The Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea challenging the WeWork India IPO and upheld the earlier Bombay High Court decision dismissing the petitions. The Court noted that SEBI had already examined and approved the offer documents, bringing the legal challenge to an end.
The Supreme Court of India on Monday dismissed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) that challenged the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of WeWork India at the admission stage, bringing an end to the legal dispute surrounding the company’s public offering.
A Bench comprising Justice P. S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe refused to interfere with the earlier judgment delivered by the Bombay High Court on December 1, 2025. The High Court had dismissed separate writ petitions filed by Hemant Kulshreshta and Vinay Bansal, both of whom had questioned the legality of the IPO process.
The appeal before the Supreme Court was filed by Hemant Kulshreshta. During the hearing, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the company had allegedly failed to disclose certain criminal proceedings related to its promoters in the offer documents issued for the public offering.
Opposing the petition, Senior Advocate Darius Khambata, appearing on behalf of WeWork India, submitted that the Securities and Exchange Board of India had already examined and approved the company’s offer documents. He stated that SEBI, being the statutory market regulator and an expert body, had reviewed the disclosures before permitting the IPO to proceed.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the Supreme Court declined to intervene in the matter and dismissed the appeal.
The dispute had earlier reached the Bombay High Court, which on December 1, 2025 dismissed the writ petitions challenging the IPO. The High Court also imposed costs of ₹1 lakh on one of the petitioners, Vinay Bansal. In its ruling, the High Court noted that certain material facts were not disclosed before the Court. These included the company’s responses to complaints that were used as the basis for challenging the IPO. The Court further observed that the conduct of the petitioners created doubts about their bona fides.
Court records show that the petitions before the High Court were filed on September 30, 2025, only a few days before the IPO was scheduled to open. However, the draft prospectus had already been available in the public domain for several months prior to that. The records also showed that neither Hemant Kulshreshta nor Vinay Bansal were investors in the public offering.
Another petition had also been filed by Rishab Agarwal after the IPO had already closed. This petition was later withdrawn unconditionally before the Bombay High Court, without any liberty to file a fresh plea. The challenge raised in that petition relied on complaints submitted by Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy Limited, which is involved in a separate commercial dispute with another company belonging to the Embassy Group.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, a spokesperson for WeWork India issued a statement confirming the outcome of the case. According to the spokesperson,
“the Court dismissed the appeal at the first hearing and accepted the submissions made on behalf of the company that SEBI had examined and approved the offer documents in its capacity as the expert regulatory authority.”
The spokesperson further stated that
“no relief was granted to the petitioner and that the order brings to a close the last remaining challenge to the company’s public offering by Hemant Kulshreshta.”
The company also referred to the earlier ruling of the Bombay High Court, noting that it had dismissed the petitions filed by Kulshreshta and Bansal while recording findings about suppression of material facts and imposing costs on one of the petitioners.
In addition, the spokesperson said that
“during the course of the litigation, the IPO had been oversubscribed and that the company has maintained stable market performance.”
The statement concluded by noting that
“the conclusion of the proceedings reaffirms the strength of India’s securities regulatory framework and the role of courts in addressing disputes relating to public offerings.”
With the Supreme Court dismissing the appeal at the admission stage, the litigation challenging WeWork India’s IPO process has now effectively come to an end.
The ruling also reinforces the importance of regulatory oversight by SEBI and highlights the courts’ limited role in interfering with IPO approvals once the statutory regulator has examined and cleared the disclosures made by companies seeking to raise funds from the public.
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