We are an Indian publishing company and are seeking foreign investment for our venture that proposes to publish magazines on general reading. What are the foreign investment rules that would guide investment in this venture?

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Under the present Government of India policy, no foreign investment can be made in the print media sector. While the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, allowed a person resident outside India, including a foreign company, to invest in a print media venture after obtaining approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by later policy decisions in early 2001 prohibited foreign direct investment including foreign institutional investors (FIIs), non-resident Indians (NRIs), overseas corporate bodies (OCBs) and foreign venture capital investors from purchasing shares or convertible debentures of an Indian company engaged in the print media sector. However, Indian publishers can enter into syndication arrangements with foreign parties for procurement of articles, editorials, photographs, etc., on payment of fees. In light of overall foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalisation and the fact that foreign direct investment is permitted within specified limits in other media-related sectors such as broadcasting, advertising, and the film industry, the current print media policy of the Government of India needs to be comprehensively reviewed.

What are the grounds on which an arbitral award can be challenged in a court of law?

Under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (1996 Act), an arbitral award is final and binding on the parties and persons claiming under them respectively. When parties constitute an arbitrator as the final judge of any dispute between them, they bind themselves as a rule to accept the award as final and conclusive. The parties can however challenge the enforcement of an arbitration award by filing an application with the Court for setting aside such as award on limited grounds provided in Section 34 of the 1996 Act within three months from receiving the arbitral award (which can be extended by a period of thirty days subject to court approval). The grounds for setting aside an award include (i) a party to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity, (ii) the arbitration agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties had subjected it to, (iii) a party seeking to set aside the award was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise unable to present its case, (iv) the arbitral award deals with a dispute not contemplated by or falling within the terms of the submission to arbitration, (v) the composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitration procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties, (vi) the subject matter of the dispute is not capable of settlement by arbitration under the law, or (vii) the court finds that the arbitral award is in conflict with Indian public policy. While an arbitral award cannot be challenged except for the limited grounds provided in Section 34 of the 1996 Act, an application can be made to the arbitral tribunal within thirty days from the date of receipt of an arbitral award to make an additional arbitral award for claims that were presented in the concerned arbitral proceedings but were omitted from the arbitral award due to an oversight on the part of the arbitral tribunal. However, new points cannot be raised in an application for an additional arbitral award. Barring the above exceptions, an arbitral award becomes enforceable under the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, in the same manner as if it were a decree of the court.

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