THE FUTURE OF CLASS ACTIONS IN INDIA
India’s class action landscape is shifting decisively from promise to practice. For nearly a decade after section 245 of the Companies Act 2013 came into force, shareholder class actions remained largely dormant.
That changed between 2024 and 2026 as minority investors began testing the remedy before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), parallel regulatory developments matured across securities, competition and consumer law, and third party litigation funding expanded the financial feasibility of collective claims.
Although India still lacks a single consolidated class action statute, the cumulative effect of reforms across multiple legal regimes is now being felt in boardrooms and in courts.
The turning point came with a series of high-profile petitions that finally invoked section 245 in a meaningful way. Minority shareholders of Jindal Poly Films filed what is widely viewed as the first substantial corporate class action in India under this provision, challenging related-party transactions and valuation decisions and seeking compensation for alleged losses to the company.
Early commentary in late 2025 treated the petition as a test case. By February 2026, however, the New Delhi Principal Bench had admitted the matter, rejected a maintainability challenge and directed a public notice, signalling that the petition would proceed on its merits.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT’s) ruling in Jindal Poly Films Limited v. Ankit Jain (2026) – which upheld the NCLT’s decision to admit a petition under section 245 of the Companies Act 2013 and dismissed objections on maintainability – represents an important milestone in the evolution of Indian class action jurisprudence. That said, considerable uncertainty still remains regarding how compensation under section 245 is to be determined and awarded in practice.
Jul-Sep 2026 issue
AZB & Partners