Based on the collective views of in-house counsel and India-focused partners at international law firms, the following are India’s 50 future legal leaders. The Future Legal Leaders 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. Click here to read the full report.
India Business Law Journal’s list of 50 Future Legal Leaders was compiled following an extensive consultation exercise in which thousands of in-house counsel and hundreds of India-focused international lawyers were asked to nominate up-andcoming lawyers who have the potential to reach the peak of the profession, and to explain their reasons for the nominations. They were asked to consider lawyers who have set up their own firms, as well as those working in long-established firms who show great promise.
The exercise was part of a larger research process that included three categories: A-List lawyers; legal icons; and rising stars. The lawyers identified in this list belong to the third category, rising stars, who are seen as the future leaders of India’s legal profession. Details of A-List Lawyers and Legal Icons may be found at here.
Our final list of 50 Future Legal Leaders reflects the nominations received combined with the India Business Law Journal editorial team’s more than 30 years of collective experience in documenting and analysing India’s legal market.
All lawyers working at Indian law firms, except those who were recognized in India Business Law Journal’s annual A-List (and whose stars may therefore be considered to have already risen), were eligible for consideration. The list does not cover senior counsel, lawyers working for independent chambers, in-house counsel, and Indian lawyers working in other countries. As always, there were no fees or any other requirements for being considered.
Nominations were received from professionals at a wide range of Indian and international companies, law firms and other organizations, including: 3i Group; Accenture; Adani Electricity; Adani Enterprises; Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone; Adani Power; Adarsh Group of Hotels; Aditya Birla; Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance; AEON; Airavat Capital; Airbnb; Airbus; Airports Authority of India; Airports Economic Regulatory Authority; Akin Gump; Al Tamimi & Company; Allen & Gledhill; Allen & Overy; Amazon; Anderson Mori & Tomotsune; Apollo Hospitals; ArcelorMittal; Arvind Fashions; Avendus; Axis Bank; Baker McKenzie; Bank of America; Bank of Baroda; Bharat Heavy Electricals; Bird & Bird; Boeing; Bombay Stock Exchange; Cadence Design Systems; Canara Bank; Canon; Castrol; China State Construction Engineering Corporation; Cisco Systems; Cleary Gottlieb; Clifford Chance; Clyde & Co; CMS; Coca-Cola; Cognizant; Cooley; Credit Suisse; Cummins; Dell; Delta Corp; Dentons; DHL; Diageo; DLA Piper; Dr Lal Path Labs; DSP Merrill Lynch; Duane Morris & Selvam; Edelweiss; Emerson Electric; Ernst & Young; Essar Oil; Eversheds Sutherland; ExxonMobil; FIFA; Flipkart; Ford Motor Company; Fortis Healthcare; Fujifilm; GAIL; Gaja Capital; Genpact; GlaxoSmithKline; Goldman Sachs; Haldanes; Havells; HDFC Bank; Herbert Smith Freehills; Hero Enterprise; Hindalco Industries; Hindustan Unilever; Hitachi; ICICI Venture Funds Management; Indiabulls; Indosat Ooredoo; IndusInd Bank; JP Morgan; Jayant Group; JM Financial Limited; Jones Day; Kajaria Ceramics; Kenya Airways; King & Wood Mallesons; Kohler; Kotak Mahindra Capital; KPMG; LafargeHolcim; Larsen & Toubro; Latham & Watkins; Linklaters; Lufthansa; Mahindra & Mahindra; MakeMyTrip; Maruti Suzuki; Max Life Insurance; Medichek; Michelin Tyres; Milbank; Mondelez India Foods; Morgan Stanley; Mori Hamada & Matsumoto; Mylan Pharmaceuticals; Nabors Drilling; Natio Cultus; National Stock Exchange of India; NatWest; Nippon Life; NIRMALA Hospital; Nishimura & Asahi; Nissan; Norton Rose Fulbright; Nvidia Graphics; PepsiCo; Pernod Ricard; Petronas; Pfizer; Pillsbury Winthrop; Pritesh Fireworks; PwC; Rabobank; Rajah and Tann; Rajhans Builders and Developers; Ramky Infrastructure; Raymond; Reckitt Benckiser; Reebok; Reed Smith; Reliance Capital; Reliance Chemicals; Saama Capital; Salesforce. com; Samsung; SBI Capital Markets; SBM Bank; Schindler; SEBI; Sequoia Capital; SIDBI; Sidley Austin; Sigma Ventures; Simmons & Simmons; Skadden; Slaughter and May; Snapbizz Cloudtech; Sony Pictures; Squire Patton Boggs; Standard Chartered Bank; Sumitomo Corporation; Tata Capital Healthcare Fund; Tata Chemicals; Tata Housing; Tata Sky; Tata Steel; Tech Mahindra; Tetra Pak; The Indian Hotels Company; The Oberoi Group of Hotels and Resorts; Total; TVS Automobile Solutions; United Breweries; Unitus Capital; Vedanta; Wells Fargo Bank; Yes Bank; Zaiwalla & Co; Zomato, and hundreds more.
The names and photographs of all 50 Future Legal Leaders are published on the pages that follow. Each lawyer was also given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details, for which a publishing fee was charged. It is important to note that while the compilation of the Future Legal Leaders was based solely on independent editorial research, the biographies and contact details that appear alongside many of the listings have been written by the participating lawyers, and the content has not been independently verified by India Business Law Journal.
 |
Vivek Agarwal DMD Advocates New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust |
 |
Sumit Agrawal Regstreet Law Advisors Mumbai |
| Tel: +91 99 87729337 Email: sumit@regsla.com Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; corporate governance; financial regulation; white-collar crime |
| Sumit founded Regstreet Law Advisors after his experience of almost a decade at SEBI. Sumit is one of the most respected practitioners in the financial regulatory space. He advises corporates, commodity and stock exchanges, intermediaries as well as their promoters, key management and investors, on various issues.
He has extensively handled matters related to SEBI, the stock exchanges, IRDAI (insurance regulator) and the appellate body, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). Sumit also advises clients on regulatory requirements for obtaining registrations and recognition of products with regulators such as SEBI, RBI, IRDAI, PFRDA and IBBI. At SEBI, Sumit worked with various verticals viz. integrated surveillance, legal affairs and regulatory policy, commodities derivatives, enforcement and litigation. He was part of the Chief Justice NK Sodhi Committee to formulate insider trading regulations and assisted in investigating the IPO scam (Roopalben Panchal scam) and the Satyam scam. He also played a key role in formulating norms for tackling fraud and unfair trade practices, registration of intermediaries, disclosures in public issues, the framework for the rejection of offer documents, merger of erstwhile Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with SEBI and defended SEBI’s power to seek phone call records. Sumit had also assisted SEBI, MCA and the Ministry of Finance, the government of India, in bringing parliamentary amendments to securities laws, in addition to handling inter-regulatory issues within India and internationally. Since starting his entrepreneurial venture, Sumit has advised a variety of clients from regulators and exchanges such as IRDAI, NCDEX, BSE; listed conglomerates and market intermediaries including the Piramal Group, Raymond, HT Media, Nippon Mutual Fund, Brickwork Ratings, Kotak Securities, Raine Group, BOC Group; and high net-worth individuals, promoters and KMPs such as Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (Rare), Vivek Mehrotra, Abhay Gandhi (Sun Pharma), SB Mainak (LIC/ CARE), etc. As a legal and regulatory expert, Sumit is often quoted in the media. He is a visiting faculty at various institutions, including at the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and various national law universities. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Government Law College, Mumbai for its postgraduate securities law course. |
 |
Dhruv Anand Anand and Anand New Delhi |
| Tel: +91.120.4059300 Email: dhruv@anandandanand.com Key practice areas: Intellectual property; litigation |
| Dhruv’s work covers a wide array of cases from luxury brands, FMCG to pharma and life sciences including copyright enforcement. He has been involved in significant copyright cases such as the DU photocopy case, enforcing the moral rights of a famous sculptor, represented copyright societies and more. He has lately been involved in a dispute concerning the rights of singers to receive royalties.
Dhruv has been instrumental in enforcing and upholding the patent rights of many pharmaceutical companies such as Bayer, Merck, Pharmacyclics and Eisai whose cases have involved a wide spectrum of complex patent law principles. Dhruv is an exclusive India contributor for many prestigious multijurisdictional practice area guides including – Copyright Throughout the World by Silke von Lewinski and Halsbury’s Laws of India. Called to the bar in 2006, Dhruv primarily practises before the Delhi High Court. He studied law at Amity Law School and went on to pursue an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from the George Washington University in 2014. |
 |
Moksha Bhat AP & Partners New Delhi |
| Tel: +91-9717798956 Email: moksha.bhat@appartners.in Key practice areas: Inbound investment; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
| Moksha is a co-founding partner of AP & Partners, Advocates.
Moksha regularly acts on a broad range of corporate transactions with a focus on M&A, private equity and joint ventures. He advises blue-chip corporations as well as emerging companies, their venture capital and private equity investors as well as senior management on various issues from formation to liquidity. Moksha also frequently advises foreign companies on all aspects of setting up and running their businesses in India. On the disputes side, Moksha advises on corporate disputes including those arising from the failure of joint ventures, claims arising out of insolvency of corporate entities and fraud claims. Moksha is qualified to practice in India and New York. He is an alumnus of the Georgetown University Law Centre and the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. |
 |
Subhash Bhutoria Krida Legal New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Art law; fashion law; intellectual property; technology, media and telecommunications |
 |
Avik Biswas IndusLaw Bengaluru |
| Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; labour & employment; white-collar crime |
 |
Vishnu Chandran Lexygen Bengaluru |
| Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; intellectual property; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Probir Chowdhury J Sagar Associates Bengaluru |
| Key practice areas: Data protection; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; mergers & acquisitions; technology, media and telecommunications |
 |
Abhishek Dadoo Khaitan & Co Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; private equity, venture capital & funds; public mergers & acquisitions |
 |
Anjan Dasgupta DSK Legal Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance; infrastructure; power & energy; project finance |
 |
Manish Dembla Kochhar & Co Gurugram |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; infrastructure; litigation; white-collar crime |
 |
Abir Dey L&L Partners Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; infrastructure; restructuring & insolvency |
 |
Pallabi Ghosal AZB & Partners Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Mohit Gogia S&R Associates New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Satadru Goswami L&L Partners Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance; capital markets; project finance; restructuring & insolvency |
 |
Atul Gupta Trilegal Bengaluru |
| Key practice areas: Labour & employment |
 |
Rishab Gupta Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co Mumbai |
| Tel: +91 9821780313 Email: rishab.gupta@amsshardul.com Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; international trade & bilateral investment treaties; litigation; white-collar crime |
| Rishab is a partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co (SAM), and leads the firm’s arbitration practice in Mumbai. He is qualified to practise in India, the US and the UK (where he is a solicitor advocate with higher rights of audience).
His practice focuses on domestic and international arbitration, commercial litigation and public international law. Before joining SAM, Rishab worked for several years at international law firms in London and New York. Rishab regularly represents clients in commercial and investor-state arbitrations brought under the auspices of a variety of institutional rules, including ICC, UNCITRAL, SIAC, SCC, LCIA and ICSID. The subject matter of these arbitrations have included long-term energy concessions, investment treaties, joint venture agreements and construction contracts, and they have involved common law, civil law and Islamic law systems. Rishab has served on the arbitration committees of most of the major arbitration institutions, including the young practitioner’s committees of the SIAC, LCIA and HKIAC. He is currently the co-chair of the young practitioners’ committee of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration. He is on the SIAC reserve panel of arbitrators, and regularly sits as an arbitrator. Rishab has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal 2018, 2019 and 2020 as a “future leader of arbitration” under the age of 45, and by Who’s Who Legal 2021 as one of the leading “arbitrators and counsel”. He is consistently ranked as a leading disputes lawyer by various other publications, including Legal500, AsiaLaw and Legal Era (which, in 2019, recognized him as one of the 40 top lawyers in India under the age of 40). |
 |
Vineet Gupta Indian Law Partners New Delhi |
| Tel: +91 11 2415 4000 Email: vineet.gupta@ilps.in Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; data protection; labour & employment; mergers & acquisitions |
| Vineet is an India-qualified lawyer (alumnus of Gujarat National Law University), a company secretary and is also a member of the International Bar Association. Vineet is also currently pursuing the Young Entrepreneurs Programme from India’s most prestigious business school IIM Ahmedabad.
With more than a decade of legal experience, Vineet has significant experience in Indian corporate and commercial laws, including in M&As, JVs, business alliances, cross-border commercial transactions, foreign portfolio investment, establishing and servicing wholly owned subsidiaries for foreign clients, private equity investments, insolvency and bankruptcy, banking and finance, restructuring & insolvency, real property transactions and employment law. In 2019 Vineet was selected among 20 candidates from India by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to represent India for the IndoGerman Manager Training Programme (IGMTP) conducted in Germany in MarchApril 2019. Vineet is also a recipient of an “International Business Award” in a Business Summit at Jaipur, Rajasthan state in 2019. Vineet has also worked on a secondment basis in leading international law firms Ashurst, London (2014) and Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, Tokyo (2016). Vineet’s experience includes advising Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) in various equity and debt transactions, including in the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) (a larger than US$100 billion project), Takshasila Hospitals and TechnoTrends Auto Parks. He has also advised various clients such as Toshiba, Mitsui, Nippon Paper, Hyundai, KIA Motors, BlueScope Steel, Kuwait Petroleum, Dow Jones, Bosch, Merlin Entertainments, Savills, Blueair, Fujitsu General, Brookfield, Trivest Partners, Diligent Corp, Navitas, Cardtronics, Major League Baseball, Oak Hill Advisors, Cerberus and Avaada Energy on diverse matters including business strategy in India. Vineet is currently a director in Anuvac Confab Worldwide Private Limited (Navitas Australia subsidiary). Vineet has addressed various seminars/ workshops in India and abroad including on the employment laws of India and on the legal aspects of M&As and startups. Vineet has also co-authored several books along with a Japanese lawyer published in English and Japanese on EPC contracts, interpretation of contracts and how to read and draft contracts providing key words and examples, and has written articles in various Indian and international publications. Other than lawyering Vineet is an avid reader and traveller both in India and abroad. |
 |
Ish Jain Regius Legal Mumbai |
| Tel: +91 9819122331 Email: ij@regius.legal Key practice areas: Real estate; infrastructure and construction; white collar crime; maritime disputes |
| With diverse experience in the field of ADR, Ish is a renowned arbitrator empanelled by several prestigious Indian and global institutes across the UK, Singapore and other South Asian regions. His dedicated ADR work commenced in 2004, prior to him being formally qualified as an advocate.
The High Court of Bombay has appointed Ish as an arbitrator since 2016. Ever since, his repertoire of work covers the length and breadth of ADR matters, including multijurisdictional arbitrations, some of which are high-stake and highvalue matters. Ish has also been accepted as a fellow at the renowned Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK. In the litigation field, he has handled the entire ecosystem of contentious matters ranging from corporate, commercial and civil disputes to criminal litigation and white-collar crime matters. He frequently appears before the Supreme Court, high courts, NCLT and appellate tribunals among other forums. He also handles matters pertaining to ED, MPID, EOW, FEMA, CBI investigations and special courts that adjudicate on specific offences. As senior partner at Regius Legal, Ish plays a pivotal role in managing the firm. Under his aegis, the firm has come to be known for its fast growing litigation and corporate-commercial advisory services. He is also the face of the aviation, technology and space law practice of the firm. He also has diverse experience in transactional as well as litigation matters in real estate and construction sectors, especially in Western India. He is renowned for handling disputes involving a multitude of parties with conflicting and complicated pleadings. He advises a diverse portfolio of clients including several global brands, MNCs, large businesses, HNW individuals and NRIs, who regard him highly for his distinct expertise in conducting trials and cross-examinations in high-stake matters. Ish is academically inclined and holds Master’s degrees in several fields of law and is presently pursuing his Doctorate in Arbitration Law. His other key practice areas are art law; sports law; banking & finance; energy law, domain name, cross-border and maritime disputes. |
 |
Nitin Jain Agama Law Associates Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; litigation; private client |
 |
Anish Jaipuriar AKS Partners New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Aditya Jha Trilegal Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Pritha Jha Pioneer Legal Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications |
 |
Vaibhav Kakkar L&L Partners New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; corporate governance; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Manmeet Kaur Karanjawala & Co New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; litigation; real estate |
 |
Arush Khanna Numen Law Offices New Delh |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; litigation; real estate |
 |
Kritika Krishnamurthy AK & Partners New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; banking & finance; corporate & commercial; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Abhinav Kumar Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Capital markets; corporate and commercial; corporate governance; mergers & acquisitions |
 |
Pratyush Miglani Miglani Varma & Co New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; corporate & commercial; litigation; taxation |
 |
Manavendra Mishra Khaitan & Co Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery; arbitration & ADR; investigations; white-collar crime |
 |
Richa Mohanty Rao Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Labour and employment |
 |
Nikhil Narendran Trilegal Bengaluru |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; data protection; e-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos; technology, media and telecommunications |
 |
Aninda Pal DSK Legal Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds; restructuring & insolvency |
 |
Anupam Prasad AP Law Chambers Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; data protection; private equity, venture capital & funds; technology, media and telecommunications |
 |
Kanika Premnarayen Indian Law Partners Mumbai |
| Tel: +91 9820087770 Email: kanika.premnarayen@ilps.in Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions |
| Kanika is a dual qualified lawyer admitted as a solicitor in India with the Bombay Incorporated Law Society in 2008 and as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales in 2011. Kanika completed her law degree at Government Law College, Mumbai and was enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in July 2006. She is also a member of the International Bar Association.
Kanika is a partner with Indian Law Partners and heads and manages its Mumbai office. With over 14 years of extensive legal experience, Kanika advises on corporate and commercial laws focusing on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, inbound investment and private equity investments and exits across various sectors in India. Kanika also has experience in numerous real estate transactions and in commercial litigation and arbitration proceedings. Other than lawyering, Kanika is an avid sportswoman. She was a national and state level squash and tennis player, and won, among others, the Mumbai University Inter College Squash Tournaments for three consecutive years. Kanika also works very closely with various NGOs and contributes extensively towards the treatment of cancer patients and educating underprivileged girls. Professional awards
Recent articles and quotes published
|
 |
Codhai Raghavan Lexygen Bengaluru |
| Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust; mergers & acquisitions; outbound investment; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Goda Raghavan AK Law Chambers Chennai |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; inbound investment; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Sarika Raichur Kochhar & Co New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Ganesh Rao Trilegal Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Subhayu Sen Khaitan & Co Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Capital markets |
 |
Sidharth Sethi J Sagar Associates New Delhi |
| Tel: +91 99715 07668 Email: sidharth.sethi@jsalaw.com Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; litigation; whitecollar crime |
| Sidharth is an advocate-on-record at the Supreme Court of India and is a disputes partner at J Sagar Associates, New Delhi.
Sidharth’s practice covers diverse areas of corporate commercial litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution. He has considerable expertise in shareholders’ disputes; and represents clients in arbitrations, both domestic and foreign seated, arising out of shareholders’ agreements, share purchase agreements, concession agreements and various other commercial contracts. He also advises and acts for clients in insolvency proceedings, product liability litigations, constitutional and administrative law litigation, proceedings relating to penal laws, white-collar crimes and corporate and forensic investigation. Sidharth regularly appears before the Supreme Court, different high courts of India and various tribunals and commissions. He has handled some highprofile litigations in which path-breaking and notable judgments have been rendered. Sidharth’s clients include leading Indian and multinational corporations; and he also acts as a co-counsel with leading international law firms. Clients commend him for his “in-depth preparation and grasp of facts and law” in addition to his “exemplary work ethics”. They also admire that he “manages client expectations very well through his objective approach, honesty and transparency”, and provides “creative and innovative legal solutions”. Some leading senior counsel in India attest that he is “extremely diligent with the capacity to comprehend and deal with complex legal questions apart from the willingness and capability to carry out extensive research” and that he “has demonstrated legal acumen and maturity well beyond his years”. Sidharth has been recognized as one of India’s young legal leaders and influencers and was recently awarded the elite BW Businessworld 40 under 40 award. For his vision, leadership and accomplishments, Sidharth has also been awarded Legal Era’s 5th Annual “40-under-40 Rising Stars Awards” in 2020. Sidharth is a specialist editor of Guide to the Companies Act, Nineteenth Edition, written by A Ramaiya and published by LexisNexis. A section-based commentary of the Companies Act, 2013, the book is widely recognized as the most comprehensive and authoritative commentary on corporate law. Sidharth also teaches company law as a guest faculty for an autonomous diploma programme organized by Indian Law Society, Pune. |
 |
Shravani Shekhar Trilegal New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust |
 |
Faisal Sherwani L&L Partners New Delhi |
| Tel: +91 92054 74744 Email: FSherwani@luthra.com Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; litigation; technology, media and telecommunications; white-collar crime |
| Faisal Sherwani is an advocate-on-record in the Supreme Court and a partner in the dispute resolution practice at L&L Partners in New Delhi.
With over a decade of experience in the field of dispute resolution and dispute advisory services, Faisal has a deep understanding of procedural and substantive issues of law. He regularly practises and appears before the Supreme Court as well as various high courts and tribunals. He has a host of reported judgments to his credit. Corporates have acknowledged that his true strength lies in his one-stop-shop ability to advise on complex and diverse disciplines of law. Also, that he provides solid, workable and business friendly solutions. As such, he advises and acts for clients on a range of subjects such as constitutional law aspects, arbitration laws, corporate, commercial and insolvency laws, transport and motor vehicles laws, technology and gaming laws, labour legislations, white-collar crimes and penal laws. He is regularly engaged to advise in criminal investigations by clients. Having focused strongly on the practice of writs, he understands government work, issues of statecraft and has the acquired skill of seasoned counsel to pick up on instances of executive and administrative excess. This has proved immensely important at a time when clients are genuinely anxious to understand fast-changing executive orders and regulations. For the same reasons, his counsel is often sought on issues of statutory interpretation. He employs the approach of a tactician to issues of law and regulation. Already, he has emerged as a coveted legal adviser and strategist in the startup circles of India, having successfully advised and assisted a number of niche industries and young businesses such as transport aggregators, startups in the agri-produce market, the gaming industry, the technology sector, as also the cash and carry sector among others. Faisal is also a sought-after columnist and speaker. His work runs the gamut from law, history and satire. Most recently, Faisal has featured in Business World’s Legal World’s elite list of “40 under 40” – India’s top lawyers and legal influencers, 2020. |
 |
Natashaa Shroff Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co New Delhi |
| Tel: +91 11 41590700 Email: Natashaa.shroff@amsshardul.com Key practice areas: General corporate, mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
| Natashaa is a partner in the M&A and private equity practice group of the firm and has over 14 years of experience. She has advised some of the biggest Indian and international corporate groups, private equity funds, public and private companies across a spectrum of complex domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and investments.
Natashaa’s varied experience spans the depth and breadth of control and minority acquisitions, public and private M&As, cross-border investments, corporate restructuring, amalgamations, business unit acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity investments. Natashaa has steered big ticket and complex deals with the potential for significant impact on the client’s business and the industries in which the client operates. Some of these significant deals include Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart – the biggest e-commerce acquisition in India, Facebook’s investments (along with eight other investments) in Reliance Jio – the biggest FDI by Facebook in India in the tech space, and ONGC’s acquisition of HPCL – one of the biggest PSU acquisitions. Owing to her proven credentials in translating such large deals, she has built herself as a “go-to lawyer” for high-value and precedent setting deals. Natashaa is also the secretary to the firm’s Management Board and has been instrumental in building and enhancing aspects and programmes that are fundamental to the firm’s differentiated positioning among all its stakeholders: internal and external. She is recognized as “Rising Star” for Corporate Practice at Euromoney Women in Business Law Awards, 2020; among “40 under 40” by ALB, 2020; among “40 under 40 – Rising Stars” by Legal Era, 2020 and also featured among “40 under 40” by BW Business World, 2020. She was recognized as “Young Lawyer of the Year” by Asian Legal Business India Awards, 2019. IFLR1000, 2021 recognizes her as a Notable Practitioner for her corporate/ M&A practice. |
 |
Shweta Shroff Chopra Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co New Delhi |
| Tel: +91 9810098335 Email: shweta.shroff@amsshardul.com Key practice areas: Competition law |
| Shweta Shroff Chopra is a partner in the firm’s competition law practice. Shweta has been practising competition law in India since its early days and has been involved in many of the highprofile enforcement cases and merger control matters.
Shweta has recently advised Larsen & Toubro on the acquisition of its electrical and automation business of Schneider Electric on the basis of a set of behavioural remedies negotiated with the Competition Commission of India (CCI). She also advised on the amalgamation of GRUH Finance with Bandhan Bank, one of the first bank/housing finance mergers in India. She earlier advised Walmart on the US$16 billion acquisition of Flipkart, India’s leading e-commerce marketplace, which was unconditionally cleared despite the high-profile nature of the transaction and public and political opposition. Shweta also advised on a number of private equity deals that included securing clearances for Blackstone on its acquisition of control over Sona India and Temasek’s acquisition of a stake in ANI Technologies. In relation to cartel enforcement, Shweta acts for leniency applicants in a number of domestic and international cartel investigations being undertaken by the CCI across a broad range of sectors. Of note, was Shweta’s role in successfully defending Globecast Asia in securing a 100% waiver of penalty for a bid rigging cartel for sports broadcasting services. In addition, Shweta is a non-governmental adviser in the ICN and worked with the CCI on the Special Project on Cartel Enforcement, presented at the ICN Annual Conference 2018. Shweta actively assisted Pallavi Shroff in preparing proposals for the reform of the Competition Act for consideration by the Competition Law Review Committee, which made its report public in August 2019. She has routinely advised on amendments to the merger regulations by the CCI. She is ranked as an “Elite Practitioner” in Asialaw Profiles 2021 and was also featured as one of the youngest women in the Global Competition Review’s “Women in Antitrust 2016”. She is recognized as a “Thought Leader for Competition Law” by Who’s Who Legal, 2019-20 and ranked Band 2 for Competition/Antitrust by Chambers and Partners, 2019-21. |
 |
Amrita Sinha AZB & Partners Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance; restructuring & insolvency; securitization & structured finance |
 |
Sumit Sinha DMD Advocates New Delhi |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; joint ventures; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Alok Sonker Krishnamurthy & Co Mumbai |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; mergers & acquisitions; public market takeovers; private equity, venture capital & funds |
 |
Roshan Thomas Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co Bengaluru |
| Tel: +91 9986510990 Email: roshan.thomas@amsshardul.com Key practice areas: General corporate; mergers & acquisitions; private equity, venture capital & funds |
| Roshan is a partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co and specializes in venture capital, private equity, mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures and general corporate advisory and heads the firm’s Bengaluru office.
Roshan has more than 17 years of experience, inter alia, in advising reputed multinational corporations, venture capital and private equity funds in connection with their Indian investments and corporate governance. He has a reputation for providing clients with business-centric legal advice on investments, divestitures, joint ventures, fund formation, strategic alliances, crossborder and domestic M&A. Roshan’s sectoral expertise spans across sectors such as education, healthcare, financial services & technology, IT & ITES, food & agriculture, manufacturing, trading, construction & development, infrastructure, logistics, media, and professional services. Roshan has significant experience in structuring investments and liaising with key Indian regulators, including the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, stock exchanges, and Registrar of Companies on behalf of his clients. Roshan is currently working with three of India’s unicorns that are arguably the most valuable startups (in edtech, fintech and foodtech). He is the go-to counsel for Byju’s and helped them in their fundraise of over US$1 billion in the past 18 months. BW Legal World recognized him as among the top 40 under 40 lawyers of the Indian legal ecosystem. He graduated as part of the first batch of NALSAR, University of Law, Hyderabad. |
 |
Yaman Verma Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co New Delhi |
| Tel: +91 8800491490 Email: yaman.verma@amsshardul.com Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust |
| Yaman Verma is a partner in the competition practice, and has advised on numerous significant enforcement and combination cases in his practice of over 10 years.
On the enforcement front, he successfully defended Microsoft, WhatsApp, and Flipkart against abuse of dominance complaints. He also represented Matrimony.com in its successful complaint against Google, and a confidential informant in a complaint against Google regarding payments practices. On the cartel front, he helped secure a 100% waiver of penalty for Globecast Asia in its leniency application. He also advises trade associations in relation to compliance with competition laws. He has extensively advised on Indian competition clearance for complex multijurisdictional mergers, including Microsoft/Nokia, GSK/Novartis, Pfizer/ Allergan, Dow/Dupont, Agrium/ Potashcorp, Siemens/Alstom, Fiat/ Peugeot, Linde/Praxair, and the Suzuki/ Toyota capital alliance. He has also helped secure clearance for Vodafone India’s merger with Idea Cellular Limited (India’s largest M&A transaction), Walmart’s acquisition of the majority shareholding in Flipkart (including defending the approval in follow on litigation) and, more recently, Facebook’s acquisition of a minority stake in Jio Platforms, and Flipkart’s acquisition of a minority stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. He regularly advises private equity investors in relation to CCI approvals for their acquisitions. Yaman has featured in the WWL Future Leaders publication each year from 2017-2020, being “most highly regarded” in 2019, lauded for his “management of major merger control mandates in an effective, thorough and calm way”, and his “clarity of thought and in-depth knowledge of competition laws”. In addition, he is recognized by The Legal 500 list of “Next Generation Lawyers” for India from 2017 to 2021, and as a “Rising Star” in Competition and Antitrust in The Experts Guides list for 2018-2020. He was most recently recognized by Chambers & Partners, 2021, as an “Up and Coming” lawyer for Competition and Antitrust, described as “a very bright lawyer” with “very good project management skills”. He regularly contributes to competition law publications and has coauthored India chapters for GCR, “Getting the Deal Through”, as well as PLC. He also conducts a course on competition law at his alma mater, the National Law School of India University. |
