Umakanth 
VAROTTIL

 
Professor

Academic Fellow

Cluster Coordinator (Comparative Commercial Law)

Vice-Dean (Graduate Studies)

Umakanth Varottil specializes in corporate law and governance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. While his work is generally comparative in nature, his specific focus is on India and Singapore. He has co-authored or co-edited five books, published articles in international journals and founded the IndiaCorpLaw Blog. He has also taught on a visiting basis at law schools in Australia, India, Italy, New Zealand and the United States.

FULL BIOGRAPHY

Contact

v.umakanth@nus.edu.sg
(65) 6516-3606
FED-02-21

Education

PhD (NUS), LLM (New York University), LLB (Hons) (National Law School of India University, Bangalore)

Curriculum Vitae

View CV

Current Courses

Company Law (E)

Company Law (F)

Umakanth Varottil specializes in corporate law and governance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. While his work is generally comparative in nature, his specific focus is on India and Singapore. He has co-authored or co-edited five books, published articles in international journals and founded the IndiaCorpLaw Blog. He has also taught on a visiting basis at law schools in Australia, India, Italy, New Zealand and the United States.

Umakanth is an editor of the Oxford Business Law Blog, Indian Law Review, Asian Journal of Comparative Law and Singapore Journal of Legal Studies. He is also a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Prior to his foray into academia, Umakanth was a partner at a pre-eminent law firm in India. During that time, he was also ranked as a leading corporate/mergers & acquisitions lawyer in India by the Chambers Global Guide.

Books
Umakanth Varottil and Wan Wai Yee, Mergers and Acquisitions in Singapore: Law and Practice (Second Edition) (2nd edn, LexisNexis 2023)

Umakanth Varottil, Mihir Naniwadekar and V. Niranjan, The Reform Decade: Corporate and Commercial Law in India (1st edn, Eastern Book Company 2020)

Edited Books
KV Krishnaprasad, Niranjan Venkatesan, Shivprasad Swaminathan and Umakanth Varottil (eds), Foundations of Indian Contract Law (Oxford University Press 2024)

Randall S. Thomas, Paolo Giudici and Umakanth Varottil (eds), Research Handbook on Shareholder Inspection Rights: A Comparative Perspective (Edward Elgar Publishing 2023)

Umakanth Varottil, Engert Andreas, Enriques Luca, Ringe Wolf-Georg and Wetzer Thom (eds), Business Law and the Transition to a Net Zero Economy (Beck - Hart - Nomos 2021)

Book Chapters
Tan Zhong Xing and Umakanth Varottil, 'Restraint of Trade in India: Reason (Un)restrained?' in KV Krishnaprasad, Niranjan Venkatesan, Shivprasad Swaminathan and Umakanth Varottil (eds), Foundations of Indian Contract Law (Oxford University Press 2024) 237

Umakanth Varottil, 'The Legal and Regulatory Impetus towards ESG in India: Developments and Challenges' in Thilo Kuntz (ed), Research Handbook on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (Edward Elgar Publishing 2024) 462

Tan Cheng-Han S.C., Alan Koh, Topo Santoso, Umakanth Varottil and Wang Jiangyu, 'Comparative Legal Education' in Mathias Siems and Po Jen Yap (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Law (Cambridge University Press 2024) 713

Umakanth Varottil and Rahul Sibal, 'Constitutional Conundrums Involving Corporate Insolvency' in Shruti Vidyasagar, Sandhya P. R., Anindita Pattanayak and Harish Narasappa (eds), Constitutional Ideals – Development and Realisation Through Court-led Justice (Oakbridge Publishing 2023) 203

Umakanth Varottil and Neha Joshi, 'Shareholder Inspection Rights in India: Restricted Scope and Diminished Effect' in Randall S. Thomas, Paolo Giudici and Umakanth Varottil (eds), Research Handbook on Shareholder Inspection Rights: A Comparative Perspective (Edward Elgar Publishing 2023) 377

Randall S. Thomas, Paolo Giudici and Umakanth Varottil, 'Introduction to the Research Handbook on Shareholder Inspection Rights' in Randall S. Thomas, Paolo Giudici, and Umakanth Varottil (eds), Research Handbook on Shareholder Inspection Rights: A Comparative Perspective (Edward Elgar Publishing 2023) 1

Umakanth Varottil, 'Shareholder Stewardship in India: The Desiderata' in Dionysia Katelouzou and Dan W. Puchniak (eds), Global Shareholder Stewardship (Cambridge University Press 2022) 360

Umakanth Varottil, 'Minority Shareholders’ Rights, Powers and Duties: The Market for Corporate Influence' in Afra Afsharipour and Martin Gelter (eds), Comparative Corporate Governance (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021) 346

Umakanth Varottil, 'Corporate Law in Colonial India: Rise and Demise of the Managing Agency System' in Serge Dauchy, Heikki Pihlajamäki, Albrecht Cordes, and Dave De ruysscher (eds), Colonial Adventures: Commercial Law and Practice in the Making (Brill Nijhoff 2020) 245

Journal Articles
Umakanth Varottil and Chuanman You, 'Reconciling National Security Review with Takeover Regulation in the Global M&A Market' (2024) 6 Journal of Business Law 535

Srinivasan Sankaraguruswamy and Umakanth Varottil, 'Which companies pay more (or less) in legal fees? An empirical study of India' (2023) 75 International Review of Law and Economics 1

Umakanth Varottil, 'Special Purpose Acquisition Companies: A Discordant Tale of Two Asian Financial Centres' (2023) 18 (2) Capital Markets Law Journal 202

Ernest Lim and Umakanth Varottil, 'Climate Risk: Enforcement of Corporate and Securities Law in Common Law Asia' (2022) 22 (1) Journal of Corporate Law Studies 391

Umakanth Varottil and Wan Wai Yee, 'The Divergent Designs of Mandatory Takeovers in Asia' (2022) 55 (1) Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 89

Umakanth Varottil, 'ICP Investments v Uppal Housing: Pushing Shareholder Derivative Actions to the Brink' [2021] Indian Law Review

Umakanth Varottil, 'Proliferation of Corporate Governance Codes in the Backdrop of Divergent Ownership Structures' (2020) 24 (5) Competition & Change 471

Umakanth Varottil, 'Unpacking the Scope of Oppression, Prejudice and Mismanagement Under the Companies Act, 2013' [2020] Supreme Court Cases J-1-J-26

Lin Lin and Umakanth Varottil, 'Venture Capital in China and India: Does Business Form Matter?' (2020) 53 (3) Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 949

Dan W. Puchniak and Umakanth Varottil, 'Related Party Transactions in Commonwealth Asia: Complicating the Comparative Paradigm' (2020) 17 (1) Berkeley Business Law Journal 1

Representative Publications
Umakanth Varottil and Wan Wai Yee, Mergers and Acquisitions in Singapore: Law and Practice (LexisNexis 2013)

Umakanth Varottil and Vikramaditya Khanna, ‘The Rarity of Derivative Actions in India: Reasons and Consequences’ in Dan W. Puchniak, Harald Baum & Michael Ewing-Chow eds., The Derivative Action in Asia: A Comparative and Functional Approach (Cambridge University Press 2012)

Umakanth Varottil, ‘Evolution and Effectiveness of Independent Directors in Indian Corporate Governance‘ (2010) 6 Hastings Business Law Journal 281-376


  • Company Law
  • Corporate Governance
  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Law & Finance in India