Author Archive
Dare, Dream, Do & Deliver; The IR Annual Conference, 2013
IR, International Referral is a market leader in internet business development for the legal profession. It is the world’s largest group of advisers featured exclusively by practice area expertise. It acts as a professional partner for anyone looking for a reliable referral service.
The IR Annual Conference was held in London over 4 days starting from the 18th of September and culminating on the 21st of September at the prestigious BAFTA Venue (British Academy of Film & Television Arts) and RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry), in London. The event was conducted by IR to bring like minded individuals together and assist in building new relationships, sharing of opportunities, joint marketing collaboration and referrals, which are mutually beneficial. It was designed to assist leading professional service firms with growing of their business.
Over the four days a lot happened including full day conferences, professional breakout sessions, networking sessions and finished with social excursions to the west end and a premier league football match! The Annual conference had award-winning speakers from all over world, including Ross Nicholls, Duncan Cheatle, Emma Jones and Nic Rixon. More than 300 guests from 50 jurisdictions attended this event including the Managing Partner of SMA LEGAL, Shantanu Mohan Puri. This was the first event for Mr. Puri which provided an excellent opportunity to meet lawyers, accountants and other professionals on a single platform. It was a valuable and unique experience which has potential. Mr. Puri felt that the event was designed to hit the perfect formula of relevant speakers, a dynamic agenda and a positive learning environment for participants.The overall exceptionally friendly atmosphere and the best group of professionals made this event a memorable and highly successful event.
An immediate outcome of the event for SMA LEGAL has been forging new associations with like minded, same sized and enterprising law firms from Belgium, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Japan, Cyprus, Malta, Italy, South America, Germany, France, England, United States of America and Australia.
Punjab announces New Industrial Policy 2013
Industry remains an integral component of the economy of Punjab, with capabilities in the entire manufacturing value chain, from R&D and design to marketing and sales. Punjab is building successful partnerships with foreign firms, strengthening domestic capabilities and forging strategic links.
Industrial work is shaping up to be the most cost-competitive, motivated, and highly productive. Punjab with excellent capabilities in industrial and business management, technology, R & D, production, services and international market development is ensuring that the State stays on the path of industrial progress. The state of Punjab is aiming to be the most industrially developed state in India in the next 25 years.
Therefore, to give fillip to industrialisation in the state, the Punjab government recently announced its new incentive-based Industrial policy. The State Industrial Policy has come out with a mechanism to provide a well-oiled system to the entrepreneurs setting up facilities in the State. With the advent of this policy, Punjab is all set to be a “game changer in Industrial Investment and Promotion” in the region.
The New Policy besides focusing on inclusive growth, tapping the inherent advantages of the state, lays the blue print for Industrial revolution for the next 25 years. Under the policy, the state has approved a liberal package of fiscal incentives for a wide variety of sectors with special focus on manufacturing, integrated textile units, agro and food processing, electronic hardware and Information Technology.
The policy postulates that the state will offer a range of incentives for the sectors mentioned above in terms of reduction and exemption from of
- Value-Added Tax (VAT)
- Central Sales Tax (CST)
- Electricity Duty
- Stamp Duty
- Property Tax Exemption
- Purchase Tax (on select commodities)
- Market Fees,
- Rural Development Fund (RDF)
- Infrastructure Development Tax
The new policy announces 24-hour power supply and an exemption from the Punjab Pollution Control Board as well as exemption from all labour laws, which will play the role of a catalyst for a massive industrial growth. The exemption from all labour laws is a unique policy decision which is bound to benefit industry in Punjab, be it the old or the new.
For a better and more well spread industrialisation, based upon the strengths of each region the State Government has divided the state into two zones, Zone I, which is a less industrialised zone and Zone II, which is a highly industrialised zone.
The maximum fiscal incentives are offered to areas falling in zone-I. To speed up the industrial development in these least developed areas, fiscal incentives are offered in the form of exemption of VAT from a minimum of 50 percent to a maximum of 80 per cent. Special focus is on select areas such as new manufacturing including textiles and agro and food processing sectors. Whereas, in the case of Zone-II the quantum of incentives has been restricted to the maximum of 40 percent in VAT and 50 percent in CST exemption.
For agro/food processing industry, the new Industrial Policy provides benefits in terms of reduction in mandi fee, rural development fee, infrastructure development cess incentives, besides purchase tax incentives on wheat and milk. According to the new policy, no purchase tax would be levied on wheat and milk purchased and processed in the state. It has also been decided that no VAT/Entry Tax will be charged on farm equipment.
For electronics, hardware and IT sectors, the level of tax exemption goes up to 100 percent. Besides, there will be 100 per cent exemption from payment of stamp duty, electricity duty and property tax and 75 per cent in payment of Central Sales Tax (CST).The Policy announced for creation of a land bank of 5,000 hectares to accommodate massive new projects and industry expansion across the state.
The New Industrial Policy focuses on three points:
- Incentives,
- Simplifying Procedures
- Facilitation
With the advent of the New Industrial Policy, there will be elimination of all the earlier steps of the Screening Committee and the Empowered Committee. Instead it will make Punjab the first state to provide online approvals in the most transparent manner.
In conclusion
Finally, the Industrial Policy-2013 is as an aggressive, incentive-based policy that, besides changing the paradigm of industrial development, should facilitate investment in the state. Such a lucrative policy opens a window for massive investment opportunities in the form of new business ventures or joint ventures in terms of mergers and acquisitions with the existing industrial houses in the state.
Although the Industrial Policy and the approach of the Government is pro-active towards setting up a new business, the mechanics of the policy, its implementation and following of rules can be quite cumbersome and tedious. It is for enabling a smooth functioning with no wastage of time and resources, the role of investment advisors is relevant. SMA Legal has helped its clients, of all nationalities, to successfully establish business ventures in India. Our firm has also helped various International firms to work with private industry, institutions and the Government. Our knowledge of the local laws coupled with our experience of working with the Government is an asset which helps an investor to work within a legal framework in a systematic, timely and profitable manner.
If there is any more information required on this issue or any other issue, do write to [email protected].
Compiled by
Gurkirat Sachdeva.
Gurkirat is an Assistant Administrator at SMA LEGAL. She has a background in Economics.
SMA Legal has been listed among the 50+ high quality law firms in India by the India Business Law Journal in their April, 2013 issue.
“Four years of working with tight budgets have made in-house counsel at companies both inside and outside India acutely aware of the need to get value for money from their legal advisers. At the same time, the complexities of doing business in India demand that legal advisers should be of the highest possible caliber and that their expertise should be well attuned to the nature of the task at hand.
India benefits from a rich and diverse legal market, but while some in-house counsel and foreign law firms already make
good use of the diversity of services on offer, many others are unaware of the sheer depth and breadth of the legal market, particularly when it comes to small and mid-size Indian law firms.
With this in mind, India Business Law Journal introduces 50+ high quality law firms that prospective clients and referral
partners would do well to know about. In our April issue, we will repeat the exercise for intellectual property firms. The value of such information cannot be underestimated: after using the services of Shantanu Mohan at SMA Legal for six months, the chief sales officer of a European project management and consulting company says “we should have
called him earlier … [he] does not waffle and gets to the heart of our problems”.
The European executive chose to work with SMA Legal – a five-lawyer firm in Chandigarh – after speaking to “big law firms in Mumbai”, finding that “their rates seemed excessive” and hearing that SMA Legal “are loyal to their clients and are not afraid to challenge big players”
A new chapter in the realm of Indian arbitration law – SMA Legal’s Associate Lawyer, Sukanya Vashist’s article has been published in the newsletter of International Bar Association.
http://www.ibanet.org/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleUid=7AF1E923-6DF7-46A7-A562-1B3D2BF9422E
Due Diligence and Legal Advice by SMA Legal on leasing of a multi-million Dollar property in Delhi, India
SMA Legal was engaged by a European client to investigate and ascertain the real owner of a property in Delhi. By way of a meticulous and thorough investigation the client was saved from taking up the property on lease as it was discovered that the property did not vest in the person claiming the same.
We have moved!
Due to our increasing client base and staff requirements we are upgrading our existing office,therefore effective November 5th 2012, SMA Legal office has temporarily shifted from house no 686, sector 11-B, Chandigarh to House no.17, sector 9-A, Chandigarh.
However our contact numbers and email address of all concerned remain unchanged.
And as they say ” Its Business as usual ” !!
We have rebranded ourselves
We have renamed our organization from Shantanu Mohan & Associates to SMA Legal, effective 2nd April’12.
The rebranding exercise is a part of a bigger vision to establish ourselves as India’s leading boutique legal advisory firm that specializes in high profile cases involving large Indian corporations, international companies with business interests in India, distinguished individuals and country missions to India.
This process started a few months ago when we started concentrating on taking our law firm to the next level and creating a brand which unites the expectations of our customers with the work we do best – legal advisory.
The new branding is fresh, young and is intended to reflect the change we are bringing in the organization to offer you increasingly better services. Over the years, SMA Legal has grown to be respected as a specialist in key practice areas. This growth would not
have been possible without the patronization of our customers. We are truly grateful to them.
We have always aimed at providing excellent service and high quality advice to customers in a commercially practical, timely and efficient manner. The new brand will continue to keep up to these values while adding significant clarity to the way we operate.
In order to reflect our true strengths, we have reorganized our business in five key areas of practice where we have demonstrated substantial expertise in the last 10 years.
- India Business Advisory
- Arbitration & Conciliation
- Investigation Services
- Corporate & Commercial Law
- NRI Services
SMA Legal aims to become India’s number one legal advisory firm in these areas of practice. SMA Legal aims to achieve this vision by 2020 through a systematic growth of its infrastructure, people and client base without losing focus on the very high quality standards that SMA Legal prides on.
This change of thought will be seen across all our communication channels. Our new website, www.smalegal.in will act as the first reference for you to understand SMA Legal better.
