The Leaflet | Squeezed Out: Supreme Court Upholds Selective Capital Reduction Targeting Minority Shareholders under Section 66 of the Companies Act in Bharti Telecom Case

EARLIER THIS YEAR, the Supreme Court of India in Pannalal Bhansali v. Bharti Telecom Ltd. (2026), upheld the articulate and lucid judgement of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (‘NCLAT’) in Shirish Vinod Shah v. Bharti Telecom Ltd. (2025) affirming that a company can carry out a selective share capital reduction to eke out minority shareholders as long as the conditions in Section 66 of the Companies Act, 2013 are fulfilled and prejudice (defined by a high bar) is not being caused to the shareholders whose capital is being reduced.