The Reliance Chair on Corporate Law and Governance is an Endowment Chair instituted with the support of Reliance Industries Limited. The Chair undertakes doctrinal and applied research in the areas of Corporate Governance, Accountability, Corporate Ethics, and Shareholder Democracy. Through publications, seminars, and workshops, the Chair contributes to the dissemination of legal information and law reform.

Chair Professor (In-charge) (2026-2027): Varun Malik
Affiliated Faculty (2026-2027): Prakriti Singh

Current Research and Policy Interventions

Review of the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill 2026

NLSIU faculty members, Mr Rahul Singh and Dr Garima Gupta, have closely reviewed and engaged extensively with the process of strengthening the newly proposed Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill 2026. At the request of the Joint Parliamentary Committee constituted to examine the 2026 Bill, Prof Singh and Dr Gupta submitted detailed written comments and appeared in-person before the Committee on 10 July 2026 to participate in the stakeholder consultation.
The recommendations put forward by the NLSIU team include: (i) removing references to the IBC from Sections 230(1) and 230(6); examining the rationale behind requirement of three-year cooling-off period for the auditors u/s 144; (ii) revisiting the definition of “small companies” and the exclusion of holding and subsidiary companies therefrom; (iii) introducing a valuation-fairness check under proposed section 43A; (iv) incorporating guiding criteria under clause 43(d) to avoid excessive delegation of legislative function; and (v) providing guiding criteria for reducing the directorship cap under clause 55.”

Several recommendations made by the NLSIU team are reflected in the Committee’s report. For instance, Dr Garima Gupta’s concern that cash-settled and equity-settled instruments were being treated alike was echoed in the Committee’s broader direction that the matter be clarified through comprehensive rules. Similarly, the Committee accepted Dr Gupta’s recommendations to a) narrow the provision on the CSR exemption power (Section 135), b) put in place a transitional safeguard to prevent directors facing abrupt vacation of office (Section 165), and c) to address concern about diluted minority protection in instances of fast-track mergers, to which the Committee responded by recommending a statutory exit right for dissenting shareholders (Section 233).

For details, please refer to the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Completed Projects

Research Project on ‘Free and Open Source Software in India’ (2024-2025)

The Chair contributed to a research project on evaluating the impact of ‘Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)’ in India. Funded by the Samagata Foundation, the project assessed the extent to which organisations in India are adopting FOSS and the economic impact or value addition provided by FOSS.

The report can be accessed here:
The Rise of FOSS in India: Empirical Evidence and Insights from Cross-Sectoral Case Studies. (2025), Dr Arul George Scaria, Dr Suryaprakash Mishra, Shubham Shinde and Rashi Singhal, published by National Law School of India University, Bengaluru (Centre for Intellectual Property Research and Advocacy [CIPRA]; DPIIT IPR Chair; and Reliance Chair on Corporate Law and Governance).

RCCL&G Working Paper Series

The Reliance Chair on Corporate Law and Governance (RCCL&G) launched a Working Paper Series focusing on research (theoretical, empirical as well as applied) in all the areas of Corporate Law and Governance, Economics and Economic Analysis. All working papers will be available for viewing and downloading on this page.