2021 to be exceptionally busy, says Cyril Shroff

The managing partner of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, in an exclusive conversation with India Business Law Journal, says innovation in the insolvency space, such as pre-packs, NCLT reforms and bad bank, will fuel deal activity

Transcript:

Q: What was the impact of the pandemic on your firm and what is your strategy for 2021?

A: You know, our experience like that of many firms, both in India as well as globally, has been there for the legal services industry, the pandemic hasn’t been that bad. People have been extremely busy. There are several pockets in the firm who are busier than they ever were before the pandemic. So it’s kind of ironic because in March and April, had you asked me the question, I mean, we were all staring at a doomsday scenario, but that never happened. And the reason I think is that the financial markets never closed. So it was essentially a healthcare problem, and as far as the financial sector remained largely open the need for legal services went up quite a bit, because everybody needed help.

And I think, we are now seeing a recovery. So even the prediction as far as India is concerned, of course we had the economic contraction in the last financial year, is that in the next [financial] year we’re looking at an 11% expansion. So that’s a good sign.

I’m expecting 2021 to be exceptionally busy. And we have a very positive and confident outlook. I think there’s going to be a tremendous amount of M&A. There already is, and I think there will be even more, capital markets work in terms of new issuances. And because of people coming out of the pandemic crisis, I think there’ll be a lot of disputes as well, which will need to be resolved.