The A-List: India's Top 100 Lawyers 2022

INTRODUCTION

Based on the collective views of in-house counsel and India-focused partners at international law firms, the following are India’s most recommended lawyers and legal icons.

The A-List is based on extensive research conducted by India Business Law Journal. Biographies and contact details, where provided, are written by the lawyers themselves and have not been independently verified. The A-List does not include independent counsel/senior counsel.

It is important to emphasise that the A-List is merely indicative of the nominations and testimonials received by India Business Law Journal, and the background research of our editorial team. Many outstanding lawyers do not appear on the A-List, which should not be viewed as a comprehensive list of the leading lawyers in the country.

Click here to read the report that accompanies the A-List. Click here to read the A-List methodology.

Asim Abbas

	Asim Abbas Luthra and Luthra Mumbai
Key practice areas: Technology, media and telecommunications

Hiroo Advani

	Hiroo Advani Advani & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; infrastructure; power & energy

Mahesh Agarwal

Mahesh Agarwal
Agarwal Law Associates
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4220 0000
Email: mahesh.agarwal@aglaw.in
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; infrastructure; litigation

Mahesh Agarwal is the managing partner of Agarwal Law Associates (ALA), a full-service law firm, based in Delhi, pioneering in the field of dispute resolution in India. He has won several accolades from leading organisations for his contribution in the legal field.

With over 29 years of extensive and highly regarded experience, Mahesh’s expertise ranges from disputes in the field of insolvency, arbitration, commercial, banking, intellectual property, corporate, criminal to regulatory disputes in the field of energy, mining, telecoms and others. His clients include top corporate groups including Fortune 500 companies who he represents across India. Mahesh is a third-generation lawyer and an alumnus of the prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce and Government Law College, Mumbai.

In recent times Mahesh has represented the Future Group in its high-stakes arbitration against Amazon.com at the SIAC and related proceedings before the CCI, NCLAT, Delhi High Court and Supreme Court. He has also successfully represented Delhi Airport Metro Express against DMRC in relation to its arbitral dispute. Mahesh has also represented big corporate houses, including Essar Bulk, Reliance Infrastructure, Dalmia Cements etc, in important arbitration cases.

ALA also handles litigation pertaining to arbitration, mining laws, the Electricity Act, the insolvency and bankruptcy code, taxation law, NGT and environment law and other commercial issues. He has successfully represented Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (R-Infra) in upholding of an award of more than INR50 billion (USD611 million) against a PSU-DMRC and is contesting the execution proceedings with respect to the award. He is also representing promoters of Hero Motocorp in an arbitration dispute in relation to a family settlement agreement. He has also successfully represented Vidharbha Industries Power Limited before the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment on the interpretation of Section 7(5) of the IBC. He also successfully represented Adani Power before the Supreme Court on the issue of compensation amounting to around INR50 billion, due to changes in the law on account of the domestic coal shortfall.

Mahesh advises prestigious Indian companies and also handles assignments for state governments.

Amit Aggarwal

Amit Aggarwal
SNG & Partners
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98 1032 4028
Email: amit_aggarwal@sngpartners.in
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; capital markets; private equity, venture capital & funds; securitisation & structured finance

Amit Aggarwal is the senior partner and head of corporate practice at SNG & Partners, New Delhi. As a lawyer specialising in banking and financial services, Amit has been consistently recognised by several global publications and has built a formidable repertoire of work in the corporate laws, M&A, private equity, and capital markets (both in equity and debt). Projecting a deep understanding of regulations governing corporate laws, exchange control regulations and securities laws, he is regarded for innovative solutions.

He regularly advises on work related to legal forensics, organisational restructuring, and offshore private client investments. He has advised several international investors, PE funds and family offices on their entry, investment, and exit strategies in India. His work comprises innovative structured finance solutions on matters pertaining to project finance, acquisition finance, asset finance, structured trade finance, real estate financing and private banking.

Akila Agrawal

	Akila Agrawal Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; corporate governance; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions

Uday Ahlawat

Uday Ahlawat
Ahlawat & Associates
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4104 8401
Email: uday@ahlawatassociates.in
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Uday Ahlawat is the co-founding and managing partner at Ahlawat & Associates (A&A) and heads the corporate commercial practice. His focus areas are mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructuring, private equity, and fund formations. He is a specialist in foreign direct investment and has structured numerous India entry strategies for his clients. Uday advises both domestic and international clients in all aspects of a transaction, starting from structuring to planning their exit strategies.

Various international organisations have acknowledged and awarded him as one of India’s finest corporate lawyers over the years. He has been chosen as the vice president of one of the finest exclusive global legal networks and has also been included on the board of directors of a Tier-1 legal network recognised by Chambers and Partners.

Ashish Ahuja

	Ashish Ahuja Wadia Ghandy & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate & commercial; private equity, venture capital & funds; white-collar crime

Ruby Ahuja

	Ruby Ahuja Karanjawala & Co New Delhi
Key practice areas: Commercial litigation; arbitration law; insolvency & bankruptcy law; and competition law

Bijal Ajinkya

	Bijal Ajinkya Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Private client; succession planning (family office); taxation; funds

Bharat Anand

	Bharat Anand Khaitan & Co Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Gagan Anand

Gagan Anand
Legacy Law Offices
New Delhi

Tel: +91 99 8819 8262
Email: anand@legacylawoffices.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; infrastructure; litigation

Gagan Anand, admitted as solicitor of England & Wales and as an advocate in India, worked as the chief legal adviser of the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board headed by the chief minister of Punjab, and made immense contribution to establishing the regulatory framework for infrastructure development including PPPs. During his tenure, the state started adopting FIDIC Lump-sum Turnkey based EPC mode of contracting.

Gagan’s legal work experience as a construction lawyer spans across projects in India, Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Zambia and Zanzibar. He was awarded the National Law Day Award 2010, by the vice president of India with the citation – “remarkable achievements and leadership in the practice of corporate laws including immense contributions for the development of PPPs”. Legacy Law Offices under his guidance has continued to excel and constantly receives various awards.

As a fifth generation lawyer, he leads a team of lawyers to successfully represent clients in high-stakes arbitration and litigation cases and enjoys a high success rate.

Pravin Anand

Pravin Anand
Anand and Anand
Noida

Tel: +91 120 4059 300
Email: pravin@anandandanand.com
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; litigation

Pravin Anand is the managing partner and head of litigation at Anand and Anand.

Awarded the AIPPI Award of Merit, INTA’s President’s Award, recognized as the “Most Innovative Lawyer” by the Financial Times and the first Indian to be inducted in the IAM IP Hall of Fame, Pravin has appeared in over 2,500 cases and successfully established hundreds of landmarks during 43 years of practice as an IP lawyer.

Pravin has strengthened India’s IP jurisprudence with a practice encompassing all facets of IP.

To his credit are patent lawsuits that have transformed the pharmaceutical and bio-technology enforcement regime in India including Merck v Glenmark (first patent lawsuit to be decided in plaintiff’s favour post trial under Patents Act); Roche v Cipla; the Monsanto case; and a large number of other suits on behalf of Pfizer, BMS, AstraZeneca, etc.

Pravin has broken new ground in Indian IP jurisprudence with India’s first Antianti- suit injunction (InterDigital v Xiaomi); Nokia-Lenovo multi-technology multiyear agreement; software patent lawsuit conferring protection (Ferid Allani case); development of damages culture in a large number of cases that recognised not only punitive, but compensatory, exemplary and aggravated damages (Philips v AmazeStore); India’s first post-trial SEP judgment (Philips v Bhagirathi); development of unique remedies such as the “tree planting order” (Merck case); and an order benefiting adolescent girls (Hermes case).

Pravin writes for Halsbury’s Laws of India on Intellectual Property; Famous and Well-known Marks, An International Analysis (Legislative history and analyses of national laws) published by INTA; as well as penning numerous chapters in international publications including IBLJ, ABLJ, GTDT, AsiaIP and MIP.

He is the chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Sub-Committee on IPR and is the chair of National Council on IPR at Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India. In addition, he serves as the Technical Committee Member, Legal Services Sectional Committee Bureau of Indian Standards and as the honorary member to the Managing Committee PHD

Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Pravin has been consistently acknowledged by IBLJ, ABLJ, MIP, WTR, Who’s Who Legal, Expert Guides, Chambers and Partners, World IP Review, GIPC and IAM as a leading IP lawyer and trailblazer.

Rishi Anand

	Rishi Anand DSK Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; mergers & acquisitions; technology, media and telecommunications

Safir Anand

Safir Anand
Anand and Anand
Noida

Tel: +91 120 4059 300
Email: safir@anandandanand.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; intellectual property; licensing & franchising; mergers & acquisitions

Safir Anand is senior partner and head of trademarks, and contractual and commercial IP, at Anand and Anand. He is recognised as one of India’s top IP attorneys and has over 25 years’ experience in advising and representing clients from diverse industries, from fast-moving consumer goods to pharma, software, social media, food, media, sports, entertainment, luxury, fashion and government.

Safir provides solutions for multidimensional business requirements including brand creation; valuation; risk mitigation; licensing and franchising; corporate taxation (evaluation, risk assessment, counselling on various complicated tax problems, and the consequences of new and updated tax laws that affect the client’s business); brand protection from dilution; commercialisation and monetisation; and due diligence.

He currently serves on INTA’s Commercialisation of Brands Committee, its first Research Advisory Council, and the Global Brand Transactions and Tax Subcommittee.

Together with other global authors, he has contributed to a book published by INTA on business environment trends, and brand value, equity and evaluation.

Safir has joined, by invitation, an expert group at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) that aims to boost the monetisation practice. He also sits on the board of Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations’ (ICRIER), India’s premier economic policy think tank, to provide expertise on India’s creative economy.

Safir has written regularly for leading IP media and publications. His most recent work includes Chrysalis, a coffee table book capturing the stories of some of the most trusted brands in India, which was critically acclaimed at its launch at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Awards include: Best IP Lawyer of the Year at the Business World Global Leaders Awards 2021; IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists 2022; Managing IP Trademark Star 2022; Leading Lawyers-Trademark Prosecution by Leaders League 2022; Elite Practitioner by Asia Law 2023; Trademark Law Expert-2021 by Leaders in law Global Awards; Luxe Book India’s Luxury Insider – Top 100 Most Powerful Lawyers; Trademark Lawyer of the Year, Legal Era Indian Legal Awards 2021-22; Forbes India’s Legal Powerlist 2021 and 2022; International Advisory Experts Award for exemplary performance for IP in 2022; IAF-Atmanirbhar Bharat Award 2021 and 2022; WTR 1000 World’s Leading Trademark Professional since 2015; WTR Global Leader 2022.

Jatin Aneja

Jatin Aneja
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 99 1009 8314
Email: jatin.aneja@AMSShardul.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; infrastructure; power & energy; project finance

Jatin Aneja is a senior equity partner and is part of the management board of the firm, and the national practice head of projects and project finance practice. Jatin has extensive experience in projects, infrastructure, project finance and investment across infrastructure sectors including airports, roads, ports, oil and gas, energy (conventional and renewable), power and other urban infrastructure in India.

Jatin has been involved in advising various Indian as well as multinational companies on commercial law aspects including drafting, structuring and negotiating various investment agreements, joint venture agreements, business purchase agreements, financing agreements, concession agreements, offtake agreements, tolling agreements, EPC contracts, consortium agreements, and other related legal advisory work.

Jatin has led several precedent setting and high-value transactions that have hugely impacted the projects and infrastructure landscape of India.

Some of his most prominent transactions include drafting the concession agreement for Delhi and Mumbai airports and undertaking the privatisation of the two airports; Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline project; Indian Oil’s LNG procurement from the United States; Petronet LNG and other PSUs LNG procurement from Qatar; private container train concession for Indian Railways; Delhi and Mumbai airport city side development project(s). Recently, he advised GMR Infrastructure Ltd in relation to divestment of major shareholding (USD1.5 billion) in GMR Airports Ltd, GMR’s holding company for multiple airports globally.

Chambers and Partners 2022, features Jatin as a Band 1 lawyer for Projects, Infrastructure & Energy. He has advised on a series of award-winning transactions and has been consistently ranked in Band 1 in the Projects, Infrastructure and Energy practice by Chambers and Partners and as a Leading Lawyer by The Legal 500 (each year, from 2009 to 2021), IFLR1000 2022 ranked Jatin as “Highly Regarded” for Energy and Infrastructure, Project Development, Project Finance, M&A. Jatin was recognised as a Global Leader by Who’s Who Legal – 2021 Energy and Project Finance.

Vineet Aneja

Vineet Aneja
Clasis Law
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4213 0000
Email: vineet.aneja@clasislaw.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; labour & employment; mergers & acquisitions

Vineet Aneja is the managing partner and head of the corporate practice of Clasis Law, a leading full-service Indian law firm that is truly international in its experience and capability. Clasis Law has offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, providing advice on matters relating to Indian law and jurisdiction.

Vineet’s experience ranges in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, corporate advisory, employment, aviation and compliance. He has ample experience across industries as diverse as manufacturing, media, fashion, technology, telecommunications, infrastructure, hospitality, retail and financial services. Client feedback has highlighted the value his experience adds to both the legal and commercial sides of transactions. In addition to advising on Indian law matters, clients have also entrusted him in relation to transactions in other jurisdictions including the US, UK, Singapore, UAE, Finland and others.

As a thought leader in the legal domain, he has been consistently ranked as one of the Top Lawyers in India by Forbes India, India Business Law Journal, Legal 500, Asian Legal Business and Asia Law, to name a few. He has been involved in developing and driving the firm’s vision that is focused on enabling business by providing solutions as a trusted adviser, through perseverance, responsiveness, innovation and teamwork. He spends his time guiding the firm’s business development strategy and partners in building strong relationships with clients.

Yash Ashar

	Yash Ashar Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai
Key practice areas: Capital markets

Sanjay Asher

Sanjay Asher
Crawford Bayley & Company
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 2266 8000
Email: sanjay.asher@crawfordbayley.com
Key practice areas: Capital markets; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions

Sanjay Asher is a senior partner with Crawford Bayley & Co, which is India’s oldest law firm, established in 1830. Sanjay holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce and a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Bombay.

He has been a practising advocate since 1991, and was admitted as a solicitor in 1993. He is also a qualified chartered accountant. He specialises in the fields of corporate law and commercial law, cross-border M&A, joint ventures, and capital markets, and advises large, medium and small businesses in these areas.

Sanjay serves as an independent director of various public and private companies. He has been a noted speaker at various seminars and conferences both domestically and internationally.

He has authored several articles published in national and international publications and also co-authored a book on the Companies Act, 2013, which was published by CCH, a division of Wolters Kluwer.

Ajay Bahl

	Ajay Bahl AZB & Partners Noida
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; litigation; mergers & acquisitions; taxation

Archana Balasubramanian

	Archana Balasubramanian Agama Law Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; mergers & acquisitions; real estate

Puneet Bansal

	Puneet Bansal Nitya Tax Associates New Delhi
Key practice areas: Litigation; taxation; export-import policies; legal metrology law

Rajendra Barot

	Rajendra Barot AZB & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; litigation; white-collar crime

Sumanto Basu

	Sumanto Basu Sumanto Basu and Associates New Delhi
Key practice areas: Compliance; corporate & commercial; power & energy; oil & gas

Rajesh Begur

	Rajesh Begur Begur & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications

Probal Bhaduri

	Probal Bhaduri Lumiere Law Partners New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; labour & employment; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Sandip Bhagat

	Sandip Bhagat S&R Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Capital markets; corporate governance; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions

MS Bharath

MS Bharath
Kria Law
Chennai

Tel: +91 95 0004 1230
Email: bharath@kria.law
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; licensing & franchising; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications

MS Bharath founded KRIA Law in March 2021 after 20 years of practice and 12 years of leading a regional office as a senior partner of a large Indian IP Firm. MS, as he is fondly referred to, is a sought-after litigator, strategist and counsellor in intellectual property, e-commerce, technology, software, franchising and licensing spanning numerous industries and mentored several hundred startups.

India Business Law Journal identified MS as one of India’s top lawyers and a member of the prestigious A-List for 2022-23. In 2022, he was identified as one of Asia’s Leading: IP Expert by Asia IP. In 2021, he was identified as one of the India’s Super Lawyers by Asia Legal Business. In 2020, the Indian National Bar Association (INBA) nominated him as the IPR Lawyer of the year.

In 2019, he was nominated by the Indian Chapter of the Asia Patent Attorneys Association to represent India as one of the councillors. He currently serves as officer at several international IP organizations such as a member of India Global Advisory Council of International Trademarks Association (INTA) since 2015, councillor of Asian Patents Attorneys Association and current president of IP Association of South India.

In 2016, he was appointed as an amicus curiae to assist the Madras High Court in the case of Hindustan Unilever Limited v Andhra Detergent on the matter of territorial jurisdiction of the court in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in IPRs v Sanjay Dalia and the numerous cases of Delhi and Mumbai high courts interpreting it.

He was instrumental in successfully restraining unauthorised use of the famous Tirupati Laddu, a registered GI in India, apart from prosecuting GI applications towards grant for various national and international applicants in India, including those for Baidagi Chillies, Tequila and Scotch.

MS has repeatedly used mediation and conciliation as a means of resolving large scale conflicts in IPR including one involving as many as 250 oppositions, two suits, three criminal proceedings and a few freehold properties.

Sai Krishna Bharathan

	Sai Krishna Bharathan Trilegal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Infrastructure; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; real estate

Ajay Bhargava

	Ajay Bhargava Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; intellectual property; litigation; white-collar crime

Vanita Bhargava

	Vanita Bhargava Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; environment; infrastructure; litigation

Shweta Bharti

	Shweta Bharti Hammurabi & Solomon Partners New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; litigation; real estate; restructuring & insolvency

Alka Bharucha

	Alka Bharucha Bharucha & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; infrastructure; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Justin Bharucha

	Justin Bharucha Bharucha & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; project finance; employment and human resources

Marezban Bharucha

	Marezban Bharucha Bharucha & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; arbitration & adr; corporate & commercial; commercial litigation

Zarir Bharucha

	Zarir Bharucha ZBA Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; litigation; restructuring & insolvency; shipping

Lalit Bhasin

	Lalit Bhasin Bhasin & Co New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; aviation; corporate & commercial; labour & employment

Abhimanyu Bhattacharya

Abhimanyu Bhattacharya
Khaitan & Co
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 6636 5000
Email: abhimanyu.bhattacharya@khaitanco.com
Key practice areas: Capital markets; corporate & commercial; corporate governance

Abhimanyu Bhattacharya is a partner in the capital markets team at Khaitan & Co, based out of the Mumbai office. His expertise lies in advising clients on a wide range of capital markets transactions such as initial public offerings (IPOs); qualified institutional placements; InvITs/REITs; rights issues; GDRs/ADRs; issuance and restructuring of FCCBs; and the issuance of high-yield notes.

He has worked on the IPOs of One97 Communications Limited (Paytm), Vedant Fashions (Manyavar), Aditya Birla Sunlife Asset Management, Sterling & Wilson Solar, Bandhan Bank, HDFC Asset Management, SBI Life Insurance Company Limited, Metropolis Healthcare, GIC Re, Eris Lifesciences Limited and Mahindra Logistics Limited; the institutional placement programme by InterGlobe Aviation Limited (Indigo); and qualified institutional placements by Bajaj Finance, among others.

He has been recognised as a leading lawyer for capital markets by Chambers and Partners; Who’s Who Legal; IFLR 1000; and the Legal 500.

Aparajit Bhattacharya

	Aparajit Bhattacharya DSK Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Ravi Bhola

	Ravi Bhola K&S Partners Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Intellectual property

Marylou Bilawala

	Marylou Bilawala Wadia Ghandy & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Aviation; corporate & commercial; intellectual property; succession planning (family office)

Avik Biswas

Avik Biswas
IndusLaw
Bengaluru

Tel: +91 99161 40546
Email: avik.biswas@induslaw.com
Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; compliance; labour & employment; white-collar crime

Avik Biswas leads the employment law practice and is part of the leadership of the anti-bribery & anti-corruption practice group at IndusLaw. He has been ranked by Asialaw Profiles, Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal as one of India’s top employment lawyers since 2011.

Avik is recognised equally for his employment law expertise and his experience in anti-bribery investigations across all industry sectors and is considered a subject matter expert in employment contracts, whistle-blower investigations, nationwide employment audits, company policies and handbooks, internal disciplinary inquiries, sexual harassment proceedings, structuring compensation and benefits, conducting reduction in force (RIF) exercises, negotiation of senior management severances and labour management practices.

He is also very well regarded for his strategic advice to legal, finance and HR functions of multinational corporations, in relation to employment risk mitigation and management, anti-bribery and anti-corruption and related best practices in Indian markets.

Avik regularly speaks on anti-bribery and anti-corruption matters and employment law issues at events in India and overseas, including at conferences of the International Bar Association.

Prior to joining IndusLaw, Avik was a partner at RDA Legal. Avik has also been a senior member of Poovayya & Co and the in-house legal team of Infosys Technologies.

He is an avid sports fan and plays a bit of football and cricket himself. He worships almost everybody who has worn the famous Manchester United jersey or the Indian test cricket team’s whites. Had the law not found him, he would have probably become a sports journalist.

Vinayak Burman

	Vinayak Burman Vertices Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Mukesh Butani

Mukesh Butani
BMR Legal
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98 1113 2000
Email: mukesh.butani@bmrlegal.in
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; international trade & bilateral investment treaties; litigation; taxation

Mukesh Butani is the founder and managing partner of BMR Legal, a law firm specialising in the areas of corporate international tax, transfer pricing, GST, customs and international trade law, with expertise in litigation services, controversy management, strategic transaction advisory and tax policy.

Specialising in domestic corporate international tax and transfer pricing, Mukesh has more than three decades of experience in advising multinationals and Indian conglomerates on a wide range of matters relating to FDI policy, business re-organisations, cross-border tax structuring, tax controversy and regulatory policy. He is an acknowledged expert in the area of international tax policy, controversy and advocacy and has to his credit, several landmark judicial pronouncements and depositions before expert committees. He has been deposed as an expert witness on contentious cross-border tax treaties and TP matters in foreign jurisdictions.

He acts as an expert in issuing opinions, giving depositions, witness statements, examinations and cross-examination before appellate/arbitration forums.

Mathew Chacko

	Mathew Chacko Spice Route Legal Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Data protection; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications

Reeba Chacko

	Reeba Chacko Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Karan Chandhiok

	Karan Chandhiok Chandhiok & Mahajan New Delhi
Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; aviation; competition & antitrust; litigation

Bobby Chandhoke

	Bobby Chandhoke DSK Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; litigation; white-collar crime

Varoon Chandra

	Varoon Chandra AZB & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Capital markets; mergers & acquisitions

Vivek Chandy

	Vivek Chandy JSA Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; real estate; technology, media and telecommunications

Rahul Chaudhry

Rahul Chaudhry
Rahul Chaudhry & Partners
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4350 0000
Email: rahul@rahulchaudhry.com
Key practice areas: Bankruptcy & insolvency; intellectual property; litigation; real estate

Mr Rahul Chaudhry is one of the most pre-eminent names in IP law in India and managing partner of the leading law firm Rahul Chaudhry & Partners.

He has carved a niche for himself by becoming a leader in the practice of IP in India, due to his strong grasp of the law and ability to provide innovative solutions in line with legal realities.

Under his leadership, the expansion of Rahul Chaudhry & Partners has been all-encompassing, covering a tremendous increase in the client base, revenues and size of the firm.

Today, the firm has developed an enviable legal practice with decades of experience and a team consisting of the most eminent legal practitioners with specialist IP, corporate, commercial and transactional expertise. As a result of his efforts, the firm has grown from a handful of attorneys and family ownership to more than 68 professional attorneys, which includes 15 partners and support staff of over 110. The firm also operates out of two state-of-the-art offices, in New Delhi and Gurugram.

Mr Chaudhry assists his clients in managing their domestic and foreign trademark portfolios, and has experience in trademark policing and enforcement actions, including opposition and cancellation practice and domain name issues. He considers business sensitivities and goals while crafting comprehensive IP protection and enforcement strategies, both short and long term, so that clients can secure and maximise the value of their critical IP assets. This has earned him immense trust from global industry giants in assisting them in protecting and furthering their business goals.

His comprehensive repertoire in management and enforcement of IP rights, extensive experience in assessing strategic innovation and legal implications enables him to advise his clients (based in India and overseas) on a range of issues and transactions relating to IP prosecution; enforcement; litigation strategies; portfolio audits; due diligence for acquisitions/divestitures; enforcing, copyright; unfair competition; investigations; negotiations concerning prior third party rights; global filing strategies and corporate IP transactional agreements.

Mr Chaudhry is recognised as a leading patent professional in prosecution under the India chapter by IAM Patent 2021, and ranked under Individuals: Prosecution and Strategy table in the India chapter under WTR 1000: 2022. He is also recognised as WTR Global Leaders 2022.

Daizy Chawla

Daizy Chawla
S&A Law Offices
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4666 7000
Email: daizy@sandalawoffices.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; capital markets; competition & antitrust; intellectual property

Daizy Chawla is a senior partner with S&A Law Offices, where she heads the intellectual property rights practice and the corporate practice group. Her forte lies in handling matters related to corporate, insolvency and IPR laws.

Daizy has had a prolific career advising domestic and international clients across varied industry verticals like real estate and infrastructure, hospitals and hospitality, ports, mining, educational institutions, manufacturing, and import and export, to name a few. She is a sector specialist in industrial engineering, digital consulting, technology, and education in matters relating to company law compliances, regulatory compliances, general corporate, foreign investments, corporate restructuring, corporate due diligence, intellectual property rights, tax (direct & indirect), banking & finance, FCRA and ECB regulations.

As one of the S&A Law Offices leadership team, Daizy is a part of the firm’s critical business decisions, the most important of which has been devising and developing an innovative and client-focused service delivery model, which is the hallmark of S&A. Her unique approach to handling and mitigating clients’ risks has yielded fast-paced growth for the firm and her as a professional individual.

Daizy has always been vocal about sharing knowledge. She regularly shares her expertise with society through pro bono work for various domestic and international matters. She is actively associated with Advocates for International Development (A4ID) and Trust Law, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono legal programme. Her opinions and insights on crucial matters are often covered in well-respected media news journals.

In her 17 years of practice, Daizy has earned many awards and accolades. She has been recognised as one of the Top 50 Managing Partners in the Legal Powerlist 2021 by Forbes and Legitquest. Some of her other recent notable recognitions include the 40 under 40 Award (Rising Star 2019) by Legal Era Magazine Award, the Certificate of Merit from IBBI for standing among the Top 10% Performers in the National Online Quiz on Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and facilitator for startups under the Scheme for Facilitating Start-Ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) launched by the government of India.

Daizy is also a regular contributor to the World Bank Survey and has been awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from World Bank for contributions to its various publications.

Harry Chawla

	Harry Chawla Atlas Law Partners New Delhi
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; real estate; restructuring & insolvency

Manjula Chawla

	Manjula Chawla Phoenix Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; corporate governance; inbound investment; mergers & acquisitions

Naval Chopra

Naval Chopra
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98 1001 1191
Email: naval.chopra@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust; corporate & commercial; data protection; technology, media and telecommunications

Naval Satarawala Chopra co-leads the competition/antitrust practice at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. He has been involved with competition law since its inception in India and has won several international awards and recognition for his practice excellence. The competition law practice is ranked as the only “Elite” practice by Global Competition Review and is categorised Band 1 by Chambers and Partners.

Naval focuses on both contentious and non-contentious matters before the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and appellate forums. Naval has been involved in some of the most prominent abuse of dominance cases in India. He is particularly skilled in advising on antitrust aspects of technology related matters, having successfully defended WhatsApp in relation to its 2018 privacy policy and allegations of tying; Microsoft Corporation in relation to licensing terms; and Uber in relation to alleged predatory pricing. He successfully represented several clients in separate abuse of dominance cases against Google relating to search, Android and payments respectively, where the CCI has fined Google in excess of USD350 million in aggregate. He has also been involved in landmark decisions relating to predatory pricing, excessive pricing and unfair terms and conditions.

On the cartel enforcement front, Naval is presently involved in advising several global manufacturers in relation to ongoing international cartel investigations in the auto components sector as well as several other bid-rigging cases in different sectors involving government contracts. He is also involved in challenges before the Delhi High Court on the CCI’s investigation in several cases where due process and natural justice and noncompliance is the issue.

On the merger control front, Naval has successfully obtained merger clearances in several prominent cases including, Think and Learn’s acquisition of Aakash Educational Services, which is India’s largest yet education sector transaction; Facebook’s USD5.7 billion investment in Jio Platforms Limited; Siemens Heathineers acquisition of Varian; and Bayer AG’s acquisition of Monsanto Company.

Naval is qualified to practice law in India, England and Wales and the State of New York. Prior to joining SAM, he practiced law at a magic circle firm in London.

Bheru Choudhary

Bheru Choudhary
IC Universal Legal
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 6184 9900
Email: bheru.choudhary@icul.in
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; litigation; real estate; technology, media and telecommunications

Bheru Choudhary is a senior partner with IC Universal Legal. He qualified as a solicitor at the Bombay Incorporated Law Society in 1992 and the Law Society of England & Wales in 1994. His expertise lies in real estate, media and entertainment, corporate and commercial, litigation and arbitration.

He advises film producers and distributors. Leading Indian film celebrities in the Bollywood film industry seek his advice on contractual and licence agreements, concert performance issues, attendance at press conferences for media interviews and issues such as defamation. He also advises leading brands on a wide range of issues.

Bheru’s real estate practice covers the transfer of property matters, transfer of development rights, and structuring, drafting and negotiating land development documentation, regulations and policies, the (Regulation and Development) Act, Town and Country Planning and land acquisition, Urban Land Ceiling Act, Municipal Laws, tax laws, Agricultural Land and Development Control Regulations. He advises project developers on raising funds via financial institutions, banks and joint venture projects.

Akshay Chudasama

Akshay Chudasama
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
Mumbai

Tel: +91 98 2103 8898
Email: akshay.chudasama@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; private equity, venture capital & funds; mergers & acquisitions

Akshay Chudasama is co-managing Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

He is a corporate/M&A lawyer, counselling clients on corporate/private equity transactions, with a particular focus on cross-border transactions.

Akshay advises large listed and private companies on public and private mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. With deep experience in mergers and acquisitions, Akshay offers practical advice to multinational companies and private equity funds on extremely complex deals. He has worked on several cross-border and multijurisdictional transactions.

Chambers & Partners Global Guide says Akshay “impresses clients with the depth of his knowledge and ability to close transactions swiftly”. His skills and expertise draw from a great depth of experience, handling landmark deals in a multitude of industries. He is regularly sought after by a roster of major private equity funds to whom he offers his expertise in large private equity transactions, both inbound and outbound.

Who’s Who Legal says “Akshay Chudasama draws plaudits as a pre-eminent name in India who stands out for his sweeping knowledge of corporate governance issues”. Akshay has been consistently featured and ranked in several international publications including Chambers & Partners, IFLR, AsiaLaw Profiles, Legal500 and India Business Law Journal among others.

Recently, Akshay has been recognised as an “Eminent Practitioner” in corporate/M&A and private equity practices by Chambers & Partners, Asia Pacific Guide, 2023. Who’s Who Legal recognises him as a Thought Leader – Firm Management 2022, M&A 2023, and a Global Leader in Corporate Governance 2022. He was included in the Hall of Fame for Real Estate & Construction by The Legal 500, 2020-2022. He has been recognised as a “Leading Individual” for corporate, M&A, real estate, telecom, media and information technology practices by Legal500, 2019. He has been recognised in the A-list of India’s top lawyers by India Business Law Journal, 2017-2022 and among top Legal Icons 2020-2022. He is recognised as a “Highly Regarded” lawyer for M&A, private equity, investment funds and real estate by IFLR1000, 2019-2022. Akshay has also been recognised as a “Distinguished Practitioner” for corporate and M&A, 2020-2022 and real estate by Asialaw Profiles, 2020-2023. He was recommended by RSG Consulting 2019 for M&A. He is recognised as a “M&A Specialist” by Asia Pacific Legal 500.

Gaurav Dani

Gaurav Dani
IndusLaw
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98 1043 0449
Email: gaurav.dani@induslaw.com
Key practice areas: Mergers & acquisitions; private client; private equity, venture capital & funds; real estate

Gaurav Dani is a founding and senior partner of IndusLaw. He is a US (New York) and India-qualified lawyer based in the firm’s New Delhi office. He specialises in domestic and cross-border M&A transactions including stressed assets, joint ventures and corporate partnering transactions, private equity and venture capital financings and strategic investments.

He represents public and private companies, private equity funds and venture capital investors in the automotive, e-commerce, food and beverage, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, real estate, technology and tour and travel sectors. He has led some of the largest private equity investments involving trend-setting investment structures in the e-commerce and digital media industry in India. Before founding IndusLaw, Gaurav worked with the India team at White & Case as well as prominent Indian law firms.

Gaurav has been consistently named in India Business Law Journal’s A-List of top 100 lawyers in India over the past several years. He has been consecutively endorsed as a leading lawyer for financial and corporate law by IFLR1000 since 2018 and as one of the most trusted lawyers in India in the Indian Corporate Counsel Association’s publication The Vanguards. The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific has consistently listed Gaurav as a recommended lawyer for banking and finance, corporate and M&A and capital markets transactions.

Clients rate Gaurav for his rainbow of experience, persistence and maturity in dealing with complex situations and coming out with innovative solutions. He is a regular speaker at seminars in India and overseas. Gaurav is also an avid golfer.

Avimukt Dar

Avimukt Dar
IndusLaw
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98 1857 7632
Email: avimukt.dar@induslaw.com
Key practice areas: Corporate Commercial; Private Equity; TMT and e-commerce

Avimukt Dar is a founding and senior partner of IndusLaw and advises and represents clients across a range of business laws and regulations. He helps domestic and international clients navigate India’s digital economy, ranging from investments, data protection, e-commerce to fintech across practice areas.

He has represented clients in M&A and PE transactions as well as commercial and corporate controversies including competition law, data protection and business regulatory matters, and has extensive experience in negotiating entry and exit strategies for investors and joint-venture partners.

Avimukt is a recommended lawyer in the Chambers and Partners FinTech Rankings since 2020. He has been named in India Business Law Journal’s A-List since 2020.

Avimukt has been recognised as Distinguished Practitioner by Asialaw Profiles since 2020 for private equity. He has also been consistently recognised as “one of the leading lawyers of India” for corporate/M&A, investment funds and dispute resolution by Asialaw Profiles.

The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific lists Avimukt as a recommended lawyer for investment funds and he has been recommended every year by the same publication over the past decade for corporate and M&A transactions.

Avimukt was endorsed as one of the most trusted lawyers in India in the Indian Corporate Counsel Association’s latest publication The Vanguards.

He is a regular speaker at the UIA-ABA International Seminars on cross-border M&A since 2007. He is a guest faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management (Lucknow) where he teaches legal aspects of mergers and acquisitions. He has authored articles and conducted several seminars on the recent corporate reforms introduced by the Companies Act, 2013.

Bomi Daruwala

	Bomi Daruwala Vaish Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Inbound investment; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Anjan Dasgupta

	Anjan Dasgupta DSK Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; infrastructure; power & energy; project finance

Ameet Datta

Ameet Datta
Saikrishna & Associates
Noida

Tel: +91 12 0463 3900
Email: ameet@saikrishnaassociates.com
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; technology, media and telecommunications

Ameet Datta is a senior partner with the tier-1 IP and TMT law firm Saikrishna & Associates. Ameet is an IP litigator specialising in copyright, trademark and design litigation, as well as a trade and regulatory compliance counsel.

With over 20 years as a lawyer, Ameet’s specialisations include wide-ranging expertise across the telecoms, technology, media and entertainment sectors on a variety of issues relating to IP, technology regulations and e-waste, plastics compliance regulation.

Ameet’s specialisations also include wide-ranging expertise across the technology, media and entertainment sectors in relation to content creation, aggregation and acquisitions, and distribution aspects of the M&E sector.

Over his career, Ameet has advised leading Indian and international industry clients including consumer durables and technology companies, media houses, broadcast sector clients, copyright societies, film production, music labels and content exploitation platforms. Ameet also specialises in privacy issues, as well as personal data protection laws, data security, trade secrecy/data theft (civil and criminal) claims and advisory support, and advises clients in relation to online intermediary liability, format rights, defamation issues and right of publicity. Ameet also advises clients on general trade compliance issues arising in relation to consumer law, advertising, legal metrology and e-waste related environmental compliance issues.

Over the past 10 years, Ameet has engaged in policy reform around copyright and, in the past five years, in relation to personal data protection issues. He has deposed as an expert witness before parliamentary standing committees. He drives the policy reform, advocacy and development group at the firm, advising various technology and creative sector industry groups in the consumer durable, IT, broadcast, film, software and print publishing space.

Karam Daulet-Singh

	Karam Daulet-Singh Touchstone Partners New Delhi
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Joshita Davar

	Joshita Davar LS Davar & Co Kolkata
Key practice areas: Data protection; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; intellectual property; litigation

Rukshad Davar

	Rukshad Davar Majmudar & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions

Anand Desai

	Anand Desai DSK Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications; white-collar crime

Manish Desai

	Manish Desai Vidhii Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; bankruptcy & insolvency; litigation; real estate

Nilang Desai

	Nilang Desai AZB & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; restructuring & insolvency; structured finance

Nishith Desai

	Nishith Desai Nishith Desai Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate and commercial; intellectual property; international tax; private equity, venture capital & funds

Vishwang Desai

	Vishwang Desai Desai & Diwanji Mumbai
Key practice areas: Infrastructure; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; project finance

Mohan Dewan

	Mohan Dewan RK Dewan & Co Pune
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; litigation

Sumes Dewan

Sumes Dewan
Lex Favios
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4143 5188
Email: sumes.dewan@lexfavios.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; capital markets; corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions

Sumes Dewan, managing partner of Lex Favios, specialises in corporate transactional work including joint ventures and M&A, projects, private equity, structuring and tax advisory, foreign investment and regulations, project financing. His background and experience prove particularly valuable on international transactions.

Mr Dewan has over two decades of experience, advising on a variety of cross-border deals and continues to be associated with a number of complex and prestigious projects in different sectors. He represents large and reputed Indian companies, foreign investors and multinational corporations (including Fortune 100 companies) in various sectors. He specialises in foreign investment in India, project financing, corporate laws, joint ventures, cross-border taxation issues, technology transfer, securities law, real estate and hospitality, banking and finance, and has been advising clients on issues relating to acquisition of both Indian and overseas companies; structuring the domestic and cross-border acquisition, with a focus on issues such as tax management.

Mr Dewan has extensive experience in advising clients on issues such as negotiating shareholders and debenture subscription agreements, business transfer agreements, asset sale purchase agreements, secondment and support agreements, supply agreements, technology and brand transfer agreements, license agreements.

Mr Dewan has been nominated as a leading lawyer by numerous global publications and has been consistently honoured with numerous awards including “lawyer of the year” awards by various organisations.

He is one of few lawyers in India to be admitted as an honorary fellow of the Association of Fellows and Legal Scholars, Center for International Studies; and Member of Congress of Fellows of the Center for International Legal Studies.

Mr Dewan has been nominated as one of the most highly acclaimed legal experts in the Asia-Pacific region and has been nominated as Top Managing Partner by Forbes India Legal Power List 2021

Awarded Global Legal Falcon Award 2022, Mr Dewan has been awarded the title of “Leading M&A and Cross-Border Transactions Lawyer of the Year India”, for 2020 by the Leading Adviser Awards, Acquisition International.

Mr Dewan has been awarded the title “Asia Law Leading Lawyer.”

He has been awarded the title “Leading Banking and Securities Lawyer of the Year, India” by the 2019 Leading Adviser Awards, by Acquisition International, 2019.

Vinod Dhall

	Vinod Dhall Touchstone Partners New Delhi
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust; corporate governance

Alok Dhir

Alok Dhir
Dhir & Dhir Associates
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4241 0000
Email: contact@dhirassociates.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; litigation; restructuring & insolvency; securitisation & structured finance

Alok Dhir is the founder and managing partner of Dhir & Dhir Associates, a leading full-service law firm in India. He is a chartered accountant and lawyer, and has extensive experience of four decades in corporate-commercial and civil law with a special focus on corporate and financial restructuring, insolvency, M&A and takeovers, banking, real estate, airport and aviation, PE transactions, turning around of financially stressed entities and issues related to asset reconstruction and securitisation.

He is a leading counsel and represents a myriad client base before various courts, tribunals and the Supreme Court of India. He is actively involved with regulators and the government in devising mechanisms for cross-border legislation, group insolvency, personal insolvency, etc.

He is widely covered in mainstream media in ongoing cases and the development of insolvency laws. He has also been interviewed by Forbes Magazine. He is recognised as a leading lawyer for restructuring and insolvency by Legal 500, Chambers and Partners, Asialaw Profiles, IFLR1000, Benchmark Litigation, India Business Law Journal, etc.

Apurva Diwanji

	Apurva Diwanji Desai & Diwanji Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Niti Dixit

	Niti Dixit S&R Associates New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; international trade & bilateral investment treaties; litigation

CR Dua

CR Dua
Dua Associates
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 2371 4408
Email: ranji@duaassociates.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; corporate governance; mergers & acquisitions; power & energy

Having founded Dua Associates over 35 years ago, as chairman of the firm, Mr Dua currently provides strategic advice, direction and long-term vision to the 250 professionals for its growth and development.

His experience encompasses corporate and commercial law, governance and ethics, foreign investments, and mergers and acquisitions. He is currently chairman of the board of Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care and an independent director on the same board. Mr Dua is also a member of the National Committee on Legal Services of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and a senior vice president of the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) and among the chairpersons of the Legal Reforms Committee.

He has been the recipient of several awards as a leading lawyer in M&A and corporate restructuring. In the past two years, he has been twice conferred with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution and Excellence in Law and also been recognised by Forbes India in its Legal Powerlist of Top Managing Partners.

Feroz Dubash

	Feroz Dubash TT&A Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; mergers & acquisitions; outbound investment

Ameeta Duggal

	Ameeta Duggal DGS Associates New Delhi
Key practice areas: Compliance; corporate & commercial; inbound investment; international trade & bilateral investment treaties

Anuradha Dutt

	Anuradha Dutt DMD Advocates Delhi
Key practice areas: International arbitration; litigation (commercial & tax)

Krishnava Dutt

	Krishnava Dutt Argus Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate & commercial; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Rahul Dwarkadas

	Rahul Dwarkadas Veritas Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; litigation; restructuring & insolvency; white-collar crime

Anurag Dwivedi

Anurag Dwivedi
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4159 0700
Email: anurag.dwivedi@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Project finance

Anurag Dwivedi is a partner at the firm and is part of the projects finance practice. He has extensive experience in advising banks/financial institutions/developers on all aspects of project finance, and associated banking, structured finance and debt capital market transactions across infrastructure sectors, including airports, roads, energy (conventional and renewable), power and other urban infrastructure in India. He has also advised various government authorities/developers on different kinds of infrastructure/PPP projects.

Anurag led the team advising the government of India, on drafting of National Bank for Infrastructure Development Act (NABFID Act) drawing from the experiences from across the world, which has led to creation of this new Development Financial Institution in India with an aim to bridge the gap in Infrastructure Financing in India. NABFID is being seen as one of the key players in the infrastructure funding space, which will supplement the banks and non-banking finance companies in long-term funding and play a major role in shaping the infrastructure and creating a deep bond market in India.

Anurag has led several marquee transactions, which had a significant impact on the infrastructure financing landscape of India. Some of his most prominent transactions include financing of the Hyderabad Airport, Delhi International Airport, Tuticorin Port, the first 3 packages of Toll Operate and Transfer projects, Yamuna Expressway and Power Grid InvIT etc. In the projects space, some of his notable assignments include Bengaluru International Airport, Naya Raipur Development Project, MSW Project for Ludhiana Cluster, integrated e-waste project in Mumbai, Amravati SEZ and Dehradun Mussoorie Ropeways etc. In the education sector, he is advising the committee of creditors in insolvency resolution process of Educomp Infrastructure & Schools Management Limited and Educomp Solutions Limited.

IFLR1000 2022 ranked Anurag as “Highly Regarded” for Project Finance, Banking & Finance. Anurag was recognised as an “Notable Practitioner” by Asia Law Ranking 2022 in the banking and finance practice area.

Aliff Fazelbhoy

	Aliff Fazelbhoy ALMT Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Labour & employment; mergers & acquisitions; taxation; commercial disputes

Muffazal Federal

	Muffazal Federal Federal & Company Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; litigation; real estate; succession planning (family office)

Madhu Gadodia

Madhu Gadodia
Naik Naik & Co
Mumbai

Tel: +91 93240 52160
Email: madhuchaudhary@nnico.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; bankruptcy & insolvency; intellectual property; technology, media and telecommunications

Madhu Gadodia is the deputy managing partner and head of the media & entertainment practice of Naik Naik & Co. She is an expert in the field of intellectual property and has extensive experience handling multiple portfolios of work pertaining to gaming and all facets of established and emerging new media. Madhu has advised over 500 film production and distribution deals, and rendered legal assistance in the acquisition of film libraries and format rights, service agreements, licensing agreements and technology related to intellectual property as well as e-commerce.

Madhu also specialises in the banking & finance domain. She has handled some of the largest claims in debt recovery matters and is now handling a lot of work under the Indian bankruptcy code.

Some of the noteworthy clients she has represented are Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Applause Entertainment, Maddock, Anil Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Ramesh Sippy, Manmohan Shetty, Viacom 18, T-Series, Tips Industries, Saavn, Phantom, Endemol, Creative Eye Ltd, Pen Films Ltd, Friday Film Works, Kwan, Bling, Collective, CA Media, IDFC Bank and Reliance Broadcasting.

Key work highlights:

• Film and Television Producers Guild of India before the MHRD w.r.t the amendments to the Copyright Act, 1957.

• Adlabs Entertainment Ltd in the set-up of theme park Adlabs Imagicaa, including advising on a host of IPR-related issues and other legal aspects.

• BBC Worldwide India on ensuring compliance of their content with applicable Indian laws.

• Reliance Communication and its affiliates (ADAG), in the insolvency proceedings initiated against them by an operational creditor. The matter was taken to the Supreme Court, to safeguard the interest of ADAG’s lenders, including major public sector banks.

• Times Studio, a division of Bennett Coleman & Co, in structuring various deals with leading publishers and writers to develop original fiction and non-fiction shows for broadcasters and OTT platforms.

• Lux Industries in a complaint instituted by JG Hosiery before the Advertising Standards Council of India – Consumer Complaint Council Tribunal (Amul Macho Advertisement.)

Rustam Gagrat

	Rustam Gagrat Gagrats Mumbai
Key practice areas: Aviation; banking & finance; capital markets; competition & antitrust

Samir Gandhi

	Samir Gandhi Axiom5 New Delhi
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust

Vishal Gandhi

Vishal Gandhi
Gandhi & Associates
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 6253 8002
Email: vishal@gandhiassociates.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications

Vishal Gandhi, a first generation lawyer, founded Gandhi & Associates in 2003 at the relatively young age of 28. He was probably one of the youngest founders of a law firm in Indian history. Having an entrepreneurial mindset and wanting to focus on quality work, he left his cushy job with a leading Indian law firm and took the plunge. Since then he has been trusted by leading multinationals and institutions of the world, including Fortune 100 companies.

Vishal is a corporate/M&A lawyer, but also has a deep insight and knowledge also of intellectual property laws, tax laws and arbitration and litigation. This makes him unique as a lawyer in many aspects. He even argues matters in the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court, at times, and has had a great track record in this regard. His focus remains on cross-border transactional work such as M&A, venture, capital, private equity, joint ventures, SPACs, and international listings.

Siddhartha George

	Siddhartha George Poovayya & Co Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; labour & employment; mergers & acquisitions; real estate

Arindam Ghosh

	Arindam Ghosh Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Capital markets; corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; securities and regulatory

Gowree Gokhale

	Gowree Gokhale Nishith Desai Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Data protection; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; intellectual property; technology, media and telecommunications

Sridhar Gorthi

	Sridhar Gorthi Trilegal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Atul Gupta

	Atul Gupta Trilegal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Labour & employment

Prashant Gupta

Prashant Gupta
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4985 9928
Email: Prashant.gupta@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Capital markets

Prashant Gupta is a partner in the firm’s corporate department, focusing primarily on capital markets transactions. He represents both issuers and underwriters in various equity and debt capital raising transactions, including initial public offerings, rights issues and QIP offerings, buy backs, capital restructurings and pre-IPO private placements. He has advised on capital markets transactions that have raised over USD50 billion globally, which include both the largest IPO and bond offerings out of India, as well as the largest secondary trade on the stock exchanges in India.

Chambers and Partners 2022, views Prashant as Band 1 in Capital Markets: Equity. IFLR 1000 2022, see him as a ‘Market Leader’ for Capital Markets. Chambers 2020, quotes a source who said, “Prashant is a no-nonsense lawyer who cuts straight to the point, providing crisp, balanced, commercial and technically correct advice.” He has been recognized by The Economic Times in the prestigious “ET 40 under 40” list of India’s “hottest business leaders” in 2019. He has also been recognized by IFLR1000 in the list of “Asia’s Best Lawyers” in 2021 and, and has been recognised in IBLJ’s A-List of India’s Top 100 Lawyers since 2018.

He has also been recognized among the Who’s Who Legal “Thought Leaders: Global Elite 2022”. Prashant has advised on equity and bond offerings by issuers across various industries, including Apollo Tyres, Azure Power, AU Small Finance Bank, Bharti Airtel Limited, Coal India, DLF Limited, Dr. Lals Pathlabs, Embassy Office Parks REIT, Eris Lifesciences, Eros International, Federal Bank, Freshworks, HPCL-Mittal Energy, IDFC, IndiaMart, InterGlobe Aviation, Jubilant Foodworks, Lemon Tree Hotels, MakeMyTrip, One97 Communications (Paytm), ONGC, PB Fintech (Policybazaar), PVR Limited, Power Grid Corporation, PNB Housing Finance, SBI Cards and Payments Services, Network18/TV18, TCNS Clothing, Vedanta, Varroc Engineering, Videocon d2h, and Yes Bank.

Rajesh Narain Gupta

	Rajesh Narain Gupta SNG & Partners Mumbai
Tel: +91 22 4038 5151 Email: rng@sngpartners.in Key practice areas: Banking & finance; capital markets; private equity, venture capital & funds; real estate
Rajesh Narain Gupta has been a practising lawyer for over three decades. He is the managing partner of SNG & Partners, Advocates & Solicitors, a full-service law firm with offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Singapore. His areas of specialisation include banking and finance, commercial laws, real estate, ESG and private client practice. He is an adviser to a number of foreign and Indian banks, financial institutions, corporate and industrial houses and real estate players. Rajesh has authored and edited several books on banking laws and regularly contributes to leading papers and journals. He sits on the boards of listed and unlisted companies as an independent director; and is also a member of advisory boards of some corporate houses, alternate investment funds and NGOs. He regularly advises well-known families and UHNIs on issues related to estate and succession planning.

Sanjay Gupta

	Sanjay Gupta SNG & Partners New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; banking & finance; labour & employment; litigation

Jayesh H

Jayesh H
Juris Corp
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 6720 5504
Email: jayesh.h@jclex.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; restructuring & insolvency; securitisation & structured finance

Jayesh H combines finance and law and, in addition to being the managing partner of Juris Corp, he is also a chartered financial analyst, advocate and solicitor.

Jayesh is sought after for his extensive transactional and advisory experience in enforcements, fintech, leveraged buyouts and restructurings.

He has been a regular adviser to the Indian Ministry of Finance including on the legal framework for financial resolution and allied areas. His induction to P.R.I.M.E. Finance, a panel of over 200 elite financial, legal and dispute resolution experts globally, can be seen reflective of his ability to handle complex financial disputes.

According to clients, Jayesh is known to act in the best interests of clients and work on bringing down avoidable legal costs through innovation and forward thinking.

Jayesh operates from the view that in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world, clients want clear assessments and handholding.

Rajeshwari Hariharan

Rajeshwari Hariharan
Rajeshwari & Associates
New Delhi

Tel: +91 991020 6718
Email: rajeshwari@ralegal.co.in
Key practice areas: Intellectual property

Rajeshwari Hariharan, founder of Rajeshwari & Associates, specialises in intellectual property law, especially, IP litigation. She has been at the forefront of many of the cases that have defined the scope of intellectual property rights. She has argued several patent and trade secret litigations before the Supreme Court of India and various high courts across India.

She has authored several articles and is a regular speaker at various conferences and seminars throughout India and internationally. She has the distinction of having won India’s first compulsory licence for her client. Her knowledge of patent law with command in trial advocacy, and an aptitude for science and technology are the hallmarks of her skills.

Nusrat Hassan

	Nusrat Hassan Link Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions

Poornima Hatti

	Poornima Hatti Samvad Partners Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; labour & employment; litigation

Akil Hirani

	Akil Hirani Majmudar & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications

Savitha Jagadeesan

	Savitha Jagadeesan Kochhar & Co Chennai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; infrastructure; labour & employment

Hitesh Jain

	Hitesh Jain Parinam Law Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Data protection; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications; white-collar crime

Nitin Jain

	Nitin Jain Agama Law Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; compliance; litigation

Santosh Janakiram

	Santosh Janakiram Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; infrastructure; power & energy; project finance

Vishnu Jerome

	Vishnu Jerome Jerome Merchant + Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Aviation; banking & finance; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Mamta Jha

	Mamta Jha Inttl Advocare Noida
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; information technology

Bikash Jhawar

	Bikash Jhawar Saraf & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Rabindra Jhunjhunwala

	Rabindra Jhunjhunwala Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; outbound investment

Ajay Joseph

Ajay Joseph
Veyrah Law
Mumbai

Tel: +91 98335 43811
Email: ajay.joseph@veyrahlaw.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; corporate dispute resolution

Ajay Joseph regularly represents clients in commercial and insolvency litigations and advises senior managements and corporates in white-collar crime proceedings. He leverages his experience as a transaction lawyer to formulate effective litigation strategies for eventual dispute resolution and for managing white-collar crime prosecutions especially in money laundering cases.

Ajay works closely with a number of industry bodies catering to mid-market companies and startups and is regularly invited to guide and train their members to assist them in navigating the legalities around their business.

Abhijit Joshi

	Abhijit Joshi Veritas Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Mergers & acquisitions; private client; private equity, venture capital & funds; succession planning (family office)

Ashwin Julka

	Ashwin Julka Remfry & Sagar Gurugram
Key practice areas: Data protection; intellectual property; licensing & franchising; technology, media and telecommunications

Sumeet Kachwaha

Sumeet Kachwaha
Kachwaha & Partners
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4166 1333
Email: skachwaha@kaplegal.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; infrastructure; litigation

Sumeet Kachwaha is the founding partner of Kachwaha & Partners, a leading dispute resolution and arbitration practice. He has handled many landmark and high stakes matters (including a large number of cross-border disputes).

He has served as amicus curiae to the High Court of Delhi in two matters, including in the bilateral treaty dispute Vodafone v Union of India. He has also stood in as an expert witness on Indian law in the courts of England and Singapore. He has received several appointments from the High Court of Delhi to sit as a sole arbitrator.

Sumeet has been ranked in Band 1 for arbitration by Chambers and Partners since 2009. He also figures as a leading individual in dispute resolution in the Legal 500 Asia-Pacific. He features in Who’s Who Legal in five sections: arbitration, asset recovery, construction, government contracts and procurement.

He currently serves as vice president of the Asia-Pacific Regional Arbitration Group and on the advisory board of the Asian International Arbitration Centre (formerly the KLRCA). In the past, he has served as chair of the dispute resolution and arbitration section of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association.

Avaantika Kakkar

	Avaantika Kakkar Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust

Vaibhav Kakkar

	Vaibhav Kakkar Saraf & Partners Noida
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Abhishek Kale

Abhishek Kale
Naik Naik & Co
Mumbai

Tel: +91 98 1959 2564
Email: abhishekkale@nnico.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; corporate & commercial; litigation

Abhishek Kale is the deputy managing partner and head of the corporate and commercial practice of Naik Naik & Co. He has advised clients in both inbound & outbound investments, private equity transactions, M&As, and joint venture deals. He has handled some of the highest valued transactions in real estate, media & entertainment, manufacturing and information technology sectors.

Being a highly versatile lawyer, Abhishek has also been actively involved in litigation and arbitration including international arbitration matters at the firm.

Due to his vast experience in dealing with practical aspects of corporate and commercial laws, especially FDI and SEBI norms, he has become a preferred choice for clients with respect to corporate and commercial disputes. He has handled several complex financial frauds and irregularities and matters related to civil litigation. Abhishek regularly appears at the Supreme Court, high courts, NCLT, NCLAT, SEBI, SAT, DRT and DRAT to represent clients across all major industry sectors including oil & gas, telecoms, finance, retail and real estate.

Another unique dimension of his expertise pertains to advising corporate debtors and its promoters, financial creditors, operational creditors and other stakeholders on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Some of his notable clients include Essar Group, Invenire Energy Private Limited, Future Group, JM Financial Ltd., SRS Orion, etc.

Key work highlights

Napean Capital in relation to its investment in Collective Artists Network India Private Limited.

Imagicaaworld Entertainment (erstwhile Adlabs Entertainment) in relation to fund raise through private equity.

Future Group, a retail giant in an arbitration proceeding initiated by Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC under the SIAC Rules.

Hardy Exploration in an arbitration proceeding initiated by Aban Offshore Limited.

Mr and Mrs Goyal (Jet Airways) before the Bombay High Court inter alia challenging the action taken by banks against them under the RBI Master Circular on Fraud.

IDFC First Bank in various insolvency proceedings initiated against its corporate debtors before the NCLT and NCLAT.

Amit Kapur

	Amit Kapur JSA New Delhi
Key practice areas: Infrastructure; litigation; power & energy; mines & minerals

Satinder Kapur

	Satinder Kapur Satinder Kapur & Associates New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; litigation; private equity, venture capital & funds

RN Karanjawala

RN Karanjawala
Karanjawala & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4358 8888
Email: raian@raian.in
Key practice areas: Litigation; and dispute resolution

Known as the “big picture guy” to his clients, Mr Raian Karanjawala is the co-founder of 39-year-old Karanjawala & Company, one of India’s leading law firms, based in New Delhi, with close to 100 lawyers, offering top-notch legal advice and services to governments, corporate houses and leading personalities in the world of politics, business and films. Mr Karanjawala is well known for his keen legal strategy, solution-oriented approach and his farsighted and practical advice to clients.

A go-to litigator and strategist for complex litigation as well as notable causes, Mr Karanjawala and the firm have consistently been rated as a “Band 1 lawyer” and a “Tier 1” Dispute Resolution Firm , New Delhi, respectively by accrediting agencies like Chambers and Partners, India Business Law Journal, Legal Era, Asialaw etc.

Anil Kasturi

	Anil Kasturi AZB & Partners Noida
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private client; private equity, venture capital & funds

Suneeth Katarki

Suneeth Katarki
IndusLaw
Bengaluru

Tel: +91 98 4507 5312
Email: suneeth.katarki@induslaw.com
Key practice areas: General corporate advisory; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications

Suneeth Katarki is a founding and senior partner of IndusLaw. His areas of expertise include domestic and cross-border M&A, private equity and venture capital investments, joint ventures and corporate restructurings. He does a significant amount of work in the general technology regulatory and advisory space including data privacy, consumer technology and fintech as well as all areas overlapping technology in media and telecoms.

Suneeth has received several accolades including being consistently listed as a Band 1 lawyer for corporate/M&A and a highly rated lawyer for private equity by Chambers and Partners Asia Guide. The Chambers and Partners Global Guide has also consistently recognised him for corporate/M&A.

Suneeth has been named as one of the top 50 legal icons in India and is listed in India Business Law Journal’s A-List for the past few years.

Legal Publications such as Asialaw have consistently recognised Suneeth as “one of the leading lawyers of India”. Asialaw has also listed him as a Distinguished Practitioner for corporate and M&A. Suneeth has been endorsed as a leading lawyer for financial and corporate law by IFLR1000 for the past several years and as one of the most trusted lawyers in India in the Indian Corporate Counsel Association’s publication “The Vanguards”.

Legal 500 has also recognised him as one of the leading lawyers in private equity and investment funds, TMT, data protection, financial services regulatory and intellectual property.

Suneeth also writes and speaks extensively in the space he specialises in and has several publications to his credit. He also serves on the boards of various organisations. He is currently the vice chair of the India chapter of United Way and also serves on the global Board of United Way Worldwide, the world’s largest charity organisation.

Srinivas Katta

Srinivas Katta
IndusLaw
Bengaluru

Tel: +91 98 4518 6912
Email: srinivas.katta@induslaw.com
Key practice areas: Mergers & acquisitions; private client; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications

Srinivas Katta is a founding and senior partner of IndusLaw. He represents entrepreneurs, businesses and investment funds on corporate governance issues, fundraising, partnerships, joint ventures, collaborations, acquisitions, investments and exits.

He has been consistently recognised for corporate/M&A, private equity and TMT by Chambers and Partners in its Asia Guide. Chambers and Partners Global Guide has also consistently recognised him for corporate/M&A.

Asialaw Profiles has consistently recognised him as Distinguished Practitioner for corporate and M&A after listing him as “one of the leading lawyers of India” for many years. He has also been recommended for private equity & investment funds, M&A, TMT, data protections, financial services regulatory by the Legal 500 Asia-Pacific publication.

Srinivas has been named as one of the legal icons in India and is listed in India Business Law Journal’s A-List for the past few years.

He was endorsed as one of the most trusted lawyers in India in ICCA’s publication The Vanguards. Srinivas has been recognised in the Mint (one of India’s leading business newspapers) for being one of the 40 who matter in the startup ecosystem for his role in helping to build this sector in India.

Srinivas is a member of the board of several companies and is also a trustee and adviser to charitable foundations and projects. He speaks regularly at conferences.

Reena Asthana Khair

	Reena Asthana Khair Kochhar & Co Gurugram
Key practice areas: International trade & bilateral investment treaties; litigation; taxation; white-collar crime

Haigreve Khaitan

	Haigreve Khaitan Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; restructuring & insolvency; succession planning (family office)

Gautam Khurana

	Gautam Khurana India Law Offices New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions

Ravi Kini

	Ravi Kini MVKini Mumbai
Key practice areas: Aviation; capital markets; environment; infrastructure

Satish Kishanchandani

	Satish Kishanchandani Pioneer Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; litigation; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Rohit Kochhar

	Rohit Kochhar Kochhar & Co New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; labour & employment; mergers & acquisitions; white-collar crime

Sunil Krishna

	Sunil Krishna Krishna & Saurastri Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; joint ventures; licensing & franchising

Anand Kumar

Anand Kumar
Pier Counsel
Gurugram

Tel: +9198 2010 7063
Email: anand@piercounsel.com
Key practice areas: Mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Anand Kumar is the managing partner at Pier Counsel and has over 22 years of experience; during this time, the majority of his efforts have been towards PE/VC, M&A, technology law, privacy laws and corporate disputes.

Anand has advised large conglomerates as well as being associated with some of the marquee startups from early to late stage. He has also put significant time and resources into developing the startup ecosystem by playing a key role in setting up various funds, including Mumbai Angel Network and other accelerators.

Anand is also a limited partner in a few funds and as an active angel investor, has his own portfolio of 35+ start-ups where he provides investment guidance to entrepreneurs and founders, and guides investment transactions. Anand has also published multiple articles, with the most recent being on the Indian Chapter of the International Venture Capital Journal. He has been officially consulted by the Joint Parliamentary committee on its first iteration of the Indian Privacy Bill.

Manoj Kumar

Manoj Kumar
Hammurabi & Solomon Partners
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98 1040 9090
Email: manoj.kumar@hammurabisolomon.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; public policy & regulation; restructuring & insolvency

An ace legal mind, Manoj is well acknowledged for his outstanding leadership, strategy and ability to find alternate solutions to the most critical and complex challenges related to strategic support, public policy & regulation, corporate governance, corporate and M&A, cross-border transactions, arbitration & mediation, Technology & TMT, data protection & privacy, construction law, energy, environment & natural resources, real estate & infra projects, project finance, business restructuring, crisis risk & reputation management & strategies, and legal & regulatory compliance across geographies.

Manoj is founder of Hammurabi & Solomon Partners, the vice chair of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), vice president of the Society of Indian Law Firms, vice president of the Society of Construction Law UK – India (SCL-India), visiting fellow with Asia’s Top-ranking think tank – Observer Research Foundation (ORF), an expert with the UNESCO’s Inclusive Policy Lab, visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), an independent director on corporate boards and a member of the ICC task force in India.

Manoj is a recipient of the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi Samman awarded at the House of Lords, London, and is conferred with honorary professor of the Academic Union of Oxford, UK. Manoj is named as one of the 100 Legal Luminaries of India by LexisNexis; one of the top lawyers in India successively in India Business Law Journal, which also recognises the firm’s “Policy & Regulation” practice; as Managing Partner of the Year by BW Businessworld and Forbes; and as a distinguished legal mind of India by Legal Era. He has received numerous recognitions from Asian Legal Business, Asialaw Leading Lawyers, ILFR1000, Global Law Experts, and India Corporate Counsel Association and many more.

Manoj is a distinguished arbitrator and mediator, author, teacher, strategist, columnist, thought leader, and is called on by government bodies and top-of-the-line Indian and international institutions for counsel.

Mrinal Kumar

Mrinal Kumar
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98 1022 5012
Email: mrinal.kumar@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Real estate

Mrinal Kumar is a partner with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, and specialises in areas of general corporate, retail and real estate. Mrinal has worked extensively in the real estate practice area, and is an acknowledged leader in this practice area. He has advised on structuring mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, advised on foreign direct investment laws, land acquisitions, local land laws in various states across India, commercial leasing, settling, and negotiating the transaction documents for large domestic and international clients for real estate.

Mrinal has been recognised as a Band 1 lawyer for real estate by Chambers and Partners from 2016-2023 and has also been recognised as a “Leading Lawyer” for construction and real estate by the Legal 500 in 2018-2019 and 2021-2022. He has consistently been adjudged as one of the leading real estate lawyers in India by Asialaw Leading Lawyers from 2010-2022. He was recognised in India Business Law Journal’s A-List of India’s top lawyers in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and as a “Distinguished Practitioner” for construction and real estate, Asialaw profiles, 2023.

Mrinal has advised the government of India, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation on various legislations such as the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill, 2011; the Model Tenancy Act, 2015; and Draft Model Contract for PPP in Housing Sector.

Mrinal has been involved in various transactions related to FDI in the retail sector, matters related to development of SEZs, commercial premises and integrated township and has been part of various deals requiring environmental clearances.

Prior to joining the firm in 2006, Mrinal was working with AZB & Partners, Delhi. He has received his bachelor’s degree in law form Symbiosis Law College, Pune (University of Pune).

Saurav Kumar

Saurav Kumar
IndusLaw
Delhi

Tel: +91 98100 43229
Email: saurav.kumar@induslaw.com
Key practice areas: Inbound investment; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Saurav Kumar is an equity partner with IndusLaw with over 18 years of experience and specialises in mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, private equity investment, joint ventures and corporate governance.

He has advised MNCs, Indian public and private companies, funds and consulting firms on structuring complex inbound, outbound, domestic and cross-border transactions. His work spans across several practice areas and sectors including technology, manufacturing, education, real estate and pharmaceuticals. Saurav is currently involved in a number of transactions involving stressed assets.

Saurav, co-heads the Japan desk at IndusLaw and has been instrumental in developing the Japan practice. He publishes the Japan newsletter on a bi-monthly basis at IndusLaw to apprise his Japanese clients of recent legal developments in India. Saurav regularly speaks at seminars in Japan and has organised business legal seminars in collaboration with the Embassy of India, in Tokyo, on several occasions.

Apart from Japan, Saurav has represented clients across multiple jurisdictions including the US, the UK, France, the Middle East, Australia, Singapore and Korea.

Saurav is a visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Noida campuses, and lectures on mergers and acquisition and joint ventures.

Saurav regularly writes on sustainable growth including in the space of electric vehicles; a recent article is titled Electric Vehicle: Driving India Towards Sustainability.

Saurav has been recognised by leading publications including Asialaw, Legal 500 and RSG India Report 2019.

Prior to joining IndusLaw, Saurav was a partner with Shardul Amarchand’s Delhi and Gurugram office.

Kunal Kumbhat

	Kunal Kumbhat AZB & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Manan Lahoty

Manan Lahoty
IndusLaw
Mumbai

Tel: +91 7400016811
Email: manan.lahoty@induslaw.com
Key practice areas: Capital markets and international offerings

Manan Lahoty specialises in capital markets, with over 20 years of experience. Over the years, he has advised on some of the largest and most prestigious Indian transactions in the domestic and international capital markets. In addition, Manan’s practice includes advising on pre-offering corporate restructuring, corporate governance and other securities law matters.

He is qualified to practise in both England and Wales, and India. Prior to joining IndusLaw, he has worked with Shearman & Sterling in London, Amarchand & Mangaldas and L&L Partners.

Manan is a leading capital markets lawyer in India and consistently included in the top tier by independent legal directories and publications. He is currently listed in India Business Law Journal’s A-List, IFLR Asia’s Best Lawyers, Band 1 lawyer by Chambers and Partners, Global Elite of Who’s Who Legal and highly ranked by IFLR1000, Asialaw Leading Lawyers, and Legal 500. He has also been named one of India’s Top 100 Great People Managers by the Great Manager Institute in the Forbes India magazine.

V Lakshmikumaran

	V Lakshmikumaran Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan New Delhi
Key practice areas: Bankruptcy & insolvency; corporate & commercial; litigation; taxation

Abir Lal Dey

	Abir Lal Dey Saraf & Partners Noida
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; project finance; restructuring & insolvency; securitisation & structured finance

Niloufer Lam

	Niloufer Lam ZBA Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; banking and finance; private equity, venture capital & funds; mergers & acquisitions

Rajiv Luthra

	Rajiv Luthra Luthra and Luthra New Delhi
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; international trade & bilateral investment treaties; mergers & acquisitions; project finance

Pooja Mahajan

	Pooja Mahajan Chandhiok & Mahajan New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; restructuring & insolvency

Sonali Mahapatra

	Sonali Mahapatra TT&A Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; project finance; restructuring & insolvency; securitisation & structured finance

Ankit Majmudar

	Ankit Majmudar Quillon Partners Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; infrastructure; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Amitava Majumdar

	Amitava Majumdar Bose & Mitra & Co. Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; insurance & reinsurance; litigation; shipping

Shwetasree Majumder

	Shwetasree Majumder Fidus Law Chambers Noida
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications; sports

Abhishek Malhotra

	Abhishek Malhotra TMT Law Practice New Delhi
Key practice areas: Data protection; intellectual property; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications

Raghav Malik

	Raghav Malik Lall & Sethi New Delhi
Key practice areas: Intellectual property

Samir Malik

	Samir Malik DSK Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; litigation; power & energy; restructuring & insolvency

Debanjan Mandal

Debanjan Mandal
Fox & Mandal
Kolkata

Tel: +91 33 2248 4843
Email: debanjan.mandal@foxandmandal.co.in
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; litigation; real estate; succession planning (family office)

Debanjan Mandal is the managing partner at Fox & Mandal, a premier multi disciplinary law firm in Kolkata established in 1896. He enrolled as an advocate in 1999 and became the youngest partner of Fox & Mandal at the age of 30 in 2004.

He heads a team of more than 20 advocates, both in litigation and non-litigation practice. His areas of practice include alternative dispute resolution, banking, M&A, commercial, commercial litigation, also companies, constitutional, contract, family, and land laws to name a few. He is an independent director of a number of companies both listed and unlisted in sectors including manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and services.

Memberships

• High Court at Calcutta

• Supreme Court Bar Association

• International Bar Association, UK

• Consultant with Asian Development Bank

• Member of the Executive Committee of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and chairman of ICC National Expert Committee on Corporate and Legal Affairs

• Board member of the Young Presidents’ Organisation, Calcutta Chapter

• Spoken at various forums including the IBA and the Indian Chambers of Commerce

Shuva Mandal

	#Shuva Mandal# Anagram Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; taxation

Shuva Mandal

Shuva Mandal
Fox Mandal & Associates
Mumbai

Tel: +91 98 8097 4882
Email: shuva.mandal@foxmandal.in
Key practice areas: Inbound investment; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private client

Shuva Mandal is the managing partner of Fox Mandal & Associates, a leading full-service law firm carrying on a trusted legacy of 125 years. Listed as one of the Top 25 Managing Partners in India by Forbes India in 2021, he has been instrumental in widening the field of professional services offered by the firm by expanding the geographical reach and client base, catalysing acquisitions and instituting growth initiatives.

As the managing partner of Fox Mandal & Associates, he strives to maintain positive client relationships and drive accession, while developing and implementing the organisation’s goals, procedures, and policies. Under his guidance the firm has received multiple awards and recognition by several international fora and publications. Additionally, he has steered FMA’s leadership towards delivering quality service in the areas of legal and tax, accounts and assurances, business advisory, new-age technology, and family business.

He graduated with a degree in law from the University of Calcutta and further honed his skills through an M&A Program from the Wharton School, and a diploma on Negotiation Skills from MIT. At present, he is affiliated with the International Bar Association, the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, the Family Business Network, the International Fiscal Association and American Bar Association. He is a regular speaker at the Horasis Asia Meetings and has been a panellist at multiple business conclaves.

Under his guidance, Fox Mandal & Associates has forged into new markets and expanded operations across all major commercially relevant cities. His expertise and practice include advising clients on inbound investment into India including entry strategy, corporate governance, M&A and joint ventures. Additionally, he also advises clients on the disposal of companies, private equity and securities transactions, and public offerings of debt and equity.

Shuva also serves in the capacity of director on the boards of several large corporates, besides being entrusted with the responsibility of trusteeship of select organisations. He is enthusiastic about legal education and has supported it through the Fox Mandal Foundation Finishing School. He is also the founder of Orygyn, a startup incubation centre in Bangalore, and supports and mentors various accelerator programmes such as the Startup Leadership Program.

Gerald Manoharan

	Gerald Manoharan JSA Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Corporate and M&A, Real Estate, Startups

Prashant Mara

	Prashant Mara BTG Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; corporate governance; litigation; white-collar crime

Stephen Mathias

	Stephen Mathias Kochhar & Co Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Data protection; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications

Rahul Matthan

	Rahul Matthan Trilegal Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Data protection; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; intellectual property; technology, media and telecommunications

Kunal Mehra

	Kunal Mehra DSK Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust; corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Preeti Mehta

	Preeti Mehta Kanga & Company Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Zulfiquar Memon

Zulfiquar Memon
MZM Legal
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 2264 3333
Email: zulfim@mzmlegal.com
Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; arbitration & ADR; litigation; white-collar crime

Zulfiquar Memon is the founder and managing partner of MZM Legal, specialising in white-collar crime and dispute resolution. He heads the global disputes and white-collar crime practice, which includes cross-border disputes, involving active co-ordination of legal teams in multiple jurisdictions for various high-profile clients. He steers the firm’s growth and works closely with other partners on litigation strategy, dispute resolution, white-collar criminal defence, internal corporate investigations, and compliance.

Over the years, Zulfiquar has represented large corporations including fortune 500 companies, and high net-worth individuals on various matters. He has assisted international lawyers and top global law firms in cross-border matters relating to mutual legal assistance treaties, international extradition, financial disputes, company matters and money laundering. Under his leadership the firm represents some of the top Banks, financial institutions, NBFC’s and Global PE funds in India.

Zulfiquar is currently serving as the chairman of Indian Chambers of Commerce (Western Region) and he is also a member of the International Forbes Business Council. In addition, he has been recognised by Chambers & Partners, Who’s Who Legal, Legal 500, and India Business Law Journal for his achievements, often regarded as “a prestigious figure in the area of white-collar crime.”

Last year, Zulfiquar spearheaded a new venture called MZM Analytics, which has brought together some of the finest and most proficient minds in the forensic and compliance sector. Providing comprehensive forensic and investigative services, MZM Analytics caters to the needs of many domestic and international companies in terms of their internal compliances, forensic auditing and data mining. He is also a director in the MZM Care Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the firm working towards numerous social and humanitarian initiatives.

Manoj Menon

Manoj Menon
Dua Associates
Bengaluru

Tel: +91 80 2558 8799
Email: manoj@duaassociates.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; private equity, venture capital & funds

Manoj Menon specialises in corporate and commercial laws focusing on private equity, debt, foreign investment and joint ventures. He has extensive experience in private equity, debt financing, investment structuring, foreign investment and mergers and acquisitions. He has represented both foreign as well as domestic PE and VC funds in relation to their investments in India including in the infrastructure, conventional and renewable power, technology and services sectors.

Manoj has represented clients in the banking and financial services sector including drafting, reviewing and negotiating loan and security documentation and investments in secured debt instruments. His experience in the real estate, includes title due diligences, joint developments, as well as investments. He has been named an outstanding individual by several global ranking firms, and is listed in Forbes India Power list 2020 and 2021 as one of the top individual lawyers in joint venture, M&A, PE & VC

Raghubir Menon

Raghubir Menon
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 99 1099 8321
Email: raghubir.menon@AMSShardul.com
Key practice areas: Corporate governance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Raghubir Menon is a corporate, M&A and PE partner at the firm, the regional head of M&A and PE (Mumbai region) and advises numerous corporates, sovereign wealth funds and private equity funds.

Raghubir actively represents large corporate clients such as Facebook, Walmart, Flipkart, One97 Communications, Sembcorp and blue chip PE and SWF clients such as KKR, Blackstone, Softbank Vision Fund, CPPIB, General Atlantic, GIC, ADIA and Temasek. He has recently advised IndiaIdeas.com Limited on its sale of the entire share capital of the company to PayU Payments Private Limited through the secondary sale of USD4.6 billion. He has worked on some of the largest recent M&A and PE transactions in India including advising Facebook, TPG, PIF, L-Catterton, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and ADIA’s investment of over USD20 billion by Reliance Jio – India’s biggest conglomerate. He also advised the investors on Reliance Retail’s fund raise of over USD6 billion and Blackstone’s acquisition of Mphasis Limited for USD2.8 billion in 2021. In 2018, Raghubir represented Walmart on its acquisition of Flipkart for USD16 billion, making it the largest e-commerce acquisition globally.

Chambers and Partners 2022, views Raghubir as a Band 1 lawyer for each of Private Equity and M&A and he has also been ranked as a Band 1 lawyer by Chambers and Partners Global and Asia-Pacific for M&A for 2021. Chambers and Partners Global 2020, quotes a source saying Raghubir is “an excellent, star partner”. He is further praised for his deep experience in complex cross-border M&A, acting recently on some of India’s most important landmark transactions.

Raghubir was ranked number one lawyer by Mergermarket in 2017 and 2018 for the entire Asia-Pacific region by deal volume and has been noted as the busiest lawyer in Asia in 2018, 2019 and 2020, by Mergermarket. He is also ranked no. 1 in the Mergermarket Individual League Table 2020 Global Rankings, with 45 deals worth USD24.3 billion to his credit. He was awarded “Partner of the Year” by IDEX Legal Awards 2017 and is recommended by RSG Consulting 2019 for M&A and Private Equity, and won the M&A Lawyer of the Year: Private Equity at the Asian Lawyer Emerging Markets Awards 2015. Raghubir has been consistently ranked by Who’s Who Legal as one of the Global and India Thought Leaders for M&A and Corporate Governance.

Kalpana Merchant

	Kalpana Merchant Jerome Merchant + Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Litigation; real estate; succession planning (family office); mergers & acquisitions.

Neerav Merchant

	Neerav Merchant Majmudar & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; arbitration & ADR; litigation; restructuring & insolvency

Vineetha MG

	Vineetha MG Samvad Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Sudhir Mishra

	Sudhir Mishra Trust Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; environment; infrastructure; litigation

Vaishali Mittal

Vaishali Mittal
Anand and Anand
Noida

Tel: +91 12 0405 9300
Email: vaishalimittal@anandandanand.com
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust; intellectual property; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications

Vaishali Mittal is a litigation partner and strategist. With more than 20 years’ experience, Vaishali has earned her place as a trusted name for complex SEP battles; her work at Anand and Anand also covers other complex patent cases and trademark disputes for major companies.

As a leading lawyer, Vaishali has enabled the firm to secure India’s first anti-anti-suit injunction in InterDigital Corp & Ors v Xiaomi Corp & Ors; the nation’s first final judgment on the issue of standard essential patents in Philips v KK Bansal; Philips v Rakesh Bansal; landmark judgment on the highest ever quantum of damages in a copyright, trademark and design infringement case in Philips v Amazestore & Ors; and first judgment recognising a colour combination (green and yellow) a well-known trademark in Deere & Co & Anr v Mr Malkit Singh & Ors.

She also led in the high stakes face-off between Nokia and Lenovo resulting in a multi-year, multi-technology patent cross-license agreement between the two tech giants, and settlement of all pending patent litigation worldwide.

Besides her regular practice before the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi, Vaishali writes for leading national and international publications including Managing IP, Kluwer Patent Blog, Asia IP, India Business Law Journal, Asia Business Law Journal, Chambers and Partners, Thomson Reuters, and Lexology. She co-authored IPONOMICS, a book compiling celebrated IP matters, and Origami, an in-house manual on best practices and procedures of IP practice in India, for law firms and companies.

Vaishali makes time for pro bono engagements – the latest being a petition that brought free medical aid to children with rare disorders.

Awards include:

• IAM Strategy 300 World’s Leading IP Strategist and Global Leaders 2022

• Leaders’ League Leading Individual for Patent and Trademark Litigation

• India Business Law Journal A-List 2021-22

• AsiaIP IP Expert

• Asia’s Top 15 Female 2022 Lawyers, Asian Legal Business

• IP Stars 2022 – Patent Star, Managing Intellectual Property

• World’s Leading Patent Professionals IAM 1000 2022

• Ranked in IP Litigation, Chambers and Partners Asia Pacific Guide 2022

• “Leading Individual” – Legal 500 Asia Pacific. Recognised as “leading name in patented technology litigation, specifically regarding SEPs in the telecoms sector.”

Vaishali is a member of the AIPPI, APAA, INTA and the Delhi Bar Association.

Siddharth Mody

Siddharth Mody
Desai & Diwanji
Mumbai

Tel: +91 9833282279
Email: smody@desaidiwanji.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; real estate

Siddharth Mody is senior partner at Desai and Diwanji.

He has over 18 years of experience advising on domestic and cross-border M&A and joint ventures, PE/VC and debt transactions, commercial contracts, governance and regulatory, disputes and general corporate law.

Regularly commended for his pragmatism and responsiveness, his clients across agritech, insurtech, healthcare and pharma, consumer and other sectors include investors such as Kedaara Capital, The Carlyle Group, Inflexor Ventures, Pavestone Ventures and others. He led on Investments between Carlyle and API-makers; Westbridge Capital and Healthians; PAG, CX Partners, Samara Capital and Anjan Drug; A91, Jungle Ventures and Atomberg; Treeline Asia and THPL; Omnivore and DeHaat among others.

His M&A and general advisory clients include large domestic companies such as the Kalpataru Group, Marriott Hotels, Interglobe, Greenpark Hotels, the DS Group, United CIIGMA among others, MNCs, PE firms, real estate developers, banks and NBFCs, VC funds, startups and early stage emerging companies.

Zia Mody

	Zia Mody AZB & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; litigation; mergers & acquisitions

Suhaan Mukerji

Suhaan Mukerji
PLR Chambers
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 2437 0981
Email: suhaan.mukerji@plrchambers.com
Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; technology, media and telecommunications; white-collar crime; public policy & regulatory affairs

Suhaan Mukerji is the founding partner of PLR Chambers, a law firm specialising in public policy and regulatory affairs pan-India, which has been awarded one of the best Policy and Regulatory Law Firms of the Year by India Business Law Journal every year since 2014, and received Legal Era Awards in 2017, 2016 and 2015. It was named Social Impact Firm of the Year in the Thomson Reuters Foundation Awards, 2018, and Suhaan was recognised as one of eight GenNext lawyers by the Economic Times.

The firm also has a strong pan-India criminal and civil disputes practice, and was one of the highest filers in the Supreme Court of India last year. Suhaan has extensive experience in crisis management, policy formulation, drafting and monitoring of legislative agendas. He consistently advises clients on corporate affairs, market entry and public policy strategy in India, primarily involving sectors of defence, information and communications technology, gaming, privacy and data protection, anti-corruption and white-collar crime, public procurement, food agriculture and pharmaceuticals law, not-for-profit laws, education, internet and e-commerce, fintech, international trade and investment disputes.

He regularly represents and assists clients before the Supreme Court of India, CBI courts, various ministries and departments of the federal government, including the DIPP, Department of Economic Affairs, Road Transport Highways, Shipping, Commerce and Industries, Fertilisers and Chemicals, Environment, Defence, Renewable Energy, Power, Coal, Mining, MEITY and DoT, DRI, various state governments including Haryana, Telangana, Delhi, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, regulators including the RBI, SEBI, DGCA, SFIO, FSSAI, TRAI, and various law enforcement agencies across the country.

Suhaan regularly advises the government at federal and state level on policy and legislative reform, serving on a number of government and industry committees, and regularly appearing as an expert witness before parliamentary standing committees. Legislative drafting assignments include, Amendments to the Information Technology Act, Maritime Act, The Major Ports Bill, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways – Road Transport and Safety Bill; Department of Heavy Industries – the CEMM Bill; Inland Waterways Authority – PPP framework, Tourism Bill.

He is a passionate supporter of development initiatives and serves on the board of a number of leading global not-for-profit organisations.

Shantanu Mukherjee

	Shantanu Mukherjee Ronin Legal Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; licensing & franchising; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Avirup Nag

	Avirup Nag Luthra and Luthra New Delhi
Key practice areas: Infrastructure; mergers & acquisitions; power & energy; private equity, venture capital & funds

Ameet Naik

Ameet Naik
Naik Naik & Co
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 4068 0200
Email: ameetnaik@nnico.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; technology, media and telecommunications

Ameet Naik, founder and managing partner of Naik Naik & Co, is a lawyer par excellence with over three decades of experience in the field of law encompassing dispute resolution, international arbitration, and general corporate advisory. This rare combination of skill sets and varied experience allows him to provide bespoke advice to clients, enabling them to achieve their business and commercial objectives within the contours of the law.

Being regarded as a “litigator par excellence”, Ameet has several important reported judgments and landmark decisions to his credit. He has been at the forefront of several high-stake litigation matters and has also represented one of the major stock exchanges in India in its dispute against the SEBI. In the international arbitration space, Ameet has handled a variety of claims, from shareholders’ disputes to representing international players from key industry sectors.

Ameet also has extensive experience in local and cross- border mergers and acquisitions, guiding a large variety of companies, ranging from multinational companies to small private companies. He has worked 360 degrees across all major sectors, and it is perhaps his entrenched knowledge of sector-specific operations and laws that he is the first choice of all his clients for any issue related to corporate practice.

In the technology, media & telecoms sphere, Ameet is considered to be the epitome of quality legal advice, turnaround time and domain expertise. Being one of the first lawyers who extensively worked in the media & entertainment sector, he is regarded as a true visionary and has represented some of the biggest names from the sector. He has successfully led the firm to transition from traditional media practice to advanced and niche practices like digital platforms, sports and gaming laws, etc.

Ameet has authored two books – The Role and Rule of Law: A legal handbook on the Indian Media & Entertainment Industry and 360º OF LAW on Cinematograph Works, which have been very well-received in the fraternity and have established him as a thought leader in the field of media & entertainment laws.

Dheeraj Nair

	Dheeraj Nair JSA New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; intellectual property; litigation

Shivpriya Nanda

	Shivpriya Nanda JSA Gurugram
Key practice areas: Defence; labour & employment; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Badri Narayanan

	Badri Narayanan Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan New Delhi
Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; mergers & acquisitions; private equity; venture capital & funds; taxation

Ranjan Narula

	Ranjan Narula RNA Gurugram
Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; intellectual property; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications

Ravi Nath

	Ravi Nath RNC Legal / Rajinder Narain & Co New Delhi
Key practice areas: Aviation; litigation; mergers & acquisitions; securitisation & structured finance

Suhail Nathani

	Suhail Nathani Economic Laws Practice Mumbai
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust; corporate & commercial; corporate governance; international trade & bilateral investment treaties

Sanjay Notani

	Sanjay Notani Economic Laws Practice Mumbai
Key practice areas: Environment; international trade & bilateral investment treaties; export control and customs

Essenese Obhan

	Essenese Obhan Obhan & Associates New Delhi
Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; intellectual property; litigation

Gunita Pahwa

Gunita Pahwa
S&A Law Offices
Gurugram

Tel: +91 124 4666400
Email: gunita@sandalawoffices.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; infrastructure; power & energy; shipping

Gunita Pahwa is the joint managing partner at Gurugram-based S&A Law Offices and heads the dispute resolution team. Commercial arbitrations, dispute resolution and commercial advisory, is her forte, and she advises and represents both international and domestic clients across varied sectors like pharmaceuticals, energy, infrastructure and transport, roads and highways, ports, airports, waterways, waste to energy, shipping and mining, real estate, and IT among others.

In more than 17 years of rich professional career, she has earned many laurels for successfully handling a variety of complex dispute cases. One such case was where she and her team successfully represented the client Jindal ITF Ltd in an arbitration proceeding against NTPC Ltd.

The arbitration was related to a dispute arising from coal transhipment in high-seas, deep draft locations from ocean going vessels to transhipper/barges and transportation of such unloaded coal through National Waterway No 1 to NTPC’s Farakka Power plant situated at Farakka, West Bengal. This was an avant garde project and a first of its kind, introduced in India.

While arbitral proceedings were in place, the team led by Gunita filed two interim applications under section 17 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, on behalf of JITF. NTPC was directed to make payment of the MGQ amount of INR1.58 billion (USD19.3 million) for the first year of the operation period and INR1.97 billion for the second year of the operation period as NTPC failed to provide minimum guaranteed coal to JITF at transfer points (deep draft locations in mid-sea). The arbitral tribunal allowed the interim applications and directed NTPC to pay. The High Court of Delhi upheld the orders passed by the arbitral tribunal.

This is just one example of many complex cases Gunita has dealt with. She has consistently been awarded many accolades and has earned client appreciation and media mentions.

Most recently, Gunita was recognised as India’s Top Lawyers – A List for 2022-2023 by India Business Law Journal, “Top Female Lawyers in India 2022” and “Top Disputes Lawyers in India 2022” – by ALB, Thomson Reuters, “Leading Individuals in Dispute Resolution: Arbitration” in the Legal 500: Asia-Pacific Ranking 2022, 2021.

Aninda Pal

	Aninda Pal DSK Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Raj Panchmatia

	Raj Panchmatia Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; infrastructure; litigation

Abhai Pandey

Abhai Pandey
LexOrbis
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98991 97254
Email: Abhai@lexorbis.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; intellectual property; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications

Abhai Pandey is a senior partner at the firm and heads the litigation and enforcement team at LexOrbis. He focuses on intellectual property litigations, criminal enforcement and contested proceedings at the Trademark and Patent Offices. He also advises clients on brand protection strategies for social media, internet and advertisements and has been successfully running several anti-counterfeiting campaigns in India for a variety of clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to individual entrepreneurs. He has successfully resolved cases in favour of the clients and has represented them at multiple forums including several district and high courts, the erstwhile Intellectual Property Appellate Board and Indian Trademark and Patent Offices.

He represents a broad range of businesses and industries, including fashion, media & entertainment, publishing, fast-moving consumer goods, pharma, biotech, electronics, automobile, and ICT.

Rudra Pandey

Rudra Pandey
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4985 9932
Email: rudra.pandey@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; corporate governance; mergers & acquisitions; private client

Rudra Kumar Pandey is an equity partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co with over 20 years’ experience in M&A and corporate advisory. Rudra has been very actively involved in various national and international transactions for Indian and foreign clients.

His areas of expertise include corporate structuring, M&A, takeovers, delisting, private equity investments, joint ventures, real estate, banking & finance, project finance, establishment, and management of funds. Rudra’s breadth of experience encompasses key industry sectors that include manufacturing, automobile, media & entertainment, telecommunications, banking, NBFCs, IT, SEZs, trading, cement, coal, pharmaceuticals, real estate, industrial parks, retail and insurance. Rudra leads the Japan initiatives of the firm and supports other international desks.

He has been actively involved with the government of India in discussing and actively taking up trade issues under the CEPA and other bilateral arrangements with Asian countries including Japan. He actively assists Mr Shroff, the firm’s chairman with trade associations such as the FICCI and CII and worked with the several committees constituted by the government of India on ease of doing business in India including review of the labour laws regime, licenses and approvals and other business law reforms, new industrial policy, and several other policy initiatives.

Rudra has also interacted and helped the government on various policy issues including the Companies Act, 2013, FDI policy issues, and other regulatory/legal enactments. He recently assisted the Company Law Committee constituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, government of India on the cost audit regulations in India, and on the recent proposed amendments to the Companies Act, 2013, decriminalisation of offences under the Companies Act, 2013, the LLP Act, 2008, and review of FDI policy.

Rudra is a member of the CII Task Force on Ease of Doing Business, the CII National Committee on Regulatory Affairs, CII Task Force on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy, FICCI Corporate Law Committee and the FICCI Stressed Assets Committee.

Rudra has been recognised as a “Notable Practitioner” for M&A and Private Equity by IFLR1000, 2018-2022. Rudra has also featured in India Business Law Journal’s A-List of Top Lawyers and “Top 50 Lawyers” by Asian Legal Business in 2021 and 2022. He was also recognised in Forbes India Legal Power List 2021 among India’s Top 100 Lawyers.

Gopika Pant

Gopika Pant
Indian Law Partners
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4515 4000
Email: gopika.pant@ilps.in
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; data protection; mergers & acquisitions; restructuring & insolvency

Gopika Pant has more than 37 years’ experience, and is dual qualified in India and New York. She completed her BA (Hons) History from St Stephens College (1982) and LLB from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University (1985); she was admitted to the Bar Council of Delhi in the same year. She completed her LLM from Columbia University (1986) and admitted to the New York State Bar Association in 1987. She is also a member of the ABA and the Supreme Court Bar Association. Gopika worked in New York during 1986-90 after which she returned to India and was named a partner in a leading law firm and then set up Indian Law Partners in 1999.

Gopika has significant experience in Indian corporate and commercial laws, and is a specialist in cross-border commercial transactions, inbound and outbound, including restructurings, acquisitions, JVs, business alliances, foreign portfolio investments, PE investments and exits, insolvency and bankruptcy, banking and finance, infrastructure and project finance and real property transactions.

Gopika’s experience includes advising Times Bank in India’s first private banking merger with HDFC Bank and Japan Bank for International Co-operation in various equity and debt transactions, including in the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), Takshasila Hospitals and TechnoTrends Auto Parks. She has also advised various clients such as ADNOC, Kuwait Petroleum, BlueScope Steel, Toshiba, Mitsui, Nippon Paper, Hyundai, Dow Jones, KIA Motors, Merlin Entertainments, Savills, Blueair, STOA, McLaren, JPM, S&P Global, Chiyoda Corporation, Green Gravity, Konoike Transport, Masuri, McKinsey, Rashtriya Raksha University, Victaulic, Fujitsu General, Microsoft, Brookfield, Trivest Partners, Diligent Corporation USA, Navitas, NCR (Cardtronics) and Major League Baseball on diverse matters.

Gopika is currently an independent director in Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Ltd, Colgate Palmolive India Limited and ABB India Ltd and has completed tenures on the boards of various reputed MNCs such as GKN Driveline (India) Limited, Aegis BPO and Xchanging.

Gopika is a keen environmentalist and has completed a Diploma in Environmental Law with the World Wide Fund for Nature. She is an enthusiastic public speaker and has addressed various domestic and international conferences.

Gopika is a keen sportswoman and has played several national level badminton and squash championships in India and the Lawyers League Championships in New York.

Jay Parikh

	Jay Parikh Luthra and Luthra Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Nishant Parikh

	Nishant Parikh Trilegal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Anand S. Pathak

Anand S Pathak
P&A Law Offices
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4139 3939
Email: apathak@palaw.in
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; competition & antitrust; litigation; mergers & acquisitions

Anand S Pathak has extensive experience in advising clients on international mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, arbitrations, and European and Indian laws on competition. He is admitted to practice law in the US and India, and has practised law in Brussels, New York, Cleveland and Palo Alto.

Anand attended all the European Council meetings for the adoption of the EU’s merger control regulation. He has represented clients in complex European Commission and Indian competition law investigations and merger notifications. His international M&A experience includes Daiichi Sankyo’s acquisition of Ranbaxy, Warburg Pincus in its Indian investments, Tech Mahindra’s acquisition of Satyam, Schneider Electric’s acquisition of Luminous Power, acquisitions by HCL Technologies, Rediff.com and Tech Mahindra outside India, and the sale of eTouch in the US to Virtusa Corporation. He has successfully represented clients in international arbitrations, including Daiichi Sankyo in a Singapore-based arbitration and proceedings in the Singapore Supreme Court, and Amazon in an international arbitration and Indian Court proceedings against the Biyanis and the Future Group. He is currently representing the government appointed board of IL&FS in the sale of IL&FS assets and the government of India in several bilateral investment treaty arbitrations.

Anand was presented with the National Law Day Award in 2005 by the prime minister of India for his unique contribution in the field of corporate law and for bringing foreign investments into India. He has received several awards for M&A and competition law, including Best M&A Lawyer in India for every year from 2008 to 2018, and India – Competition Lawyer of the Year for every year from 2013 to 2022. In 2020, Anand received the Indian Lawyer of the Decade Award.

Anand has an LLB and MA from the University of Cambridge, England, and an LLM and MA in international and development economics from Yale University. He has worked at the European Court of Justice, Luxembourg, and in the Competition Division of the Legal Service in the European Commission, Brussels. He was a member of a committee constituted by the Indian government in 2018 for reviewing Indian competition laws and an adviser to the Competition Commission of India.

Manishi Pathak

	Manishi Pathak Anhad Law New Delhi
Key practice areas: Labour & employment; litigation; mergers & acquisitions; real estate

Bhakta Patnaik

	Bhakta Patnaik Trilegal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Capital markets

Shiraz Patodia

Shiraz Patodia
Dua Associates
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4155 1161
Email: shiraz@duaassociates.com
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; international trade & bilateral investment treaties; litigation; white-collar crime

A senior solicitor at Dua Associates, Shiraz Patodia is a highly regarded advocate, with a proven track record in her practice areas which, span across dispute resolution-litigation and arbitration, international trade, white-collar crimes, and intellectual property laws. She has worked with clients ranging from Fortune 500 and Indian companies, in a broad range of civil and criminal matters.

As the international trade and customs practice group head, she is recognised as an outstanding individual by leading global ranking guides, including being one of the eight Indian practitioners who have been ranked in the 2021 edition of trade & customs guide from Who’s Who Legal.

She has been named a Litigation Star – Commercial Transactions and Intellectual Property by Benchmark Litigation’s Asia-Pacific Top 100 Women in Litigation 2022 and listed in the Forbes India Power list 2020 and 2021 as one of the top individual lawyers in litigation and lnternational trade/anti-dumping practice areas.

Rajat Prakash

	Rajat Prakash Athena Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Capital markets; corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions

Anand Prasad

Anand Prasad
AP & Partners
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4259 4444
Email: Anand.Prasad@appartners.in
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; litigation; white-collar crime

Anand Prasad is a corporate/commercial lawyer with more than three decades of experience representing both domestic and international clients on a variety of legal and commercial issues.

Anand was a co-founder of Trilegal, one of India’s leading full-service law firms and served on the firm’s management committee from 2012 until 2016. Anand returned to full-time private practice in 2019 along with former colleagues and established AP & Partners with the objective of providing strategic support and delivering high-quality, focused advocacy to businesses faced with complex and challenging situations.

Anand represents clients in arbitrations and in various courts and tribunals in matters pertaining to high-value disputes which arise in relation to cross-border investments, bankruptcy, corporate fraud and corruption. Anand has been cited in independent legal directories such as Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners as a market leader for corporate and commercial laws in India for well over a decade.

Kannan Rahul

	Kannan Rahul Trilegal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; project finance; restructuring & insolvency; securitisation & structured finance

Siddharth Raja

	Siddharth Raja Vertices Partners Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Corporate governance; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Saikrishna Rajagopal

	Saikrishna Rajagopal Saikrishna & Associates Noida
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust; intellectual property; technology, media and telecommunications

Prem Rajani

Prem Rajani
Rajani Associates
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 4096 1000
Email: prem@rajaniassociates.net
Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; succession planning (family office)

Prem Rajani is the founding partner of Rajani Associates with a valued experience of more than 32 years. Having cleared his LLB examination from the Government Law College, Mumbai, in May 1990, Prem went on to pass the solicitors examination conducted by the Bombay Incorporated Law Society in March 1992 and the solicitors examination conducted by the Law Society, London, in April 1994.

Prem has been fortunate to see his career evolve with the evolution of Foreign Exchange Laws and Securities Laws in India. He has been lucky to study and practice FERA along with FDI policy as soon as the same was introduced in India in 1991, and also see the advent of FEMA and its evolvement. Simultaneously, he received exposure and experience in the SEBI Act & Regulations as soon as the SEBI Act was introduced in 1992 and he also witnessed the introduction of various regulations from time to time. Along with the gradual opening up of various sectors, Prem continued to gain knowledge with respect to each sector, including telecoms, power and aviation, in continuation of the usual traditional key manufacturing and service sectors.

Although he created a niche for the corporate practice, Prem has had a fair share of experience in both the specialised fields of conveyance and litigation. This diverse expertise of Prem, across various practice areas of law, has helped him evolve into the complete lawyer he is today.

Having said that, what Prem enjoys the most today is structuring and mergers & acquisitions. In the past eight years, Prem has been actively advising HNIs and business houses in the formation of private family trusts, which is now gaining momentum in India.

While the firm renders services across the spectrum of legal services, including, capital markets, PE, M&A, banking & finance, real estate & trust, litigation & arbitration, project & project finance, etc., personally Prem is involved with work and keeps periodical updates on the following topics:

• Companies Act and other corporate laws

• SEBI including IPO, takeovers, insider trading, listing agreement

• FEMA (FDI and ODI policy), including, PMLA

• M&A and private equity.

Archana Rajaram

	Archana Rajaram Rajaram Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications

Praveen Raju

	Praveen Raju Spice Route Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; power & energy; private equity, venture capital & funds

Raghavan Ramabadran

	Raghavan Ramabadran Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Chennai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; taxation

Vikrant Rana

Vikrant Rana
SS Rana & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4012 3000
Email: vikrant@ssrana.com
Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; intellectual property; licensing & franchising; technology, media and telecommunications

Vikrant Rana is managing partner of SS Rana & Co, a premier full-service law firm. He has been consistently recognised as a “highly recommended individual” by WTR 1000 and has also been ranked in India Business Law Journal’s A-list and as one of India’s IP STARS.

Vikrant advises several Fortune 500 and multinational companies as well as grassroots innovators on contentious and non-contentious matters. He is also an IP facilitator with the government’s Startups IP Protection scheme.

He has been a member of INTA for 26 years and is involved in leading advocacy for various issues within INTA. He has served as the Co-Chair of the MEASA Sub-committee of the Famous and Well-Known Marks Committee and also as co-chair of INTA’s India Global Advisory Council. He is an active member of international organisations including ECTA, APPA, AIPPI and IBA.

He is an arbitrator with the National Internet Exchange of India to adjudicate domain name disputes. He is an avid sportsman and a certified yoga teacher.

C Rashmikant

	C Rashmikant Rashmikant & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; corporate & commercial; litigation

Anirudh Rastogi

	Anirudh Rastogi Ikigai Law New Delhi
Key practice areas: Data protection; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications

Shivi Rastogi

Shivi Rastogi
Amicus Services
New Delhi

Tel: +91 99997 75630
Email: shivi@amicusservices.in
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate & commercial; project finance; securitisation & structured finance

Shivi Rastogi is a managing partner of Amicus Advocates and Solicitors. She has more than two decades of diversified legal experience. While her core area of experience is in corporate debt and structured finance, recently she been intensively involved with Amicus’ emerging venture capital and fintech practices. In that role, she has worked closely with the fintech verticals of her clients, including DMI Finance a leading digital only retail lender. In addition to her work as a legal counsel, Shivi has experience in investment management and was part of the core team, which raised and deployed USD75 million through an AIM listed fund for investment in distressed assets.

Shivi has also undertaken philanthropic initiatives in areas of women’s health and education. She recently instituted the SMR-StemPowering Women scholarship with IIT-Delhi for promoting women in STEM, something which she believes essential for ensuring that women receive the skills and knowledge needed to bring them to the forefront of the new economy.

Ashwath Rau

	Ashwath Rau AZB & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Joint ventures; financial regulatory & securities law; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Anoop Rawat

Anoop Rawat
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 99 5822 2018
Email: anoop.rawat@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; bankruptcy & insolvency; infrastructure; project finance

Anoop Rawat is a partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. He has more than 19 years of experience in practice areas including insolvency and bankruptcy, projects and project finance, and banking and finance. He works closely with Shardul Shroff on bankruptcy and insolvency and is at the cutting edge of legal advisory services provided by the firm in this field.

As a valued contributor to this practice, Anoop has represented clients across a wide spectrum, including resolution professionals, the committee of creditors and the resolution applicants. He has also represented various resolution applicants, Indian and foreign private equity players and other strategic investors in evaluating investment opportunities in the Indian stressed assets market and strategising the investments inter alia for such investors.

Anoop was instrumental in the successful insolvency resolution of Bhushan Steel Limited, which resulted in the takeover of the steel company by Tata Steel at an aggregate consideration of INR352 billion (USD4.3 billion). Anoop also led the team advising different stakeholders on the resolution of Bhushan Power & Steel Limited, Amtek Auto Limited and Reliance Infratel Limited and other stressed entities. He is currently advising the resolution professional of Reliance Communication Limited, Videocon group of companies, Lavasa Corporation Limited etc. on the corporate insolvency resolution process including regular advice on complex issues arising out of the insolvency resolution processes.

Recently, Anoop has been ranked Band 2 for Restructuring & Insolvency by Chambers and Partners, Asia Pacific Guide 2023. He has been consistently ranked as a leading lawyer for restructuring by Chambers and Partners for the past three years. He has been featured among IBLJ’s A-List of India’s Top Lawyers, 2020-2022. He has been recognised as a Distinguished Practitioner for Restructuring and Insolvency by Asialaw Profiles, 2022-2023. Anoop was ranked Highly Regarded for Restructuring and Insolvency, Project Development, Banking, Project Finance by IFLR1000 Asia Pacific Rankings, 2022. He featured among the Top 100 Lawyers in the Forbes India Legal Power List, 2021. He was recognised as a Notable Practitioner for Banking, Project Development, Project Finance and Restructuring & Insolvency by IFLR1000, 2019-2021. He was awarded the Leading Lawyer title for Restructuring and Insolvency at the Legal Era Awards, 2022.

Hardeep Sachdeva

Hardeep Sachdeva
AZB & Partners
Noida

Tel: +91 98100 65311
Email: hardeep.sachdeva@azbpartners.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; real estate

Hardeep Sachdeva is a senior partner at AZB & Partners. With more than 27 years of experience, he advises Indian and international clients, and is consistently rated as India’s leading corporate and M&A lawyer.

Hardeep advises across several sectors, including real estate, e-commerce, retail, hospitality, industrial parks, data centres, education, technology, alcoholic beverages, manufacturing and others. Hardeep has been associated with several landmark mergers and acquisitions and private equity investment transactions, and has done pioneering work in all of these areas. He advises on regulatory, legal and other compliance, forensic investigations and due diligences.

Hardeep has been actively advising on various private equity investments and other financing transactions, including debt securities and bonds issuances, placements within and outside India, in both listed and unlisted companies. He has also been actively advising on numerous acquisitions, joint ventures, including cross-border transactions, business transfers, brand acquisitions, alliances and franchise agreements, concessions and bids, joint development arrangements, and other transactional matters. Hardeep advises various US-based foundations in India on their impact sector investments, lending and other grants in India.

He has recently been involved in several leading IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) matters from all aspects, including the initiation of insolvencies, submission of resolution applications, bids under liquidation, representing resolution professionals, and the preparation of resolution and liquidation plans; and led some of the judicial precedents in India in this area.

Hardeep has been consistently ranked as leading corporate lawyer in India by some of the most prestigious legal publications, including The Legal 500: Asia Pacific, Chambers: Asia, Expert Guide, Who’s Who Legal and others. Hardeep has been a member of governmental and other industry committees. He is a graduate in economics from the Shri Ram College of Commerce and in law from the University of Delhi. He was admitted to the Indian Bar in 1995. He is a member of the Bar Council of Delhi and the Delhi High Court Bar Association. In 1995, he joined Ajay Bahl & Co, a Delhi-based corporate law firm and one of the predecessor firms that combined to form AZB & Partners in 2004. He has been a key member of the firm ever since.

Subhojit Sadhu

	Subhojit Sadhu Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; infrastructure; power & energy; project finance

Jyoti Sagar

	Jyoti Sagar JSA Gurugram
Key practice areas: Inbound investment; intellectual property; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions

Gautam Saha

	Gautam Saha TT&A New Delhi
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Hemant Sahai

	Hemant Sahai HSA Advocates New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; infrastructure; power & energy

Sanjanthi Sajan

	Sanjanthi Sajan Poovayya & Co Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Infrastructure; litigation; real estate; succession planning (family office)

Anuradha Salhotra

Anuradha Salhotra
Rahul Chaudhry & Partners
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4350 0000
Email: anuradha.salhotra@rahulchaudhry.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; intellectual property; litigation

Anuradha Salhotra, is a founding partner at Rahul Chaudhry & Partners. Ms Salhotra, is an authority on intellectual property law in India and an IP lawyer with an enviable track record; she has been at the forefront of handling contentious and non-contentious IP matters in the firm for over 40 years. The expertise of Ms Salhotra is not restricted to any particular aspect of IP but covers the entire gamut of activities that go into the development and management of intellectual property.

Ms Salhotra started her practice soon after enrolling at the bar and joined hands with Mr Amar Raj Lall and Ms Monisha Lahiri, two of the most well-known and respected IP practitioners in the country, to establish the niche IP specialist firm, Lall, Lahiri & Salhotra – now known as Rahul Chaudhry & Partners – in 1983. In her capacity as founding partner of the firm, she devoted herself to the complex, contentious and dispute resolution practice, advising and representing some of the biggest names across the industry spectrum, in litigation, arbitration, mediations as well as negotiating IP transactions. She has also done advisory work in areas of licensing and technology transfer and prosecution work for both trademarks and copyright. Anuradha’s expertise in IP matters and particularly in the field of litigation has been well-known for years now and her track record for delivering successful results for her clients is the outcome of not just her legal acumen and deep understanding of IP in India, but also of long hours spent formulating strategies for protection.

Anuradha’s in depth understanding of the basic issues of IP and a business centric approach to the protection of IP portfolios led several of the largest corporate houses with the biggest brands worldwide to trust her advice. She is regarded as one of the premier IP law experts and has emerged as one of the most well-known and respected IP litigators in the country.

Vijay Sambamurthi

Vijay Sambamurthi
Lexygen
Bengaluru

Tel: +91-98867 90664
Email: vijay@lexygen.law
Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; infrastructure; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Vijay Sambamurthi is the founder and the managing partner of Lexygen (www.lexygen.law), a leading Indian law firm headquartered in Bangalore, with pan-India coverage and international offices in Singapore.

Vijay graduated from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, in 1997, and has more than 25 years of experience advising blue-chip funds, exciting startups, and high-growth corporations on their legal needs and growth strategy. Vijay regularly advises some of the market-leading names in industry on their Indian transactions and operations.

Vijay enjoys a sterling reputation in the market for his chosen areas of practice, and has advised on a number of India’s complex and first-of-a-kind transactions, including on the following:

The country’s first greenfield international airport project on a PPP basis
A couple of India’s earliest and largest successful leveraged buyouts
The first private equity secondaries transaction involving a portfolio of Indian companies
Drafting of India’s first state legislation focused on the facilitation of infrastructure projects
The first venture capital deal in the cryptocurrency space.

In addition to his contributions as a leading transactional lawyer, Vijay is a regular speaker at prestigious annual conferences such as the Horasis India Meeting, the Horasis Asia Meeting, Indonesia Economic Forum.

In 2020, Vijay was appointed to the Chief Minister’s Special Economic Task Force for a Post-COVID Meghalaya in the Working Group on Infrastructure and Labour.

Vijay is a long-standing charter member of TiE Bangalore and a charter member of TiE Singapore. He is also on the panel of mentors of the NASSCOM 10,000 Startups Programme, and as such, regularly mentors several Indian and non-Indian startups.

Vijay has been appointed as an adjunct faculty of law at National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam.

Seetharaman Sampath

	Seetharaman Sampath Sarvada Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Bankruptcy & insolvency; competition & antitrust; international trade & bilateral investment treaties; litigation

Mohit Saraf

	Mohit Saraf Saraf & Partners Noida
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Manish Saurastri

	Manish Saurastri Krishna & Saurastri Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; licensing & franchising; litigation

Abhishek Saxena

	Abhishek Saxena Phoenix Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Mergers & acquisitions; restructuring & insolvency; corporate/M&A & cross border transactions; energy & infrastructure

Rajat Sethi

	Rajat Sethi S&R Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate governance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Fereshte Sethna

	Fereshte Sethna DMD Advocates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; international trade & bilateral investment treaties; mergers & acquisitions

Aashit Shah

	Aashit Shah JSA Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; project finance; restructuring & insolvency

Bhushan Shah

Bhushan Shah
Mansukhlal Hiralal & Co
Mumbai

Tel: +91 98213 48321
Email: bhushan@mhcolaw.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; litigation; mergers & acquisitions; real estate

Bhushan Shah is a partner at Mansukhlal Hiralal & Co and heads the corporate, securities litigation and white-collar crimes team. He specialises in corporate and commercial transactions such as strategic investments; mergers & acquisitions; joint ventures; and general corporate law advisory. He also regularly advises clients on inbound and outbound investments. His clients include publicly listed entities, multinational conglomerates and regional businesses. He regularly advises and represents SEBI (Regulatory Body for Securities and Commodity Market in India) before the SAT and Supreme Court.

Bhushan has more than 15 years of experience and is a dual-qualified solicitor from India and the UK. In addition to his India-related expertise, he has also practised law in Singapore.

Recognitions:

India’s Future Legal Leaders 2022 by India Business Law Journal;

Top individual lawyers by Forbes India Legal Powerlist 2021;

India Top Dispute Lawyers, 2021 by ALB;

Notable Practitioner for Financial Services Regulatory by IFLR1000;

Notable Practitioner for Corporate and M&A by AsiaLaw 2023.

Gunjan Shah

Gunjan Shah
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98 1009 8326
Email: unjan.shah@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Inbound investment; mergers & acquisitions; outbound investment; private equity, venture capital & funds

Gunjan Shah is an equity partner and is a long-standing member of the board of the firm.

Gunjan holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, and BCL from the University of Oxford. She is a well-known and prominent practitioner in mergers and acquisition, general corporate matters, private equity, debt and equity restructuring through capital market transactions, the Securities Law and SEBI Takeover Regulations in India.

The FT Innovative Lawyers 2019, Asia Pacific awarded her transaction, AION and JSW’s acquisition of Monnet Ispat & Energy Limited, for innovation and legal expertise. She has also been recognised by Asia One among 50 most influential Indians under 50 – 2016-2017 and in March 2015, she was acknowledged in the list of India’s Hottest Young Executives in 2015, Business Today‘s ninth listing of the best and the brightest corporate performers under 40.

She has been recognised as one of India’s top 40 business leaders under the age of 40 by Economic Times – Spencer Stuart Survey, 2014. According to Chambers and Partners 2021, “Gunjan is considered a thorough, deal-oriented and senior lawyer with a notable market presence.” She has also been recognised as Best in Private Equity at Euromoney Legal Media Group Asia Women in Business Law awards 2020.

Gunjan regularly represents several global and domestic private equity funds and corporates in large complicated first-of-a-kind innovative transactions.

She has been featured in India Business Law Journal’s A-List of India’s Top Lawyers, 2022 and recognised as a Thought Leader and Global Leader for M&A by Who’s Who Legal, 2022. She has also been recognised as a Leading Lawyer for Corporate & M&A at the Legal Era Awards, 2022, as well as awarded “Star Woman Lawyer of the Year” at the Legal Era Women in Law Excellence Awards 2022. She has been recognised as a Distinguished Practitioner for Corporate and M&A by Asialaw Profiles, 2021-2023. She was also featured as a Highly Regarded Individual for M&A by IFLR1000, 2018-2022.

Siddharth Shah

	Siddharth Shah Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; fund formation; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Archana Shanker

Archana Shanker
Anand and Anand
Noida

Tel: +91.120.4059300
Email: Archana@anandandanand.com
Key practice areas: Intellectual property

At the top of her game, Archana Shanker is a zealous patent practitioner setting new patent narratives in Indian IP jurisprudence while heading the patents & designs department at Anand and Anand, a tier-1 IP law firm.

Legally, scientifically and technologically savvy, Archana is the go-to person for patent protection, prosecution, pre-grant and post-grant oppositions, appeals, revocations, and plant variety protection as she manages an extensive portfolio of patents. She and her team – an ensemble of lawyers-cum-scientists, engineers, biotechnologists, chemists and physicists – also provide straightforward advice in litigation.

Archana has enabled the firm to successfully secure patent protection for Nivolumab after six oppositions, Ertugliflozin, Delgocitinib for Japan Tobacco and Luseogliflozin for Taisho after several pre-grant oppositions. It also successfully defended several ICT (SEP) patents and mechanical inventions before the Patent Office; secured a patent for Pfizer for Tofacitinib while checking delays caused by benami pre-grant oppositions.

She has been a lead in cases returning noteworthy judgments like Monsanto’s Supreme Court order, the Ferid Allani case, Pioneer Overseas Corporation, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Merck, Sterlite etc.

Domestic and international clients trust her understanding of the key drivers of the industry and the science behind them. Business-minded, cost-conscious and a thought leader, Archana is ever-ready to take challenges head-on and shift paradigms.

Professional Involvement:

AM’s first ever Women in Patents event’s advisory board

First woman president of Federation of IP Attorneys – India Section

Vice president, North India for Licensing Executives Society International

Nominated by FICPI on EPO’s Standing Advisory Committee 2021-23

Member – Asian Patent Attorneys Association and Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (AIPPI)

Awards

ALB Woman Lawyer of the Year 2022

Ranked in Chambers and Partners Asia Pacific Guide 2022

Legal 500 Leading Individual 2022

World’s Leading Patent Practitioner – IAM 300 and IAM 1000

Expert Guides Women in Business Law (Patents)-2016-20

MIP Top 250 Women IP Professional 2016-2022

MIP IP Star Patent 2016 – 2022

Chambers and Partners Spotlight for Life Sciences 2016 – 2022

Euromoney Asia Women In Business Law – 2019

WWL – Patents and Life Sciences – 2015-19

World IP Forum Top 100 Powerful Women in Law, 2018

Atul Sharma

	Atul Sharma Link Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Aviation; infrastructure; litigation; restructuring & insolvency

Avnish Sharma

	Avnish Sharma Khaitan & Co New Delhi
Key practice areas: Real estate

Ajay Shaw

	Ajay Shaw DSK Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; restructuring & insolvency; projects

Cyril Shroff

Cyril Shroff
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 2496 4455
Email: cyril.shroff@cyrilshroff.com
Key practice areas: Corporate governance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Cyril Shroff has more than 40 years of experience in a wide range of practice areas including corporate and securities law, disputes, banking, bankruptcy and infrastructure.

Over the years, his passion for a just world blended with a keen sense of fairness and empathy has helped CAM firmly establish itself as a trusted adviser to its clients. He is consistently ranked as Star Practitioner in India by Chambers Global. A thought leader and visionary, he is known for advising many first-of-its-kind transactions in India and is regularly recognised as an award-winning professional across various practices.

He is chairman of FICCI’s Corporate Laws Committee and chair of the CII Financial Regulatory Committee. A member of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) working committee on regulatory issues relating to fintech, a member of the first apex advisory committee of the IMC International ADR Centre, and a task force member of the Society of Insolvency Practitioners of India. He was a member of the SEBI-constituted Committee on Corporate Governance and Insider Trading.

Manisha Shroff

	Manisha Shroff Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking and finance

Pallavi Shroff

Pallavi Shroff
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +9111 41614093
Email: pallavi.shroff@AMSShardul.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; competition & antitrust; white-collar crime

Pallavi Shroff is the managing partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, heads the dispute resolution practice and is also the chief mentor for the competition law practice at the firm.

Pallavi has been a driving force in significantly enhancing the positioning of SAM & Co as India’s premier full-service law firm since she was installed as managing partner of the new successor in 2015. Under her guidance, the firm has exponentially grown from 60 partners in 2015 to 159 partners in 2022 and more than 780 lawyers, with diversified practice offerings and an accelerated pan-India presence across seven regional offices. She has pioneered the use of advanced technology and digital transformation for enhancing the firm’s client service delivery.

With more than 40 years of extensive and highly regarded experience, Pallavi’s expertise spans across dispute resolution, corporate strategic structuring, competition law and white-collar crime and investigation. Pallavi frequently advises and argues, and supports arguing counsels in some of the largest and most challenging litigations and national and international arbitration matters in the areas of energy, infrastructure, natural resources, mergers, and acquisitions, legislative and policy related matters in India. She regularly appears in the Supreme Court and the High courts of India, international and national arbitrations, mediations, and international legal disputes. She is an alternate member (India) at the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) Court of Arbitration, Paris.

Pallavi was an original member of the Raghavan committee set up for establishing the Competition Law in India and has been one of the key members of the panel responsible for amendments in the Competition Bill, 2022. She has engaged with the advocacy programmes of competition law since its inception.

Chambers and Partners 2023, views Pallavi as an Eminent Practitioner for competition/antitrust and a Star Individual for dispute resolution. They have called Pallavi, “a widely acknowledged stalwart in the field of competition law best known for her handling of cartel, abuse of dominance and other contentious issues, but increasingly active providing strategic oversight on very large-scale, multi-jurisdictional merger control mandates”, while Who’s Who Legal of Commercial Arbitrators has rated Pallavi, “one of the most experienced and respected dispute resolution practitioners in India”. She has been recognised in Fortune India’s most Powerful Women in business, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Pallavi is also ranked among Top 50 Managing Partners and Top 100 lawyers in the Forbes India Legal Power list 2021.

Rishabh Shroff

	Rishabh Shroff Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai
Key practice areas: Joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; outbound investment; private client

Shardul Shroff

Shardul Shroff
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4161 4094
Email: shardul.shroff@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency

Shardul S Shroff is the founder and executive chairman of the firm and heads its insolvency bankruptcy and restructuring practice. His four decades of experience spans across a wide spectrum, including expertise in insolvency and bankruptcy, mergers and acquisitions, securities law, government regulations, disinvestment, capital markets and debt recovery.

He is a key member of two government committees – the Insolvency Law Committee (ILC) and the Company Law Committee (2022-23) – which continuously reviews the laws of insolvency and company law of India. As a member of the ILC, he reviewed the outcomes of the colloquium between the IBBI, the NCLT and the NCLAT and other stakeholders of the IBC for evaluating the way forward under the IBC (2022).

Shardul has been involved in the major litigations in insolvency at the Supreme Court of India since inception of the IBC 2015 and has helped contribute to the jurisprudence of Insolvency Law in India. He is also a member of the Company Law Committee established by the government for continuously reviewing the Companies Act 2013. As a member of the Company Law Committee on decriminalisation of offences under the Companies Act, he reviewed future pensions of cross-border insolvency in IBC (2018).

Shardul is known for his thoroughness, innovation and problem-solving approach and his knowledge of regulation. His multi-practice expertise and experience is borne out in several rescue schemes, resolution plans and debt and corporate restructuring.

IFLR1000, notes Shardul as a Market Leader in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and insolvency, energy and infrastructure, project development, banking, project finance, capital markets: debt, while Chambers and Partners 2023, views Shardul as an Eminent Practitioner in the banking & finance, restructuring/insolvency and corporate and M&A space. He is most well-known for his long-standing experience handling joint ventures, takeovers, divestments, and commercial contracts. The Legal500 has recognised him in their The Hall of Fame for banking and finance, 2022. Shardul is included in India Business Law Journal’s A-List of India’s top lawyers and legal icons, 2021-22.

Among other numerous recognitions, Shardul is also a recipient of the National Law Day Award from the president of India for his unique contribution to the field of corporate law and leadership in its practice, and for being instrumental in the advancement of India’s corporate law practice at international standards. He has been recognised among The Gamechangers of India, 2018 by The Economic Times.

Vikram Shroff

	Vikram Shroff Nishith Desai Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Labour & employment

Saket Shukla

Saket Shukla
Phoenix Legal
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 49830000
Email: saket.shukla@phoenixlegal.in
Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; corporate & commercial; white-collar crime; advisory

Saket Shukla is a co-founder of Phoenix Legal, one of the leading law firms in India. Saket specialises in crisis management and complex advisory work across different business verticals. He regularly represents clients on their India strategy from inception to restructurings and exits, including ones involving high-value stakes, reputational issues and enforcement actions.

Saket is an active participant in social ventures and is a co-founder of a project in eastern India (www.gamchha.com) aiming to help the silk weaving community. He also advises www.newslaundry.com, an alternative model for news, a publicly sourced, funded and powered format.

He has consistently been recognised by leading international publications and was recently recognised as one of the ALB India Super 50 Lawyers 2021 by Asian Legal Business. “He is highly respected for his formidable expertise, acuity and ability to help clients navigate complex cross-border transactions”. “He is razor sharp, a natural problem solver who is very sensible and knows what clients want” – Asialaw 2022.

Amaresh K Singh

	Amaresh K Singh HSA Advocates New Delhi
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; infrastructure; litigation; real estate

Amaya Singh

	Amaya Singh LexOrbis New Delhi
Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; intellectual property; technology, media and telecommunications

Divjyot Singh

	Divjyot Singh Alaya Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications

Hemant Singh

	Hemant Singh Inttl Advocare Noida
Key practice areas: Intellectual property

Karan Singh

	Karan Singh Trilegal Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; project finance; restructuring & insolvency

Kumar Saurabh Singh

	Kumar Saurabh Singh Khaitan & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; project finance; restructuring & insolvency; securitisation & structured finance

Manisha Singh

Manisha Singh
LexOrbis
New Delhi

Tel: +91 98 1116 1518
Email: manisha@lexorbis.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; intellectual property; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications

Manisha Singh is the founding partner of LexOrbis. Manisha is known and respected for her deep expertise in prosecution and enforcement of all forms of IP rights and for strategising and managing global patents, trademarks, and designs portfolios of large global and domestic companies. Her keen interest in using and deploying the latest technology tools and processes has immensely helped the firm develop efficient IP service delivery models and provide best-in-class services.

She is also known for her sharp litigation and negotiation skills for both IP and non-IP litigations and dispute resolution. She is involved in a large number of intellectual property litigations with a focus on patent litigations covering all technical fields – particularly pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and mechanics. She has been involved in and successfully resolved various trademarks, copyright, design infringement, and in passing off cases in the shortest possible time and the most cost-efficient manner applying out-of-the-box strategies and thinking.

She is an active member of many associations such as INTA, the APAA, AIPLA, AIPPI, LES and the FICPI and is actively involved in their committee work. She is an active writer and regularly authors articles and commentaries for some of the top IP publications.

Sajai Singh

	Sajai Singh JSA Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; data protection; labour & employment; technology, media and telecommunications

Sawant Singh

Sawant Singh
Phoenix Legal
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 43408500
Email: sawant.singh@phoenixlegal.in
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; labour & employment; mergers & acquisitions; project finance

Sawant Singh is a founding partner of Phoenix Legal and his area of expertise includes private equity, project finance, banking and debt restructuring. He also advises clients on a host of employment issues corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures.

Sawant’s services have been widely recognised and he is known for having a “great reputation” in the market. He has been recognised as a thought leader for the banking sector by Who’s Who Legal which describes him as a “go-to for debt restructuring, private equity deals and complex finance transactions”. Recognised as a Distinguished Practitioner in banking and finance by Asialaw Profiles, Sawant has been quoted to be “highly respected by peers and much acclaimed by clients”.

He has been referred to, by Chambers & Partners, as one of India’s “most in-demand” banking practitioners and reported as a “go-to person for tactical solutions” who “always makes himself available”. He has been listed in the A-List by India Business Law Journal and has been recognised as a Global Leader by Who’s Who Legal.

According to Legal500, Sawant is recognized by clients and peers as one of the top financing lawyers in India. He impresses clients with his ability to make difficult transactions seem simple and provides clients with first-class advice and is always at hand to provide the client with quality and practical solutions. He has a very pleasant interactive style which is a big positive. Clients praise him for his “solution-focused and practical approach” in addition to his “very calm demeanor, which is a huge plus in high stakes negotiations”. They admire him for being “accessible, smart and quick in his responses” and for being “able to see the commercial aspects of the matter”.

Chambers and Partners, Who’s Who Legal and IFLR1000 have also highly recommended him as a leading lawyer in banking and finance and projects, infrastructure and energy.

Yogesh Singh

	Yogesh Singh Trilegal Gurugram
Key practice areas: Joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; power & energy; private equity, venture capital & funds

Krrishan Singhania

	Krrishan Singhania K Singhania & Co Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; intellectual property; joint ventures

Ravi Singhania

Ravi Singhania
Singhania & Partners
New Delhi

Tel: +91 11 4747 1411
Email: ravi@singhania.in
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; infrastructure; labour & employment

Ravi Singhania is the managing partner of Singhania & Partners with offices in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru with clientele spread across the globe. He established Singhania & Partners, a full-service law firm, more than two decades ago and leads a team of 70 lawyers including 14 partners.

Ravi has been bestowed with several legal accolades and has been consistently rated as India’s top dispute resolution, corporate/M&A, employment, and project finance lawyer by several international surveys, including those conducted by Legal 500, Asialaw Profiles, India Business Law Journal, Benchmark Litigation, and IFLR1000. He is counted among top legal luminaries of India in independent surveys conducted by Forbes’ Legal Powerlist, Lexis Nexis, and the Indian Corporate Counsels Association.

Under his leadership and successful track record, Singhania & Partners features among India’s top dispute resolution (arbitration and litigation), employment, and corporate-M&A firms.

Ravi provides both hands-on legal advice and overall strategic inputs while drafting and negotiating contracts for complex transactions to always reflect the clients’ interests. His clientele includes government authorities, PSUs and multinationals.

Ravi has served in board positions in industry associations and Indian subsidiaries of numerous Fortune 500 companies. He is also a charter member of the Delhi chapter of TiE, which is an association to support startups launched by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

He frequently speaks at national and international conferences and seminars. Further, he has to his credit, the following books: Drafting of Contracts, White-collar Crimes, and Employment Laws in India. He has also written in publications in various national and international professional journals and magazines including the American Bar Association and Euromoney.

Veena Sivaramakrishnan

Veena Sivaramakrishnan
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 6720 5560
Email: veena.sivaramakrishnan@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; bankruptcy & insolvency; restructuring & insolvency; securitisation & structured finance

Veena Sivaramakrishnan is an equity partner in Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas’ banking and finance practice and in the insolvency and bankruptcy practice of the firm with a special focus on restructuring creditor agreements.

As a leading practitioner in banking, financial services, regulatory, financing, derivatives, insolvency, bankruptcy and restructuring. Veena has been a part of many firsts for her practice areas, leading new frontiers in banking. She has done bank mergers/NBFC – bank mergers (DBS – LVB, Capital First – IDFC Bank, Bandhan Bank – Gruh Finance), first successful debt and equity restructuring under the SDR regime of the RBI (sale of Hyatt Hotels Pune to SAMHI group), legal validity to OTC derivatives under Indian laws and the introduction of credit derivatives, successful restructuring of the sale of Leela Hotels to Brookfield, issuance of the first partly paid NCD structure, winding down of regulated entities such as banks and NBFCs in India, setting up of a special liquidity trust under the directions of the government, to cater to covid-19 related defaults, and asset monetisation structures for easing liquidity to NBFCs, an NBFC resolution outside the IBC (Altico Capital), etc.

Clients praise Veena for her “firm grasp of banking as well as applicable regulations” with her vast experience in derivatives is highly valued. She has the ability to “provide commercial inputs over and above the legal advice” and to “offer alternative solutions”. Clients describe her as “proactive, approachable, responsive and timely, good technical skills, very professional, very sharp and relationship driven”. Most recently, a client remarked about Veena that “she has technical soundness, market knowledge and client service”, and the firm also believes these are indeed her key attributes and skill sets, which set her apart from her peers in the field.

Veena has been consistently ranked and recognised as one of the Top Lawyers in Banking & Finance, Structured Finance and Restructuring & Insolvency by Indian and international publications, such as Chambers and Partners Asia Pacific, India Business Law Journal’s A-List of top lawyers, Asialaw Profiles and IFLR1000.

Sunita Sreedharan

	Sunita Sreedharan SKS Law Associates New Delhi
Key practice areas: Intellectual property

Srinath Sridevan

Srinath Sridevan
HSB Partners
Chennai

Tel: +91 98 4104 9950
Email: srinath@hsbpartners.com
Key practice areas: Bankruptcy & insolvency; corporate & commercial; labour & employment; litigation

Srinath Sridevan is a sixth-generation lawyer and is a founding partner of the Chennai-based firm, HSB Partners.

He studied law at the Madras Law College (as it was then called) and represented his college at the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in 1994, and went on to reach the semi-finals.

He graduated with a gold medal in the state of Tamil Nadu and went on to do his master’s in law at New York University in New York.

After an internship with Deacons in Hong Kong, he was awarded the British government’s Chevening Scholarship to study law in England. Thereafter, he worked at Allen & Overy in London, after which he returned to India to form HSB Partners.

HSB Partners is a full-service law firm and has grown to be one of the premier law firms in South India.

He devotes a substantial amount of his time to pro bono work, and especially works with the Safai Karamchari Andolan, filing public interest litigations to improve the lot of manual scavengers and their families. His work on manual scavenging recently resulted in substantial relief being granted by the Tamil Nadu government.

Srinath frequently publishes articles on law and the judiciary with his most recent article being one on federalism in the judiciary. He has published articles in the Supreme Court Cases, the Madras Law Weekly, the Madras Law Journal, besides newspapers like The Hindu.

He also devotes time to mentoring one or two promising law students each year. This mentoring includes not only a skill-focused internship, but also all guidance thereafter as the students may require.

Having completed 27 years at the bar, as of 2022, he is one of the sought-after names for commercial litigation in Chennai.

Anand Srivastava

	Anand Srivastava Link Legal New Delhi
Key practice areas: Aviation; bankruptcy & insolvency; corporate & commercial; infrastructure

Ashish Suman

Ashish Suman
JSA
Gurugram

Tel: +91 12 4439 0600
Email: ashish.suman@jsalaw.com
Key practice areas: Aviation; infrastructure; joint ventures; power & energy

Ashish Suman’s practice is focused on the infrastructure sector, including transportation and logistics, power and energy, construction and engineering as well as urban infrastructure and smart cities.

Ashish specialises in joint ventures, acquisitions, strategic collaborations, business restructuring, PPP and infrastructure project advisory. He is also advising clients on a regular basis on contracting (commercial and corporate contracts) and general corporate advisory.

He has worked extensively in the transportation and automotive sector and has experience in handling a large spectrum of complex matters/transactions in the automotive space with a focus on electric vehicles. He has advised large domestic and international automotive companies with regard to their domestic investment, setting up of business, restructuring and investments. He is also advising on regulatory development of new transportation technologies such as hyperloop/PODs etc.

Ashish has also been regularly involved in advising companies in the automotive manufacturing sector across their value chain (including tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers, original equipment manufacturers, dealers/distributors). He advises OEMs in relation to the motor vehicle laws, homologation requirements, emission norms, structuring of the contractual framework, etc. As part of the automotive and clean energy practice, Ashish has advised on electric vehicles, including setting up and operating charging stations and battery swap infrastructure, as well as on relevant policies of the government of India such as the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) scheme, the performance linked incentive scheme (PLI scheme) and green hydrogen projects.

In relation to infrastructure matters, he has provided legal advice to both private as well as public sector entities, both domestic and international, on a wide range of infrastructure projects including on issues relating to EPC contracts (FIDIC based), NEC-based contracts, DBFOT, BOT (Toll/Annuity), BOOT projects carried out on a PPP basis. He is also instrumental in drafting precedent setting model concession agreements for the roadways and aviation sector, including the EPCM Agreement for the World Bank, agreements under the hybrid annuity model and expressway concession agreements. Additionally, Ashish has also been engaged in advising clients in the evolving clean energy and clean technology space.

Priti Suri

	Priti Suri PSA New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; corporate governance; labour & employment; mergers & acquisitions

Sujjain Talwar

	Sujjain Talwar Economic Laws Practice Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate & commercial; infrastructure; hospitality

Sameer Tapia

	Sameer Tapia ALMT Legal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; aviation; corporate & commercial; litigation

Naresh Thacker

	Naresh Thacker Economic Laws Practice Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; litigation; white-collar crime

Shardul Thacker

Shardul Thacker
Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 6216 6300
Email: shardul.thacker@mullaandmulla.com
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; banking & finance; insurance & reinsurance; shipping

Shardul Thacker advises on financial products, trade, acquisition, structured, bank securitisation and loans/syndication, financial regulatory, compliance.

With extensive experience in disputes resolution, Shardul has an in-depth commercial understanding to seamlessly support his corporate, insurance, offshore construction and banking practices. His acumen in managing litigation risks has facilitated resolving disputes with the least adverse effect to clients’ business.

India correspondent for Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly.

Vice President of Indian Maritime Law Association, affiliated to CMI.

Member of the Executive Committee of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration, Maritime Users’ Council.

Lloyd’s List ranked him Top 10 Lawyers, stating he is “highly regarded for his work in the LNG gas sector, particularly for interesting and highly geared finance deals in relation to infrastructure projects, energy, ports and ships”.

Shardul is ranked in Chambers and WWL for banking and shipping. He also contributes to the India sections of the following publications: Cross-Border Security, Transport Finance Law Review, Maritime Law Handbook, Kluwer and Who’s Who Legal.

Kunal Thakore

	Kunal Thakore TT&A Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; insurance & reinsurance; mergers & acquisitions

Mithun Thanks

Mithun Thanks
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 4933 5555
Email: mithun.thanks@amsshardul.com
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; real estate

Mithun V Thanks is an equity partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. He specialises in mergers and acquisitions, with a key focus on private equity, along with a strong background in general corporate work.

Over the years, Mithun has worked on several marquee transactions and has substantial experience in advising high-profile clients on foreign investment laws and their joint ventures, strategic acquisitions, India entry strategies and, integration work streams, exit strategies, pre-litigation/arbitration strategic advisory, general corporate advisory etc. Among others, some of his anchor clients during the past decade include McCormick, British American Tobacco, UPS, Jan De Nul Group, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and Partners Group. Mithun has worked across various sectors including FMCG, food and beverage, education, logistics, manufacturing (industrial and consumer), real estate, retail and franchising.

Mithun is very well-regarded by his clients. He is recognised for “consistently providing clear, commercially practical advice in a very prompt and responsive manner, no matter the time of day” and as someone who “makes a special effort to get to know his clients and understand their business in depth, which helps him provide strategic inputs as well.” His referees also credit him as a seasoned practitioner who “has a deep knowledge of the law, holds a very precise pen on documentation and has worked closely with our teams to provide business-oriented solutions to complex problems. He is intelligent, friendly, accessible and fun to work with”.

Mithun has been recognised among India Business Law Journal’s A-List of India’s Top Lawyers, 2022 and profiled in the prestigious inaugural Emerging Leader list of 20 lawyers, who stood out as those leading the Indian legal profession forward, in the RSG India Report 2019. He has been ranked as a Rising Star by ALB in their recommended list for 2021 and among the Top 100 Individual Lawyers in the Forbes India Legal Power lists in 2020 and 2021.

Mithun graduated from the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata in 2005. He is enrolled with the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa and is also admitted as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales.

BC Thiruvengadam

	BC Thiruvengadam Thiru & Thiru Bengaluru
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; intellectual property; litigation

Diljeet Titus

	Diljeet Titus Titus & Co New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; litigation; real estate; white-collar crime

Anuja Tiwari

	Anuja Tiwari AZB & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Aviation; environment; infrastructure; power & energy

Nilesh Tribhuvann

	Nilesh Tribhuvann White and Brief Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; banking & finance; corporate & commercial; litigation

Abhishek Tripathi

	Abhishek Tripathi Sarthak Advocates & Solicitors New Delhi
Key practice areas: Bankruptcy & insolvency; corporate & commercial; power & energy; private equity, venture capital & funds

Jatin Y. Trivedi

Jatin Y. Trivedi
YJ Trivedi & Co
Ahmedabad

Tel: +91 79 2630 3777
Email: jatin@yjtrivedi.com
Key practice areas: Intellectual property; licensing & franchising; litigation

Jatin Trivedi is a seasoned lawyer with more than two decades of experience in intellectual property rights law. His greatest strengths are his “ahead of the curve mindset” and ability to analyse, distill and argue complex issues in a simple, understandable way.

Jatin maintains a stellar reputation across the Bar and is known for his lateral thinking advisory skills. He has been serving as a legal adviser and consultant to MNCs and overseas clients, and has a wealth of experience both in contentious and non-contentious IP matters. With his bespoke counselling on all aspects of the client’s business linked to economic exploitation of their IP and escalating their corporate valuation, he has had a profound influence.

Over the years, he has held prime positions with chamber bodies and IP associations at national (including the FICCI, CII, TiE and GCCI) and international levels (INTA, APAA and AIPLA), and has been actively participating in international conferences, where he has gained expertise par excellence with some of the doyens of the corporate and IP world.

This exposure has led him to develop a global perspective on industry issues, thereby mustering him up to turn the tables for his clients during their key mergers, asset purchases and product launches. Through his careful analysis and translation of legal and commercial issues, he has instilled confidence in his clients to expect a seamless experience on the merits of taking any entrepreneurial decision in a trusted manner.

He had the privilege to work for WIPO (a major IP body formed by the UN) as its regional consultant and assist its member countries in their accession process to MADRID.

He keeps his interest in academics going by taking the time to deliver lectures at revered forums. Taking that further, he has been heading a separate vertical, running successfully the IPPO Foundation, which is a non-profit company established with an aim to provide training and awareness on IPR. He has also penned the book – This Handbook will Change the Face of Your Start-up – a comprehensive handbook that provides business entrants of the 21st century with all they need to know about IPR.

Neeraj Tuli

Neeraj Tuli
Tuli & Co
Noida

Tel: +91 120 693 4000
Email: neeraj.tuli@tuli.co.in
Key practice areas: Insurance & reinsurance

Neeraj Tuli is the senior partner of Tuli & Co. Before setting up Tuli & Co in 2000, Neeraj was a partner with insurance law specialist firm Kennedys in London.

He is widely recognised for his depth of knowledge and understanding of the contentious and non-contentious aspects of the insurance and reinsurance industry. He is recognised as a leading lawyer by prominent legal directories in the insurance space. He is named in the prestigious Hall of Fame by Legal 500 2021, and is also consistently featured as Band 1 practitioner for insurance by Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific as well as in India Business Law Journal‘s A-List.

His practice is recommended in various editions of Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners legal directories with market sources describing him as having “remarkable knowledge” (Legal 500), “a name to be reckoned with and an authority” and “one of the leading minds in the space of insurance law” (Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific).

Neeraj regularly assists clients with regulatory advice, product development and insurance coverage issues. His coverage advice for insurers and reinsurers encompasses a wide range of policy lines, including D&O, E&O/professional indemnity, cyber, CGL, product liability, public liability, trade credit, MD, BI, CPM, DSU, ALOP, EAR and CAR.

Neeraj and his team also specialise in litigation and arbitration. They handle ad hoc arbitrations as well as institutional arbitrations, including those conducted under the auspices of the London Court of International Arbitration, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, Dubai International Arbitration Centre and the Indian Council of Arbitration. Neeraj is currently managing claims on behalf of insurers and reinsurers in India, the US, the UK, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

He also acts as an arbitrator and was invited to be the first president of the Insurance Law Association of India, which was formed in connection with the British Insurance Law Association. He is also a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s National Committee on Dispute Resolution and a former chairman and current committee member of the Indian Associated Chambers of Commerce Expert Insurance Committee.

Neeraj is qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales (1990) and a member of the Bar Council of Delhi (2000).

Suhas Tuljapurkar

	Suhas Tuljapurkar Legasis Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; intellectual property

Nisha Uberoi

	Nisha Uberoi Trilegal Mumbai
Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust

Darshan Upadhyay

	Darshan Upadhyay Stratage Law Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; corporate governance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Shailesh Vaidya

	Shailesh Vaidya Kanga & Company Mumbai
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; real estate; succession planning (family office)

Vinay Vaish

	Vinay Vaish Vaish Associates New Delhi
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; labour & employment; litigation

Bahram Vakil

	Bahram Vakil AZB & Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; infrastructure; power & energy; restructuring & insolvency

Nimish Vakil

	Nimish Vakil Tyabji Dayabhai Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; aviation

Vivek Vashi

Vivek Vashi
Vashi and Vashi
Mumbai

Tel: +91 22 4035 3333
Email: vivek.vashi@vashi.in
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; intellectual property; litigation; real estate

Vivek Vashi is recognised as a leading dispute resolution practitioner in India. He commenced his career in law as a trainee in 1999 with the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas, and was subsequently retained as an associate in 2002 on graduation; thereafter as a senior associate on qualification as a solicitor in 2004. In 2008, Vivek co-founded Bharucha & Partners.

Vashi and Vashi was founded in 2017 by Vivek, after he parted ways with his former firm along with his entire team of 17 associates in order to set up an independent practice in Mumbai.

Following a spectacular run over the past five years, Vashi and Vashi now handle complex and high stakes disputes and dispute-linked transactions across India. These include disputes before tribunals (NCLT, NCLAT, NGT etc.), enforcement agencies, courts including high courts, the Supreme Court; domestic and international arbitrations including the LCIA, SIAC arbitrations.

Vivek has always dealt with intricate disputes and multifaceted litigations making his mark as the forerunner for dispute resolution in Mumbai. His hands-on approach coupled with innovative out-of-box analysis and thinking has allowed him to offer pertinent advice and representation for his clients across a broad gamut of matters, such as company disputes, construction and infrastructure disputes, economic offences, white-collar crimes, bankruptcy and insolvency, renewable energy, family disputes, reforms in various sectors such as telecoms etc.

Vivek is often engaged by clients when negotiating on large transactions to thwart and/or insulate themselves from potential disputes. Vivek is retained by private family offices and large private estates in relation to the management and structuring of their investments, trust mechanisms, succession planning and other matters. Vivek’s approach to amicably settle and mutually resolve disputes rather than needlessly engage or be embroiled in litigation has earned him plenty of praise from his clients.

Vivek has been recognised by Chambers and Partners, and ranked in India Business Law Journal’s A-List of top Indian lawyers for several years consecutively. He has also been commended by Asialaw, Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal.

His hands-on and personal approach has earned him the adulation of clients and the respect of his opponents.

Ajay Vazirani

	Ajay Vazirani Lexicon Law Partners Mumbai
Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; litigation; real estate; white-collar crime

Kavitha Vijay

Kavitha Vijay
IC Universal Legal
Chennai

Tel: +91 44 4218 7856
Email: kavitha.vijay@icul.in
Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; infrastructure; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds

Kavitha Vijay, senior partner of IC Universal Legal, heads the firm’s Chennai office, having been a partner there since the office opened, and spearheading its growth to become the large multi-disciplinary team of reputation and ranking that it is in Chennai today.

Kavitha is widely known for her efficient, solution-based and holistic approach to transactions and has been highly ranked by law firm rating agencies in various sectors. Kavitha’s two decades of experience is visible in the manner she handles a very diversified client portfolio, with her distinctive perspective and strong market understanding.

Although her focus is on M&A, private equity and joint ventures, her practice also includes corporate and regulatory requirements, infrastructure, real estate and finance, fintech and agritech among others.

She has represented many renowned business houses in notable PE and M&A transactions and also works with HNIs and family groups on the allocation of interest rights, responsibilities, succession issues and estate management.

L Viswanathan

	L Viswanathan Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai
Key practice areas: Bankruptcy & insolvency; infrastructure; power & energy; project finance

Dhaval Vussonji

	Dhaval Vussonji Dhaval Vussonji & Associates Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; capital markets; real estate; private equity, venture capital & funds

Dina Wadia

	Dina Wadia JSA Mumbai
Key practice areas: Banking & finance; bankruptcy & insolvency; mergers & acquisitions; venture capital & funds

Salman Waris

	Salman Waris TechLegis New Delhi
Key practice areas: Data protection; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; intellectual property; technology, media and telecommunications

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