Bombay High Court clears WeWork India IPO, penalises petitioner ₹1 lakh

The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed two petitions seeking to block WeWork India’s planned initial public offering, removing a last-minute obstacle ahead of the company’s market debut. A division bench of Justices R.I. Chagla and Farhan Parvez Dubash rejected the pleas filed by Vinay Bansal and Hemant Kulshrestha and imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh on Bansal, directing him to deposit the amount with the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority within two weeks. The order was delivered orally, with a detailed judgment expected in due course.

The petitioners had challenged the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s approval for the IPO, alleging that several crucial risks were inadequately disclosed or unclear. They pointed to WeWork India’s losses, negative net worth, criminal proceedings involving its promoters and the fact that the offer is a full offer-for-sale, describing the combination as carrying unprecedented risk for potential investors.

Senior counsel Shiraz Rustomjee, representing SEBI, stated that courts should refrain from intervening in regulatory decisions unless they are arbitrary or unconstitutional and informed the bench that SEBI had maintained active oversight, ensuring that criminal proceedings were placed as the first risk factor in the prospectus.

Appearing for WeWork India, senior counsels Darius Khambatta and Gaurav Joshi said the company had adhered to all disclosure norms under the ICDR Regulations, which require clear and concise summaries rather than exhaustive descriptions, and argued that the timing of the petitions was questionable as the draft prospectus had been publicly available for months and objections were raised only at the final stage.