According to data compiled by a deals tracking firm Dealogic, the value of merger and acquisition deals announced this year had crossed the $ 1 trillion mark since the beginning of this year. However, India’s share in this global tally is just 1%. Compared to 2007, the deals involving India Inc have fallen by 27% .The number of deals involving Indian companies this year stood at 125 at the end of March, with a total value of $9.64 billion, according to global consultancy firm Grant Thornton. This can be compared with 148 deals with a total valuation of $33.85 billion in the first three months of 2007. The Indian automobile sector has accounted for the lion’s share made by domestic firms. According to a latest report by industry chamber Assocham, the value of M&A deals in the auto sector was recorded at $3.13 billion, accounting for more than 30% of the total M&A deals linked by domestic firms by March 31, 2008. One of the most significant deals announced this year has been Tata Motor’s acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from the US auto major Ford for $ 2.3 billion.

Global law firms like Allen & Ovary, Jones Day, Linklaters and Freshfields BruckhausDeringer are among the several foreign law firms which are looking to set up informal tie-ups with Indian firms in order to establish their presence in India. With stringent regulatory guidelines and the Bar Council of India prohibiting any kind of joint ventures between foreign and Indian law firms, these entities are increasingly getting into such tie-ups with mid-sized firms in order to understand the market. London based Allen & Ovary has got into a tie-up with Trilegal partners, wherein both parties will refer work to each other when there is demand for India-related advice from international clients. Delhi based P&A law offices has got into a tie-up with US firm Jones Day, while Linklaters has drawn up a referral contract arrangement contract with Talwar Thakore & Associates. Freshfields is also likely to get into a tie-up with Mumbai-based husband and wife pair MP and Alka Barucha who had recently left leading Indian law firm Amarchand Mangaldas. Foreign law firms are looking out for local councils to assist them on Indian law while working on India-related projects in order to position themselves ahead of liberalisation of the Indian legal services sector.

The Supreme Court of India has ruled out video-recording of court proceedings. This question was raised before a division bench comprising of Chief Justice K.G Balakrishnan and Justice R.V.Raveendran. The counsel for the petitioner Mr.Prashant Bhushan said that many times there arose a dispute as to what was said during the arguments by the advocates and also about the observations of the judges on the Bench. This he felt could be easily sorted out if there was video-recording of the court proceedings. He said this while making a grievance of the alleged information stalling tactics adopted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. According to Mr. Bhushan, the High Court even refused to give details of the number of cases remanded by the apex court to it for speedy disposal and those actually disposed of. Instead the High Court said that it had made two lists- one normal category cases and the other priority cases. The Apex Court however, cited the O J Simpson case in the United States to express its apprehensions about the controversies that could arise once the court proceedings were televised.

Bisleri International and the Coca-Cola Company are locked over an Intellectual Property Dispute over the soft drink ‘Maaza’ outside India. Bisleri has accused Coc-Cola of stealing the IPR for Maaza and infringing agreements dating back to 1993 and 1994 signed between Coca-Cola and Bisleri. Bisleri has claimed that the Maaza trademark was sold to Coca-Cola only within India and Bisleri was the registered proprietor outside India. Coca-Col has however, claimed that there was no non-compete agreement entered into by Bisleri to restrain the company in relations to any other country where the Maaza trademark was not registered by Bisleri.