Section 27

Indian courts decide whether a consultant is really an employee by the substance of the relationship, not the label on the contract. The multi-factor control test, the tax and statutory consequences of getting it wrong, and the clauses that keep a contractor a contractor.

A valid Indian employment agreement must satisfy the Contract Act, the newly notified Labour Codes and a layer of statutory minima on wages, social security, leave, POSH and data protection, none of which can be contracted away. A clause-by-clause account of what the law requires and what it will no

Section 27 of the Contract Act renders post-employment non-competes void no matter how reasonable, a rule reaffirmed in Varun Tyagi (2025). What remains enforceable: during-employment restraints, garden leave, non-solicitation and confidentiality.

An NDA binds in India as an ordinary contract; breach invites injunctions, damages and occasionally criminal process. But courts will not enforce vague, oppressive or disguised non-compete NDAs, and no NDA can silence a whistleblower. A map of the remedies, limits and exceptions.

India has no franchise statute, so a franchisor's exit rights live or die by the contract. When convenience termination is enforceable, what a valid notice must contain, and which post-termination obligations survive Section 27 of the Contract Act.

Indian statute, not the investor's term sheet, sets the outer limits of a shareholders' agreement. How founders dealing with European investors can use Companies Act supremacy, Section 27, NCLT oppression remedies and market benchmarks to push back on aggressive terms.