HUMAN RESOURCE LAW

International human resource practices are firmly getting established in India. Employee benefits in the form of employee stock options are commonly used as an employee incentive. Multinational companies also provide such incentives to their employees worldwide including the employees of their subsidiaries or branches in India. Indian corporate sector has recognized the need of having comprehensive staff policy and procedure manuals that contain policies on wide ranging issues including non-discrimination, code of conduct for the employees, strict regulations on insider trading, confidentiality, protection of the employer's intellectual property, to name a few. The corporate sector needs to comply with Indian labor law issues such as payment of bonus, super-annuation benefits, payment of salary in the event of immediate termination. Obligations under tax laws for deducting taxes on perquisites and salaries paid to employees and compliance with foreign exchange regulations are other issues that require compliance.

Our Human Resource Law practice focuses on:

    • Advising our clients on all aspects of domestic or cross-border employee stock option plans ("ESOPs") and share purchase schemes · Assisting our clients to structure such plans keeping in view Indian applicable laws, such as tax laws, labor laws, foreign exchange laws and even guidelines issues by The Securities Exchange Board of India ("Sebi")
    • Reviewing cross-border plans to ensure that these are in compliance with all Indian regulations
    • Advising our clients on the tax incidence arising in the hands of their employees in relation to the respective incentive schemes and the withholding tax obligations in the hands of the employer
    • Assisting our clients in filing of the stock option/share purchase plans with the relevant regulatory authorities and obtaining the clearance from such authorities
    • Advising our Indian clients on the exchange control and tax implications in India arising on issue of ADR/GDR linked stock options to their Indian employees
    • Advising our clients on structuring a tax efficient compensation package, including stock options/share purchase plans
    • Structuring of the assumption of stock options (as part of an M&A transaction)
    • Drafting comprehensive staff policy and procedure manuals for our clients or reviewing such manuals.
    • Drafting employment contracts incorporating suitable provisions for intellectual property and non-competition.
    • Advising on applicability of various labour laws in setting up operations in India.
    • Advising on applicability of various labour laws in merger, acquisition, transfer or sale of business undertaking in India.

Our Research Papers:

Other allied material:

Contact details: For further information and / or suggestions, please contact Vikram Shroff / Parul Jain
Email: vikram@nishithdesai.com / parul@nishithdesai.com