10 years

Vandana Chatlani reflects on India Business Law Journal’s first decade of documenting legal developments

In June 2007, Vantage Asia, a little-known Hong Kong-based publishing house, printed the inaugural issue of a magazine dedicated to covering business and legal developments in India. It was the first publication of its kind, devoted entirely to the Indian market, and catering primarily to a readership of in-house counsel at Indian and international companies. With a Bengal tiger emblazoned on its cover, the magazine vowed to be a reader’s “partner in legal intelligence”, promising insightful advice on navigating the legal and regulatory labyrinths confronting foreign investors and domestic businesses in India.

Our first issue came at a time when many observers were predicting the imminent liberalization of India’s legal market, and its opening to foreign law firms. Our coverage showcased a wide range of views on this thorny and emotive subject from lawyers in India, New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and beyond. It included a withering critique by Lalit Bhasin, the president of the Society of Indian Law Firms, explaining the reasons for his unwavering opposition to any moves to allow foreign law firms to enter the country.

Misplaced optimism

Ten years on and the much anticipated – and highly controversial – liberalization has yet to materialize. The unbounded optimism expressed by some foreign lawyers in our first issue, many of whom had already assembled India-teams-in-waiting in locations outside the country, was clearly misplaced. In this month’s Vantage point we revisit the issue, hearing from many of the same partners at international law firms about how their India strategies have changed due to the lack of progress on legal market liberalization. We also hear once again from Bhasin, who explains why his staunch opposition to the entry of foreign law firms has softened in the intervening decade.

The era of mega-deals

Since our first issue, India Business Law Journal, or “IBLJ” as it has become (we hope affectionately) known, has witnessed the Indian legal market evolve, mature and thrive. We have been privileged to cover a dynamic market where family-run law firms operating in basements have blossomed into professional, institutionalized, tech-savvy, world-class entities. We have seen partnerships struck and ferociously torn apart, deals meticulously structured and speedily unravelled. We witnessed euphoria as India’s market boomed, attracting interest and investment from around the globe. And we traced transactions that fell into tatters in times of doom and gloom as India faced a dizzying downward spiral fuelled by the global economic meltdown.

In 2007, we covered some of the biggest transactions that India has seen to date; Vodafone acquired Hutchison Essar for US$11.1 billion, Tata Steel purchased Corus for US$12.9 billion, and DLF raised a record US$2.25 billion in the largest IPO in India’s history.