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@article{208968,
        author = {Arshabh Dev Singh and Neetya Shah},
        title = {Understanding The Need For Clear Rules On Layering Restrictions And Clarity of The Applicability Of The WOS Restriction.},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {5},
        pages = {1878-1882},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=208968},
        abstract = {In India, the advent of the concept of corporate layering has revolutionized the environment of corporate structuring, corporate governance and cross-border transactions. These rules, which were introduced to prevent financial irregularities, financial fraud and to promote transparency, are now giving rise to a lot of interpretation hassles, particularly under the Companies Act, 2013 and the framework of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). This paper reviews the corporate layering framework in India and looks into the ambiguity created by the Companies (Restriction on Number of Layers) Rules, 2017 and Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Rules, 2022. It breaks down the conceptual distinction between horizontal layering and vertical layering, looks at the regulatory conflict and uncertainty of the Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) exemption, and considers the regulatory conflict between various definitions of an "investment company". Moreover, this article compares the regulatory framework in India, which, if anything, is even more structural than the one in the United States and Japan, in their current stages, ex post, to the national ex-ante prohibitions. Further, the current ex post, disclosure and tax-driven regulatory regimes of the United States and Japan are compared to the ex-ante structural prohibitions in India. From this synthesis, we are proposing a harmonized and risk calibrated regulatory roadmap that gives a balance between transparency for the companies and the flexibility they need in their structures to operate in the modern global business structure.},
        keywords = {},
        month = {October},
        }