Legal system in suspended animation.

"Across India's subordinate courts, the first port of call for most cases, more than a third of the 31 million cases have been pending for more than three years," wrote Padmanabhan and Devulapalli. "Half of all the 8 million cases in the HCs (high courts) have been pending for over three years." This is holding our economy back. "The 2017 economic survey of the finance ministry pointed out that the slow resolution of economic and commercial cases was one of the biggest stumbling blocks in reviving the country's investment cycle." The problem is that the government enacts laws to dishonor unfavorable judgements by the Supreme Court, as when the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) was enacted to dishonor the verdict in the Vodafone-Hutch deal. The government tried to stop Vodafone going to an international arbitration court in London but was denied by Delhi High Court. But, officials have already said that India may not accept arbitration orders. "Foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows to India in 2018-19 contracted by 1%, according to the government's own data," wrote Prof P Ranjan. "This contraction in FDI inflows comes at a time when global supply chains are shifting base as a result of ongoing trade war between the US and China. India has failed to attract firms exiting China." FDI growth rate began to taper off from 2016-17, coinciding with "India's decision, in 2016, to unilaterally terminate bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with more than 60 countries", perhaps giving the impression that India "does not respect international laws". The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was enacted to help lenders get at least some of their money from defaulting firms but creditors have managed to delay cases by endless appeals. The government amended the law to prevent the defaulting creditor buying the company but this resulted in continuing litigation and endless delays. "That lawyers are generally dishonest is a well-known fact. Lawyers are (frequently) humorously called liars, and because they are middle-men between judges and the litigating public they act like dishonest brokers," wrote Justice Ruma Pal. The Supreme Court striking down the Reserve Bank's (RBI's) 'Resolution of Stressed Assets: Revised Framework', which tightened bankruptcy rules, was a bonanza for defaulting companies, wrote Prof V Ranganathan. A large number of companies have "interest cover ratio (IC) of less than 1 -- that is earnings are less than interest due". Debts of companies with IC less than 1 are: "Tata Motors, Tata Power and Tata Tele have borrowings of Rs 1,20,000 crore; Jaiprakash Associates and Jaiprakash Power, Rs 96,000 crore; Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Defence, Rs 80,000 crore; Adani Power, Rs 53,000 crore and GMR Infrastructure Rs 50,000 crore. The system is designed for insider loot. Foreigners beware.