu Singh Poonia, gives his verdict on how India’s regulators are rising to meet the challenges they face