Welcome to the ALB New Delhi In-House Legal Summit 2023 

    DATE             12 October 2023, Thursday

    TIME               9:15 am Registration
                                 10:00 am to 4:50 pm, Indian Standard Time (GMT +5:30)

      VENUE         The Grand Ballroom, The Leela Palace, New Delhi, India     

                                 Africa Avenue, Diplomatic Enclave, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, Delhi, India     

                                                                                                                  

 

      [ FACE TO FACE /LIVE EVENT] 

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Stay tune for more updates on the speakers. For further information, please contact Amruta Manjrekar at amruta.kishormanjrekar@thomsonreuters.com

SPEAKERS & PANELISTS

Abhijit Yadav, Legal Director, Colgate-Palmolive India Limited

Abhijit Yadav is an in-house legal counsel with 16+ years of experience in the FMCG industry. He is passionate about enabling business teams with appropriate legal framework to pursue business priorities. He has worked in the Food, Cosmetics & Pharma industry through companies such as Marico, L’Oreal, Sanofi and currently he is associated with Colgate-Palmolive (I) Ltd. in the capacity of ‘Legal Director.’

He has completed his law studies from Govt. Law College, Mumbai and master’s in business law (Distance) from National Law School, Bangalore.

Akash Gupta, Founder, Zypp Electric

Akash is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zypp, India’s Largest EV-as-a-service startup. He brings over a decade of executive-level leadership experience in marketing, team-building, and rapidly scaling up tech and tech-assisted businesses. In addition, Akash is a thought leader and avid speaker, participating in numerous electric mobility, startup, and marketing events.

Before founding Zypp, Akash was the Vice President and Head of Marketing at MobiKwik and was instrumental in positioning the company among the leading fintech startups in India. Before that, Akash was the Head of Acquisitions and Alliances for Mobile Marketing at Snapdeal and worked as an analyst and software engineer for tech companies like Dell and Infosys.

Anand Tripurari, Corporate Counsel, Amazon

Anand Tripurari is a corporate counsel at Amazon and has over 12 years of experience in corporate, commercial and technology laws. He has previously worked with corporate and transaction practice groups at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and J. Sagar Associates where his practice encompassed a wide range of complex business transactions with an emphasis on M&A, strategic investments, tech and privacy laws, corporate governance matters, and related corporate and securities law advisory.  

Anand has been featured in the Forbes Legal Power list, 2022 as Top 25 in-house legal counsels in India. Anand is an alumnus of Gujarat National Law University and is registered with the Bar Council of Delhi.

Annindya Banerjee, Lead Counsel - IPR (Group), Retail - Assets and Liabilities, International Branches - Regulatory & Construction Finance, HDFC Bank Ltd.

Annindya is an established and reputed legal counsel with over 22 years of work experience. He started his career as a litigator with the dispute resolution team at Fox Mandal & Co., where he handled diverse cases before various courts and tribunals.

Annindya transitioned to an in-house role with his entry into Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC Ltd.), where he spent over two decades handling its mortgage portfolio; overseas offices; structuring commercial deals and drafting documents for retail and wholesale lending including infrastructure and real estate projects across various geographies; devising strategies for complex and critical litigation matters, spearheading techno-legal interventions and formulating internal policies surrounding data protection, consent and privacy; developing the digital lending landscape; engaging with the regulators/ government authorities on significant issues impacting the BFSI and real estate sectors.

Annindya has been a key member of the team handling the merger of HDFC Ltd. and HDFC Bank Limited (Bank) and currently, is the ‘Lead Counsel’ of the amalgamated entity. He is presently overseeing a range of verticals, namely – IPR (Group level and Bank), Home Loans, Retail Assets and Liabilities, International Branches – Regulatory, Consumer Credit Cards, Cash Management Services, Corporate Internet Banking and Construction Finance.

Anuranjan Prasad, Associate General Counsel, Baxter International Inc

Anuranjan has spent over 20 years as an in- house counsel with ample international exposure to business and strategic management, working across industries like FMCG, healthcare handling multiple countries. Having worked extensively in India, in his current job he travels across South East Asia and Korea as he works on legal matters with various stakeholders.

As a professional with expertise in General and corporate legal he carries experience in the areas of Cross Border Transactions, foreign exchange laws, litigations, corporate restructuring, Intellectual Properties, drafting/vetting of commercial/transactional agreements, FCPA, Anti-Trust, Ethics and Compliance trainings, related complaints & Investigations and others.

Anuranjan’s agility in learning about the business coupled with his ability to build strong personnel relationship helps him to deepen his understanding and guide with a long-term objective aimed at safeguarding the organization’s reputation and maximizing its objectives. He has often led complex projects involving professionals from different ethnicities and culture, as part of the leadership team at a regional level. He keeps himself abreast on current affairs, business and political stories which further expands his horizons as a legal professional.

Arka Mookerjee, Partner, JSA

Arka’s practice area covers primarily equity capital markets issuances which covers a wide range of products such as Initial Public Offerings, Rights Issues, Qualified Institutions Placements, Initial Public Offering of Infrastructure Trusts and foreign currency convertible bonds.

Arka has been with the firm for 14 (fourteen) years. He has represented issuers, underwriters and selling shareholders in various equity and debt capital market transactions. He has many firsts to his credit. (i) He was part of the team which advised on the first ever Qualified Institutions Placement in the country; (ii) He was also a part of the team for the first ever public issue of Non- Convertible Debentures of Tata Capital Limited; (iii) Most recently he co-led the first ever IPO of an Infrastructure Investment Trust under the SEBI INVIT Regulations for IRB InVIT Trust and (iv) the first ever privately placed UNITs under the SEBI INVIT Regulations of L&T IDPL.  He represents JSA in the sub-committee formed by SEBI in connection with drafting and amending SEBI INVIT Regulations. He is also instrumental in forming views on ICDR Regulations along with peer group law firms and lead managers.

Arka regularly contributes articles to leading international publications.

Astha Sharma, Partner, AQUILAW

Astha Sharma, an Advocate on Record in the Supreme Court of India, is a Partner with AQUILAW and heads the Firm’s Delhi Office. She has over 13 years of experience as a Dispute Resolution practitioner. Astha is also Standing Counsel for the State of West Bengal in the Supreme Court. Astha regularly appears before the Supreme Court and other fo ra across the country focusing on Constitutional, Criminal and Commercial Disputes.

Astha strategizes and appears in numerous high-stake matters and has successfully led several complex litigations.  Astha also does extensive work in social causes such as women and animal rights.

Debosmita Nandy, Head- Legal, Cinépolis India

Debosmita brings a wealth of legal expertise with over 14 years of experience. Her journey commenced in the dispute resolution team at Khaitan & Co, where she handled diverse civil, commercial, and IP litigation cases, successfully representing clients before various tribunals and courts.

Transitioning to an in-house role at ITC Limited, she spent the subsequent decade honing her skills in contract drafting and negotiation, devising intricate litigation strategies for complex disputes and advising on legal issues across a spectrum of business functions – Sales, Marketing, Finance, IT, Construction, Operations, and Business Development. Her experience spans multiple industries, including FMCG, Hospitality, and Retail, both in India and Sri Lanka. Currently Debosmita is at the helm of the Legal function for Cinépolis India, part of the global multiplex chain Cinépolis.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, she is a prolific author, having published legal academic books and short fiction. She is also the creative mind behind the practical legal blog, 'The Five Things Checklist,' and she is regularly invited to share her insights at webinars and conferences. Debosmita is a Gold Medalist from The National University of Juridical Sciences, Class of 2009.

Dhruv Anand, Partner, Anand and Anand

Dhruv’s work covers a wide array of cases from Luxury brands, FMCG to Pharma and Life Sciences including copyright enforcement.

With a career spanning over 14 years, he has been involved in significant cases in media and entertainment space including the recent cases around personality rights of Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor; Landmark copyright cases such as the DU photocopy case, enforcing the moral rights of a famous sculptor, represented copyright societies and more lately involved in a dispute concerning singers right to receive royalty.  

Dhruv has been instrumental in enforcing and upholding the patent rights of many pharmaceutical companies like Bayer, Merck, Pharmacyclics, Eisai, which cases have involved a wide spectrum of complex patent law principles. Called to the Bar in 2006, Dhruv primarily practices before the Delhi High Court. He studied law from Amity Law School and went on to pursue an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from the George Washington University in 2014.

Dr. Ajai Garg, Director, Digital Tech and Law Group, Anand and Anand

An Electrical Engineer with Doctoral Degree from IIT Kanpur, Dr. AK Garg is a seasoned technocrat with 25 plus years of experience and a proven track record for professional excellence. Known for his target-driven approach and pushing the boundaries of innovation, Dr. Garg devised and led from the front myriad mission-critical digital transformation initiatives at MeitY apart from being a key contributor to various technology oriented and Trade & Policy related strategic forums of GOI which include AI, Data, Cyber Security Technology Regulations and Emerging Tech.

Currently Dr. Garg is heading the Digital Tech and Law Group at Anand and Anand where the firm is the process of evolving expertise on Legal and Advisory aspects on Emerging Tech including AI considering the fact that it will be central to future Innovation and Economic Growth. He had strategically negotiated and managed various agreements, trade issues and MoUs with 50+ countries amid lean resources and outcome complexities. Till recently, he was the ‘Lead Negotiator’ for Digital Trade Chapter in various FTAs including that for RCEP, UAE, UK, IPEF and Canada. Dr. Garg was consistently engaged as Country Ambassador and a key representative in large international multilateral forums such as G20, WTO, BRICS RCEP and UNCITRAL and Shanghai Cooperation-strengthening India’s position vis-a-vis key ICT challenges. 

A keen planner, strategist and implementer, Dr. Garg is passionate about promoting startup-entrepreneurial ecosystem especially in the realm of emerging technologies in the country.

Gunita Pahwa, Joint Managing Partner, S&A Law Offices

Gunita Pahwa is the Joint Managing Partner at Gurugram-based S&A Law Offices and heads the Dispute Resolution Team at S&A Law Offices and her niche practice includes representing clients in arbitration matters, courts and regulatory bodies, vetting/reviewing contracts and transactions, advisory on project management, regulatory issues, tender & bidding documentation, etc. across various sectors like Pharmaceuticals, Energy, Roads and Highways, Ports, Airports, Waterways, Waste to Energy, Shipping & Mining, Real Estate, IT, and Infrastructure projects among others.

In more than 18 years of rich professional career, she has earned many laurels for successfully handling a variety of complex dispute cases. She holds extensive experience in domestic and international arbitration and has successfully represented clients before LCIA, SIAC, ICC and domestic ad-hoc and institutional arbitrations. She works closely with foreign counsels engaged by the firm to represent client’s interests in foreign jurisdictions.

Ms. Pahwa regularly represents the firm at national and international conferences, meets and forums like International Trademark Association, and Inter Pacific Bar Association. Most recently, Gunita has been recognized as ‘Super 50 Lawyer’ 2023 by ALB, Thomson Reuters, ‘Top Female Lawyers in India 2022’ and ‘Top Disputes Lawyers in India 2022’ - by ALB, Thomson Reuters and ‘Leading Individuals in Dispute Resolution: Arbitration’ in the Legal 500: Asia-Pacific Ranking 2023, 2022, 2021.

Jitendra Soni, Partner, Argus Partners

Jitendra is a technology and transactions lawyer based in New Delhi.

As part of his technology practice, he routinely advises his clients, both in an advisory capacity and as a part of wider transactions, on all areas of traditional and emerging technologies including e-commerce, cloud computing, software-as-a-service offerings, IT/ITeS, fintech, digital payments, drones, social media platforms, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, gaming, and augmented and virtual reality related technologies. He also has extensive experience in the data protection space and has advised clients from various sectors on the entire life cycle of data, with specific expertise in cross-border data transfers and data governance processes. 

His transactions practice includes representing startups, growing businesses and investors on the full suite of corporate transactions including strategic acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, and venture capital, in a broad range of traditional sectors as well as evolving market sectors arising at the intersection of technology.

Jitendra has been recognised as a “Recommended Lawyer” in The Legal 500 2021 and 2022 Asia Pacific for TMT and Data Protection, respectively. He is the author of several publications on pressing corporate and regulatory issues in prestigious journals, business dailies and blogs and is a member of the editorial board of several law journals in India.

Prior to joining Argus Partners, he worked with premier law firms such as DSK Legal, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, and AZB & Partners. He is an alumnus of the School of Law, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, and a member of the Bar Council of Delhi. 

Joyjyoti Misra, Group General Counsel, Gameskraft

Joyjyoti is presently the Group General Counsel for Gameskraft, one of India's homegrown, bootstrapped gaming unicorns. Prior to joining Gameskraft, he served as Uber's head of legal for the South Asia region. Before shifting in-house, Joyjyoti was a partner at one of India's leading law firms (Khaitan & Co) and focussed his practice on M&A and private equity transactions. He has played an instrumental role in advising on wide ranging policy and regulatory issues, marquee M&A transactions across diverse sectors as well as on complex and high stakes litigations on issues ranging from regulatory, competition law, employment to tax controversies.

Kapil Chaudhary, General Counsel, Junglee Games

Kapil Chaudhary is an established and reputable legal, privacy & technology professional with over two decades of experience in General Counsel leadership roles, advising on a wide variety of risk, technology and commercial issues. He's served in Legal leadership roles across companies like Schlumberger, IBM, Autodesk and Twitter.

He has been associated with the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and is a Fellow, Singapore Institute of Arbitrators. As General Counsel for Junglee Games since 15 November 2022 he is a part of the international Legal and Risk team at Flutter International, he currently leads the Legal, Risk, Regulatory and Policy function at India's fastest growing online skill-based company.

Kunal Arora, Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan

Kunal assists clients on corporate and commercial matters with special focus on M&A, Private Equity, Joint Ventures and Real Estate transactions. Kunal has advised a wide array of clients including investment funds, strategic investors, Indian companies and promoters on domestic and cross-border transactions as also complex regulatory matters.

Kunal has extensive experience representing clients across different sectors in joint ventures, financial & strategic investments, business acquisitions, exits and assisting on the entire life cycle of transactions including structuring, compliance related aspects and negotiations.

Having worked with various leading Indian law firms, Kunal is a seasoned transactions attorney with experience spanning across various sectors. Kunal also routinely advises clients on regulatory and corporate governance related aspects, establishment and growth strategies, business restructuring and other operational issues in India.

L. Badri Narayanan, Executive Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan

Mr. Badri advises and represents companies and financial institutions on matters relating to cross-border investment and tax laws. He has been advising several companies on a variety of issues such as consortiums and joint ventures, valuation, secondment, royalties and license fee arrangements, contract manufacturing scenarios, software as a service offering, and outsourcing. He has appeared before tax and regulatory authorities and before various Tribunals and Courts including the Supreme Court. He has also been advising clients on tax issues in commercial disputes and arbitrations.

He has significant expertise in investment-treaty claims and international and domestic commercial arbitrations. In the area of investment treaty arbitrations, Badri has represented one of the largest Japanese automobile manufacturers in an investment claim exceeding INR 5000 Crores (approx. 700 million USD) against the Republic of India under the Japan-India CEPA. The claim arose on account of certain actions taken by the Union and State governments in India involving changes in industrial policies and retrospective denial of statutory benefits. The parties were ultimately able to reach an amicable settlement on favorable terms with the Indian government. Badri is currently engaged in advising an East-Asian republic in its treaty negotiations surrounding the conclusion of a Bilateral Investment Treaty with the Republic of India, on substantive as well as strategic aspects.

Apart from his regular dispute resolution mandates, Badri enjoys advising companies in the digital services sector. He has advised some of the largest e-commerce companies on their India entry and operations, in order to comply with various Indian laws. He has drafted representations for changes in the laws relating to foreign direct investments (FDI) and tax laws relating to e-commerce. In the area of Fintech, he has advised on startups and companies on various Fintech and payments regulations. He has also made representations to RBI on various payments issues. Related to the Fintech area, he has advised companies in the areas of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and gaming laws. Badri is also very active in telecom and media sector and has advised several telecom and OTT companies on both regulatory and tax issues. Mr. Narayanan is admitted to practice in India and New York.

 

 

Lakha Nair, Executive Director- Corporate Finance, Investment Banking, Axis Capital Limited

Lakha Nair is an Executive Director in the corporate finance team of Axis Capital Limited.  Chartered Accountant by profession, she handles deals across various capital market products including Initial Public Offerings, Follow on Offerings, Private Placements, Qualified Institutional Placements Buybacks, Open Offers, Delisting’s, etc across various sectors. In her career spanning over 20 years, she has worked on various marquee and pioneering capital market transactions. She has been a part of SEBI sub-committee which recommended disclosures relating to IPOs by Insurance Companies. She has actively participated in reviewing various regulatory policy documents with regard to development in equity capital markets.

Madhurima Mukherjee, Partner, JSA

Madhurima has more than 20 years of experience in securities offerings in the domestic and international markets including initial public offering, further offers, rights offer, qualified institutions placement, InVITs, block trades.

Often referred to as the "queen of capital markets", she has been part of some of the most high-profile capital raising efforts in the country, including the Coal India Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2010. Coal India eventually raised Rs 15,199 crore (over US$ 2.5 billion), which remains India’s one of the largest IPO so far.

Madhurima has strong business acumen and is oriented in approach. She heads the Capital Markets division at JSA. She is also inclined towards academia and is a visiting Professor and mentor at The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences and National Law School, New Delhi.

Manjaree Chowdhary, Senior Executive Director & General Counsel, Maruti Suzuki India Limited

Ms. Manjaree Chowdhary, currently Senior Executive Director, and General Counsel at Maruti Suzuki, India is an experienced general counsel with over 20 years of expertise in various industries, from the healthcare to automobile sector. She holds an LLM degree in Law and Development along with Corporate Law and was awarded the prestigious Felix Scholarship for the same. In the past, she has worked with various multinational conglomerates including, but not limited to, General Electric – Power, Healthcare; Genpact, and SABIC in eminent positions such as General Counsel (GE) and Vice President – Legal Affairs and Compliance (SABIC). She is also a member of the CII National Committee on Regulatory Affairs, in addition to being a visiting speaker at various top business schools such as IIM Bangalore, and law schools in India.  

Ms. Chowdhary has led significant industry initiatives such as the formulation of a “Voluntary Code of Ethics” adopted by NATHEALTH, the National Healthcare Federation of India. She was awarded the “Outstanding Woman Leadership Achievement Award” at the CXO and General Counsels Leadership Summit and Excellence Awards in February 2018, and shortly after, recognized as one of the twenty-five General Counsels for their contribution to the Indian corporate legal sector and felicitated at the Indo-UK Law Society Summit at the House of Lords in London in November 2018. She was recognized as the “General Counsel of the Year (Female) at the prestigious Legal Era Annual Legal Awards, 2020.  Most recently, she has become a part of the Elite BW Legal World Top 100 General Counsels of India, 2020.

Mansi Kochhar, Lead Counsel - India Sub-Continent, SABIC

An experienced corporate lawyer with more than 2 decades of experience, gained in a mix of both private practice and in-house roles, in India and in the Middle East, Mansi Kochhar is currently working as Lead Counsel for SABIC’s India-subcontinent business and as Senior Counsel for special projects. SABIC is a Saudi-headquartered leading global petrochemicals company.

With an academic background in Economics and Law, Mansi was always interested in the application of laws to corporate affairs. This led her to start her career in the corporate practice of Trilegal in 2002 after graduating from Delhi University, moving on to become a senior associate with DSK Legal. Having gained a reasonably wide exposure to the corporate legal landscape in India over 5 years, handling corporate transactions including acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity investments, and restructurings and alliances across diverse sectors and advising clients on various facets of Indian law, Mansi felt that she would benefit tremendously from international exposure.

She qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales and moved to the Corporate M&A team of UK headquartered - Clyde & Co - in their Dubai office in 2007. Some years later after she had moved back to India, Mansi wanted to leverage her Middle East experience, and also wanted to move to a role which would be closer to business. So it was a natural progression to transition to an in-house role with SABIC in 2013. In her current role, she wears two hats - being responsible for all legal matters including all commercial contracts, corporate transactions, strategic business advisory, corporate governance, litigation and secretarial matters for the India subcontinent, and also leading some global strategic projects for SABIC.

Nikhil Guliani, Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer, NDTV Group

Nikhil Guliani, Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer at NDTV, joined the organization in 2018. He heads Pan-India Legal function including contracting, litigation, compliance; and Regulatory function that includes licensing, interconnection arrangements, policies. Prior to joining NDTV, he was a part of Vodafone Idea’s legal team and was responsible to handle complex regulatory litigations.  

Nishant Chandra, Director - Investments, Temasek

Nishant is the Investment Director at Temasek. He has nearly two decades of experience. Before Temasek, he was associated with Macquarie Bank and Citi Group. He is an alumnus of IIM, Ahmedabad.

Ojasvita Srivastava, General Counsel, Africa, Middle East, and Asia Pacific (AMEA), Securitas Group

Ms. Ojasvita Srivastava is the General Counsel at Securitas AMEA, a Swedish multi-national company headquartered in Stockholm. She heads the legal function for the region Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. In her previous stints, she has worked as a regional legal counsel, APAC at G4s, senior legal manager at Reliance Communications and also practiced independently before the SC, Delhi HC and various district courts in Delhi.

She is also the Founder of Project Abhimanyu (www.projectabhimanyu.in), an NGO founded in 2015. Project Abhimanyu provides free legal guidance to first generation lawyers and law students. It also provides training programmes for lawyers and law students. So far, they have worked with law students across 80 colleges all over India while conducting workshops and seminars. They presently have 70 Mentors from across the country including General Counsels of MNCs, Law firm partners and highly successful litigators.

Ojasvita completed her LLB (Honors) course from V. M. Salgaocar College of Law, Goa with full scholarship and also acquired an LLM in Commercial and Corporate Law from Queen Mary, University of London. Besides these, she has various certifications in leadership, managerial finance, and legal processes management.

Pavit Singh Katoch, General Counsel, InShorts

Pavit Singh Katoch has over 15 years of experience and currently serves as the Group General Counsel at Inshorts. His areas of expertise include data privacy, cybersecurity, technology law, intellectual property, commercial contracts management & negotiations, labour & and employment laws, M&A, general corporate, and dispute resolution.

Previously, as a Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Pavit led the Dispute Resolution practice, specializing in technology law. He advised prominent IT companies, such as the Meta group (WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram) and GoDaddy, and obtained favorable orders in high-stakes cases involving privacy policies, encryption challenges, and intermediary liability.

Pavit has successfully represented clients in various judicial forums, handling complex litigation matters and providing advice across diverse sectors. He possesses deep understanding of legal, compliance, and regulatory aspects across sectors such as technology, social media, digital media and e-commerce. Actively involved in thought leadership, Pavit regularly participates in industry-wide organizations, conferences, and forums. He has served on committees such as the INTA's Enforcement Committee and the Legislation and Regulation Committee for Middle East-Africa-South Asia.

Pavit's expertise has earned him recognition in the GC Powerlist India 2022. He is certified as a Data Protection Officer under the EU General Data Protection Regulations and holds a Black Duck certification as a legal specialist in open-source software. Pavit obtained his LL.M in IP & IT Laws from Queen Mary University of London. Prior to that, he completed his Master of Business Laws from the National Law School of India University, following his BA LL.B from University Law College, Bangalore.

Pankaj Tewari, Group Company Secretary, Bharti Airtel Limited

Pankaj Tewari is a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and a law-graduate with over 22 years of professional experience spread across Industry and Consulting. He is the Group Company Secretary of Bharti group since June 2017 reporting to the group Chairman. He is responsible for ensuring high standards of Corporate Governance across the group. He has anchored / supported marquee corporate transactions including some of the largest fund-raising initiatives, mergers & acquisitions, corporate restructuring and overseas listing of Airtel Africa plc.

He engages with regulatory bodies at senior levels both in India & overseas and represented the Company at various fora. Pankaj is a part of Bharti Management Board and serves as a Non-Executive Director on the board of various Bharti Group companies. He also serves on the board of Indus Towers Limited, which is a public listed company and one of the largest telecom tower companies in the world.

Before joining Bharti Group, he had a long stint of 12 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). He has worked extensively in Corporate and allied laws, Corporate Governance and Compliance space and has the experience of working with Senior Boards on governance, board-effectiveness and evaluation. He led the thought leadership initiative on the new company law and conducted workshops for boards of several large listed and multinational companies.

Pankaj has been a member of committees on corporate laws and regulatory affairs in CII, FICCI & PHD Chamber of Commerce. He has been extensively involved in various initiatives on public advocacy, policy matters and thought leadership. He speaks / writes regularly on contemporary issues in corporate laws / governance and regulatory space.

Prashant Roy, Legal Lead, Enterprise & Financial Services, AWS India & South Asia

Prashant has over 13 years of experience with companies such as Amazon and Wipro, as well as leading law firms like S&R Associates and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. His expertise in offering legal advice on technology transactions, data privacy, and government relations. He holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) degree from NALSAR University of Law.

Prashanth Varadarajan, Regional Legal Counsel – India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka, HP Inc.

Prashanth Varadarajan is the Region Counsel for HP Inc. supporting HP’s business in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. He is an experienced corporate counsel having almost 14 years of intense, extensive experience advising multinational business and support teams in the corporate legal sphere.

Prashanth is a proven business enabler who dovetails the regulatory expectations with the interests of the business in business maximization. He has rich experience in advising executive leaderships on corporate legal advisory, handing highly strategic and critical transactions and deals support, commercial contracts management and negotiations, regulatory reporting (domestic and international), regulatory compliance, investigations, IPR, Public Policy analysis and advise, operational legal advisory, data protection and privacy laws, employment and real estate laws, competition & anti-trust laws, consumer disputes, arbitration and litigation management.

Prior to HP, Prashanth has worked in leading financial institutions in India like MetLife India and Max Life Insurance in various capacities as an in-house counsel. He is a gold medalist in law from Amity Law School, India and holds a master’s degree in international Commercial and Corporate Laws from the University of London International Program. He is based out of New Delhi, India.

Pravin Anand, Managing Partner & Head of Litigation, Anand and Anand

Awarded the AIPPI Award of Merit INTA's President's Award and recognized as the "Most Innovative Lawyer" for the Asia Pacific Region by Financial Times, Pravin has an experience of appearing in over 3000 cases in over 43 years of his practice as an IP lawyer.

Pravin has strengthened India’s IP jurisprudence with 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 Vs. Glenmark; Roche Vs. Cipla; the Monsanto case; and a large number of other suits on behalf of Pfizer, BMS, AstraZeneca, etc.

He has broken new grounds in Indian IP jurisprudence with India’s first Anti-anti-suit injunction (InterDigital v Xiaomi); Nokia-Lenovo multi-technology multi-year agreement; Software Patent law suit conferring protection (Ferid Allani case); development of damages culture in large number of cases that recognized not only punitive, but compensatory, exemplary and aggravated damages (Philips Vs. AmazeStore); India’s first post-trial SEP judgment (Philips Vs. Bhagirathi); development of unique remedies such as the “Tree Planting Order” (Merck case); and order benefitting adolescent girls (Hermes case).

Rangarajan (Ranga) Gangadharan, Regional Sales Director, Diligent

Rangarajan has over 10 years’ experience in the Enterprise Software Industry, focusing on Audit Management and Analytics. He is a technology evangelist and is passionate about helping organizations solve big problems to make a real, lasting impact on customers and the world.

Rohit Shrivastava, General Manager- Head of Legal, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs, True Credits Private Limited

Rohit Shrivastava is a Group Head, Legal, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs of Balancehero Group(True Credits Private Limited). Rohit Shrivastava is a Group Head, Legal, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs of Balancehero Group. He carries more than 16 years of experience focused in the banking and financial sector. Major part of his work experience is in digital banking/ lending/ products. His current company is a digital NBFC and Mobile based wallet with the brand name of True Balance In the past, Rohit worked with Home Credit, RBL Bank and Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited etc.

Rohit has completed BA.LL.B. from Symbiosis Law School in 2007. Additionally, he is also a qualified Company Secretary and Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CA.IIB.) & Master of Business Laws from NLSIU (Bangalore) and Certified KYC/AML Professional. He carries more than 16 years of experience focused in the banking and financial sector. Major part of his work experience is in digital banking/ lending/ products. His current company is a digital NBFC and Mobile based wallet with the brand name of True Balance In the past, Rohit worked with Home Credit, RBL Bank and Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited etc.

Rohit has completed BA.LL.B. from Symbiosis Law School in 2007. Additionally, he is also a qualified Company Secretary and Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CA.IIB.) & Master of Business Laws from NLSIU (Bangalore) and Certified KYC/AML Professional.

Sachin Kalra, Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Legal & Regulatory Affairs, HT Media Limited (Group)

Sachin Kalra is Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Legal & Regulatory Affairs, HT Media Limited (Group). Sachin, having pursued his masters degree from the esteemed Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune, India holds specialization in Corporate Law and Intellectual Property Rights Law. Post graduating, Sachin joined as a faculty of law with the same University. Subsequently he decided to pursue career in the litigation as practicing lawyer & thereafter Corporate.

Sachin in his prior assignments headed & represented legal function of Bharti AXA, Bharti Retail, SAMSUNG (South-West Asia), Vodafone India and   has a wide experience of handling a diverse range of legal matters in different industries like Insurance, Telecom, FMCG, Retail, Real Estate, Electronics, Consumer Durables, Education, Media & Entertainment along with M&A.

Sachin as General Counsel has been awarded and honored various renowned Awards. Always open to challenges and learning, Sachin has never been coy of taking up new tasks in any environment. His career he says is and will always be a means of learning and exploring the unconventional.

Sameet Gambhir, Vice President (Corp. Law) & Company Secretary, DCM Shriram Ltd.

Sameet Gambhir, FCS, LLB is a senior Corporate legal, compliance & risk management professional and Company Secretary with around 30 years of industry experience and is presently Vice President (Corp. Law) & Company Secretary of DCM Shriram LTD, New Delhi, India. He was also associated in past with KPMG India, Schneider Electric India and Hill & Associates. He has also done a Leadership Effectiveness Programme from IIM- Bangalore, India.

His expertise includes Regulatory & Corporate legal matters, Corporate Governance & Compliances, ESG, Corporate restructuring, M&A, RBI & FEMA matters, SEBI Regulations, Risk management, IPR matters, brand protection, data privacy issues, Corporate due diligence & investigations, Industrial & labour Laws, Contracts & Agreements and litigations. He also carries vast experience in Corporate Secretarial matters including handling Board meetings, Committee meetings and shareholders meetings.

Sameet is enlisted as one of the “Top In-house Counsel” by Forbes India for two consecutive years in its Powerlist-2021 and Powerlist - 2022. He has been recently (in 2023) awarded as Compliance Lawyer of the year by LegalEra. He is also recognized in GC Powerlist India-2022 released by The Legal500.

Shalinee Kulshreshtha, General Counsel, South Asia, Dentsu International India

General counsel, Compliance officer, member of Global, APAC and South Asia leadership team with 21+ years of experience in media, chemicals, agro-sciences, food, technology, consultancy, telecom, aerospace, and education industry. Mrs. Shalinee Kulshreshtha has diversified experience in the field of Litigation, Contracts, Mergers & Acquisitions, Data Privacy, Cyber laws, Competition Law, Integrity and Ethics, Employment law, Compliances, IPR & Corporate advisory.

She has all through been achieving distinctions by being topper of school, her college and then, finally as Gold medalist (LLB) in the University. She has also done Master of Business laws from NLSIU, Bangalore. She started her career as a practicing lawyer with an Advocate on record in Supreme Court of India, wherefrom she moved to a full-service Law firm M.V. Kini & Co. She worked in corporations like DuPont, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Avaya Global Connect, Honeywell and Pearson. She has managed legal, compliance, secretarial and risk management portfolios with team and work in various jurisdictions including South Asia, Europe, Middle east, Africa, Australia, and Singapore.

She featured as Top General counsel in Forbes India Legal Powerlist 2021 & 2022. She also received General Counsel of the year 2019 (Education sector) award from Indian National Bar Association and Star Women Lawyer of the Year award by Legal Era in 2022 & Young Achiever of the year by Legal Era in 2023.

Siddhant Chamola, Associate Partner, Anand and Anand

Siddhant Chamola is an Associate Partner at Anand and Anand.  Over the years, his focus and expertise has grown in more niche and grey areas of the law, such as emerging issues in Patent Law (Life-Sciences, Standard Essential Patents and FRAND in the Indian context), Intermediary Liability and new complications brought about by almost daily changes in technology.

He also contributes to passion projects of the firm, such as working with Mr. Pravin Anand, Managing Partner, to develop an AI enabled, 3D hologram of Sir CV Raman, India’s first Nobel laureate. He also has a keen interest in spreading IP awareness through nuanced articles for leading IP publications.  

Given the nature of his work, Siddhant has been recognized as a rising star by Managing IP and Legal 500. He also features in the IAM Patent 1000.

Udit Mendiratta, Partner, Argus Partners

Udit is a corporate and commercial disputes lawyer with extensive experience in advising and representing a vast cross-section of Indian and other multinational clients. He has practiced in New Delhi and Mumbai, where he has successfully led several complex and high value commercial disputes before various forums. 

In representing clients from across the infrastructure, hospitality, real estate, renewable energy, oil and gas, fintech, social media, and other domains, Udit regularly appears before the Supreme Court, the Delhi, Mumbai, and other High Courts, arbitral tribunals, in both ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, as well as company courts across the country. 

An alumnus of Amity Law School, New Delhi, Udit joined the bar in 2010. Prior to joining the Firm, he worked at Karanjawala & Company, Trilegal and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas.

 

 

Venkatesh Raman Prasad, Partner, JSA

Venkatesh practices Corporate and Civil laws with a focus on Infrastructure, Energy and Foreign investment with special focus on Automotive, Manufacturing and Electronic Vehicle segments. His current work profile includes advising on Domestic and Cross Border Investments, Mergers & Acquisitions, Entry strategies, Transaction structuring, Joint Venture, Technology Transfer and Private Equity funding, especially in the Energy, Infrastructure, Automotive, Manufacturing and Chemicals space. Venkatesh’s role in these transactions has included negotiations, drafting, complex structuring, rendering strategic advice and interacting with foreign law firms & investment banks.

In the general corporate law and M&A transactions, he has led the team of lawyers representing various multinational businesses, state-owned entities, private equity firms, and venture capital firms, particularly in the Infrastructure, Energy, Heavy engineering, R&D, Automotive, Electronic Vehicles, Construction & Engineering and has been involved in transaction involving more than USD 3-4 Billion of FDI in India in the last 4-5 years. His work assignments have related to the drafting of share sale and purchase agreements, joint venture agreements, shareholders agreements, and associated transaction documents and rendering strategic advice to his clients – domestic and foreign.

Venkatesh is a regular speaker at international and national conferences and workshops on issue of policy, law regulation, project finance, and reform in the Energy and Infrastructure space.

Vibhav Mithal, Associate Partner, Anand and Anand

Vibhav Mithal is an Associate Partner at Anand and Anand and is practicing as an intellectual property litigator for over 8 years. Vibhav has been a part of many path breaking litigations such as the Aloys Wobben dispute (Supreme Court, 2014); Roche v. Cipla (Delhi High Court, 2015); Shree Nath v. ABD (Delhi High Court, 2015); Monsanto dispute (Supreme Court, 2019), Ferid Allani (Delhi High Court, 2019 & Intellectual Property Appellate Board, 2020) and Armasuisse (Delhi High Court, 2023). Vibhav regularly contributes to leading IPR publications such as Managing Intellectual Property magazine, Computer and Telecommunications Law Review, Asia Business Law Journal, the Intellectual Property Law Review and Patent Litigation Review and has also co-authored the India Chapter in Global Patent Litigation (3rd Edition, 2019) published by Bloomberg Law. Vibhav has also been recognized by Managing Intellectual Property as a Rising Star, 2022.

Vibhav is also a Fellow in AI and Law and co-lead of #teamIndia at ForHumanity (US), a non-profit organization engaged in developing AI Audit frameworks. He also serves on the Peer Review Board of the Springer Journal – AI & Ethics.

A graduate of NUJS, Kolkata, Vibhav has obtained an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from Boston University School of Law and has been recognized by BU Law as one of its notable alumni. Vibhav has also been recognized by the National Jurist in an article titled “Who’s Who of Foreign Attorneys”, amongst 15 prominent LLM graduates.

Vikram Raghani, Partner, JSA

Vikram is the Co-Chair of the Corporate Practice at JSA. His areas of practice include mergers & acquisitions, private equity and securities laws. He has been involved in private equity and mergers & acquisitions transactions including public market investments and M&A.

Vikram has advised clients across practices and industries and have been part of some of the most innovative and headline private equity and merger and acquisitions in India. He has advised advise some of the largest private equity investors on their minority investments and buyout transactions in India.

Vikram has been regularly speaking at conferences and workshops on private equity, M&A and securities laws.

Vikram Sobti, General Counsel, Emaar India

Mr. Vikram Sobti is the General Counsel for Emaar India Limited (Emaar). Prior to joining Emaar, Vikram was a partner at Chandhiok & Mahajan, Advocates and Solicitors, where he worked for ten years. He is experienced in areas of arbitration, dispute resolution, contract management, consumer litigation, risk management and compliance. Prior to Chandhiok & Mahajan, Vikram was working with Luthra & Luthra Law offices where he was an integral part of the dispute and regulatory team. 

He works with the leadership team in India and group legal team in Dubai to handle all legal matters of Emaar India and to ensure compliance and governance in all areas of management. In addition to his litigation and arbitration experience, he is also a leading expert in competition law. His strategic advice has helped clients navigate the complex legal and regulatory landscape in India, guiding them to make informed decisions.

He has been listed amongst the Top Dispute Lawyers 2022 by Asian Legal Business; and featured as a finalist for the ‘Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year’ by Asian Legal Business in the India Law Firm Awards in 2021. Vikram has a LLB from Law Faculty, Delhi university and is also a bachelor’s in economics.