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The Post cold war world naturally has been and will continue to be marked by the alignment of new friends and foes.  Economic and social factors are playing a significant role in that alignment.  Though not yet describable as “polarization”, this process is going forward.  It is driven by many factors, including but certainly not limited to

• Common enemies

• Globalization of business

• Common Language

• Government business development policies

• New forms of business entities and processes resulting from the rise of the Internet and truly global telecommunications, and

• Similarity of legal systems.

This process is gaining momentum.  And some experts predict even faster alignment in the future and, for our purposes,

the realignment of America and India is of particular interest. 
 

The outlines are well understood.  India has low cost labor that is highly trained and English speaking.  And the inter-action between the two nations’ economies is immense and growing quickly.

Clearly there is a concomitant need to understand and be able to advise clients about Indian legal matters.

Yet the legal fraternity is behind the curve of knowledge of the two legal systems. 

And this knowledge gap is a potential problem for American counsel and both American an Indian businesses.  Among problems now apparent are lack of knowledge of liabilities generated by business and other errors (corporate and directors and officers liability), inappropriate business entity formats, and lack of understanding of the court system.

Thus this Section.          

About India:

 
Geographically, India has special importance in the economy and politics of South Asia. Its military might is a fact to be reckoned with among the developing nations in this region. Its nuclear capability and its track record on the front of non proliferation has earned for it a special place and it came to be recognized as a responsible democracy. Its democracy has survived many onslaughts on its institutions by the terrorists for more than a decade and it is proved that democracy has the will to survive here because of its deep roots in the social fabric. It is this background that ensures the growth of business and commerce in more liberalized economic conditions.
 

India is a country which is blessed by nature with fertile land and varied seasons, which is boon for agricultural growth. Its large population constitutes great labor force. Its self-sufficiency in food grains notwithstanding its large population is a factor which now gives it more confidence to make decisions that promote economic growth. 

And, as is well known, with its sizable younger English speaking and technically skilled population, this country became a source of outsourcing or “off shoring” of work from other countries which can be done by a skilled but less expensive work force.
 

The result of all this is that India is now the 4th largest in terms of GDP, as per the report of World Development Indicator Database, World Bank, July 15, 2005, with GDP measured in purchasing power parity terms.  It is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. However it needs the infrastructure and scientific research to develop its economy with even greater speed. For that purpose India must look to the western countries with a great hope for cooperation in the terms of investment and information on research on various fronts. These factors provide the opportunity for western investors to invest in India and service providers from those countries to reduce their costs of operation.
 

For whatever reason, western businesses are here or are working with India based businesses.  Thus, knowledge of India’s business fraternity in particular supposed to know the niceties and complexities of Indian laws and legal system along with the knowledge of how to get the business done in India competitively and legally, is critical.

Therefore a need was felt for authentic information on the these topics. In response to this need we venture to start this page which will contain the articles from Indian legal experts and jurists and renowned lawyers which we  hope will provide substantial help to the legal fraternity in America and elsewhere who look to the American Bar Association for Continuing Legal Education. 

We will be discussing topics such as outsourcing, compensation to the workers and liabilities of businesses in the field of tort and civil contracts etc.

If you have an interest in a topic not covered here, email me, and we will endeavor to find an author for that topic.. So let us usher in an era of sharing our knowledge of Indian laws and legal systems.

Mukund Deshmukh, Mumbai, India