INTRODUCTION
The world is witnessing unprecedented times in light of the
COVID-19 outbreak, which has led to countries across the globe
adopting legal, political and economic measures which are equally
unprecedented. In one such move, the Government of India
("GoI") had, on April 17, 2020, released
Press Note No. 3 (2020 Series)1 ("Press
Note 3") to amend the Consolidated Foreign Direct
Investment Policy of 2017 ("FDI Policy")
with a stated view of curbing opportunistic take-overs/acquisitions
of Indian companies.
Press Note 3 comes across as a protectionist measure to save
Indian industry from predatory capital, while they struggle to
survive the COVID-19 hit economy. It provides that all foreign
direct investment ("FDI") from countries
which share a land border with India ("Border
Countries") shall be subject to prior approval from
the Government ("Approval Route"). Press
Note 3 came into effect on April 22, 2020, the date of publication
of the Foreign
