DATE Thursday, 09 June 2022
	TIME 09.00am to 5.00pm
	VENUE Mumbai, India

For speaking details, please contact Marianne Tocmo at marianne.tocmo@tr.com or call +63 9178191485.

 

---

 

SUMMIT CHAIRPERSON

Parveen Mahtani, Chief Legal Officer, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd

Parveen Mahtani is the Chief Legal Officer at Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd.

She is a gold medallist in law with over 20 years of experience.

She has been received the Women in Law Award for Exceptional Legal Service in Law by Legal Era in 2020. She has received the Excellence Award for Exemplary Service – Legal by the International Leadership Development Council and the Academy of Management Professionals at the Women Excellence Awards in 2020. She has been honoured as "Woman Leader in a Male Dominated Industry 2019". She was featured by the Indian Corporate Counsel Association in their book titled “India’s Finest  In-House Counsels” published in 2016. She has also been acknowledged as one of “Asia’s Top 25 In-House Counsels” by the Asian Legal Business.  She has also been featured as top in-house legal teams by Legal 500 UK: GC Powerlist: India (2017 and 2019)

She has also been honoured as “Top 25 General Counsels in India” in 2018 by the ICCA in London. She has been featured in the featured in the book “Legal Luminaries” published by the ICCA and the book “ Constellations” The Shining stars in the Legal Fraternity” in 2019.

She has written several articles, a poet and artist. She also has an initiative, “Amwizer-Knowledge by Experience”, which is conceptualised for young adults where industry experts speak to young adults to share knowledge, inspire and motivate them.

She is also an independent director for the World Youth Summit, which is a member participant of the United Nations Global Compact. The World Youth Summit works towards education of youth and empowerment of girls.

 

SPEAKERS

 

Chakrapani Misra, Partner, Khaitan & Co.

Chakrapani Misra is a Partner in the Disputes Resolution Practice Group of Khaitan & Co. based in Mumbai. With over two and a half decades of experience in the field, he specialises in commercial disputes resolution. Chambers & Partners, Asialaw, Legal 500 and ALB have regularly ranked him for his expertise as a leading lawyer in the field of disputes resolution.

Chakrapani also regularly acts for and advises clients in domestic and international arbitrations including maritime arbitrations. He also acts as arbitrator in complex disputes. He is a certified Mediator and regularly acts as Mediator in various corporate commercial disputes. He also appears as advisor/counsel in complex mediations.

 

 

Krishnava Dutt, Managing Partner, Argus Partners

Krishnava is the Founder and Managing Partner of Argus Partners and sits on the executive committee, which advises the Firm on various strategic initiatives. He has led the Firm from its inception in 2009, now with offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata. He advises some of the largest corporate houses and their boards on various matters including corporate governance and board responsibility. Krishnava has been the lead adviser in some of the largest and most complex M&A and financing transactions. He is regularly sought out by CEOs, CFOs, GCs, and legal heads of large multinational corporations, government agencies, and funds for his unique mix of in-depth knowledge of law and regulatory matters, coupled with a very keen understanding of finance, accounts, and business issues. He has been consistently recognised for building Argus Partners into a leading national-level firm. Forbes India in its Legal Powerlist 2021 and 2020 has recognised Krishnava as one of the Top 50 Managing Partners and as one of the Top 100 Individual Lawyers. Thomson Reuters’ ALB India 2020 Super 50 Lawyers’ list recognised him as one of the top 50 private practitioners in India. India Business Law Journal (IBLJ) has identified Krishnava as one of India’s Top 100 A-List lawyers (for the last five consecutive years). He has also been ranked by various publications such as Chambers and Partners, Legal500, IFLR1000, RSG, etc. as a leading legal practitioner in India.

 

Supratim Chakraborty, Partner, Khaitan & Co.

Supratim is a Partner in the Corporate and Commercial Practice Group of the Firm. He specialises in corporate and commercial transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and general corporate law advisory. Supratim has advised eminent clients in relation to information technology laws in India including data privacy and cyber security related issues. He has advised several clients on anti-bribery / anti-corruption law related issues as well.

Supratim has been part of several prominent M&A transactions and assisted domestic as well as foreign clients in structuring, drafting, negotiating and implementing complex deals. 

 

Darshan Upadhyay, Founding and Managing Partner, Stratage Law Partners

Darshan is a founding and the Managing Partner of Stratage Law Partners. He has over 20 years of experience covering varied areas of practice.

He has advised several Fortune 500 companies in the world and continues to advise funds and multinationals on aspects like India entry, acquisitions, joint ventures and other commercial transactions. His expertise in exchange control regulations, SEBI and general corporate law is an added advantage on evaluating, structuring and implementing some of the most complex transactions, shareholders dispute and insolvency matters.

Darshan has graduated with a commerce degree and a law degree from the University of Mumbai. He is also a qualified Company Secretary from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

 

Umakanth Varottil, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore

Umakanth Varottil is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. He specializes in corporate law and governance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. While his work is generally comparative in nature, his specific focus is on India and Singapore. He has co-authored or co-edited six books, published articles in international journals and founded the IndiaCorpLaw Blog. He has also taught on a visiting basis at law schools in Australia, India, Italy, New Zealand and the United States.

Umakanth is a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). He is also an editor of the Indian Law Review, Asian Journal of Comparative Law, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, Oxford Business Law Blog and the ECGI Blog. Prior to his foray into academia, Umakanth was a partner at a pre-eminent law firm in India. During that time, he was also ranked as a leading corporate/mergers & acquisitions lawyer in India by the Chambers Global Guide.

 

Vivek Goel, Sr. Vice President, Hindusthan Chemicals Company

Vivek Goel is the Senior Vice President of Hindusthan Chemicals Company. He has experience in the manufacturing sector as CFO/CEO for 11 years. He has a total experience of 28 years in listed companies namely Reliance Industries Ltd., ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, etc. He has handled IPOs of shares from concept stage till listing in stock exchanges as well as mergers & acquisitions from due diligence of target till its integration with holding company.

Vivek has also gained knowledge of Indian AS / VAT / Income-Tax, labour & other laws and has been handling tax assessments & appeals matters for the past 10 years.

 

Aarthi Sivanandh, Partner, J. Sargar Associates 

Aarthi’s practice focuses on the full spectrum of corporate laws and transactional matters: mergers and acquisitions, venture capital transactions, private equity, foreign collaborations including joint ventures and licensing transactions. She has extensive experience in working in the India region, having acted for bidders, target companies, sellers and advisors in such transactions. Her significant work also includes representing India clients investing in foreign markets, advising foreign direct investments into India, assisting India family businesses in their growth initiatives through restructuring of family holdings and in family settlements. Her expertise is also called for in board led internal investigations and advisory on corporate governance. RSG Consulting a premier global ranking agency for the India market ranked her as one among the 25 Emerging Market Leaders for India for the year 2019-2020. IFLR1000 ranks her as a Notable Practitioner in Private Equity for the Asia Pacific region for 2020 and Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific and Chambers Global has ranked her most recently in 2021 and 2022.

 

Probir Roy Chowdhury, Partner, J. Sargar Associates 

Probir is a Partner in the Corporate practice at JSA with a focus on Corporate Commercial, Venture/Private Equity and Information Technology/FinTech. He has been involved in numerous corporate transactions focused on the high technology industry including cross border mergers & acquisitions. His transactional practice includes advice on Transaction Structuring, Entry Strategies and Foreign Exchange Regulations, as well as setting up the overseas and India operations of VC/PE Funds and making investments in portfolio companies. He also regularly advises global technology conglomerates on various areas of Information Technology Law including Outsourcing, Data Protection and E-commerce issues. He has worked on the launch and operation of unified payment interface (UPI) based web payments applications, structuring payment flows for purchases of digital content available on a digital marketplace, hub based domestic person to person money remittance technology solutions and regularly advises clients in relation to the interplay between Indian payment system regulations and foreign exchange laws.

 

Rohit Kumar, GC, UPL

Rohit is the Global General Counsel of UPL Limited, one of world’s largest crop protection company in the world. He is based out of UPL’s corporate head office in Mumbai. Rohit leads a team of more than 40 in-house lawyers with half of his team being in USA, LATAM and Europe.

Rohit completed his law graduate in 2002. Rohit has done several leadership programs including Leadership in Corporate Counsel from Harvard Law School, AsiaLink Leadership Program from Melbourne University besides being a delegate of Australia India Youth Dialogue in 2013. In 2015, Rohit was named by Business Today, a leading Indian business magazine, as one of the hottest young – 40 under 40 - executives in India.

Prior to joining UPL, Rohit worked at HSF in Melbourne and JSA in Delhi where he was part of their corporate teams.

Nadiya Sarguroh, Principal Associate, MZM Legal

Ms. Nadiya Sarguroh is a Senior Associate at MZM Legal and specialises in_handling dispute resolution. Dispute_Resolution, Telecommunications Media & Technology, Insolvency & Restructuring and Corporate Litigation cases. Nadiya's extensive qualification and an overall experience of 8 years in the Legal Profession has proved to be a cutting edge in providing out of the box solutions to complex cases.

 

Parvatheesam Kanchinadham, Company Secretary and Chief Legal Officer (Corporate and Compliance), Tata Steel Limited.

PK is currently the Corporate Secretary and Chief Legal Officer (Corporate & Compliance) at Tata Steel.   PK’s most significant responsibilities include advising the Board on Governance and ensuring that the Members of the Board are ably equipped with resources to discharge their fiduciary duties and corporate governance practices.

PK is also responsible for the Compliance Function of Tata Steel and the legal requirements of the company in the areas of Governance, Anti-trust, Corporate Actions and New Ventures. 

Prior to joining the Tata Group, PK served as the Corporate Secretary and Chief Risk & Compliance Officer of Infosys. At Infosys, PK was responsible for the Governance, Risk and Compliance function (including compliance with SEC Rules and Regulations).

PK serves as Member of the CII National Committee on Financial Reporting and on the CII National Committee on Regulatory Affairs’.

PK holds a Master of Laws (Corporate Governance and Practice) Degree from Stanford Law School (Stanford University), Master of Business Administration Degree from the Sloan School of Management (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) Degree from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning and is an Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

 

Nidhi Parekh, Head of Legal, Essar OGDSL

Nidhi heads legal for Essar group company, OGDSL. She started practicing law in the year 2007 and later joined Essar Group in the Legal Department in year 2008. With over 15 years’ experience in the legal field, she has extensive expertise in the areas of contract management, alternate dispute resolution in corporate and civil transactions, and litigation in varied sectors.

Nidhi has done her bachelor’s in law, Diploma in Cyber Law and is a certified mediator with international work experience.

 

Kaushik Anand, Partner, A91 Partners

Kaushik is a Partner at A91. Previously, Kaushik was Head of India at CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) where he focused on technology and financial services businesses. He has been involved in investments in Digit, Aye Finance, Exotel, Freshworks, Cardekho and Cuemath. He was previously at Sequoia Capital India and McKinsey & Co. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and IIT Madras.

 

Richa Pathak, Group Vice President- Legal, Avigna Private Limited

Richa Pathak is a Masters of Law graduate from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, and has also completed the Executive Program from IIM Ahmedabad. Pathak specialises in insolvency law, arbitration, debt restructuring, financing transactions, recovery & exit mechanism, structuring, and real estate financing.

She is a recipient of the Chief Justice M.C.Chagla Memorial Trust – Gold medal in the year 2012 for securing top position in the University of Mumbai (Law Faculty) during her final graduation years. Prior to joining Avigna Group, she served as a Corporate lawyer with L&T Financial Services, and was also associated with the M/s. Wadia Ghandy & Co., Khaitan & Co., Global Loan Agency Service (GLAS), London, and Institute of Economic Affairs (Westminster), London. She was recognised as a leading lawyer of 2022 by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). She is a member of the Loan Markets Association (LMA), The Royal Institute of International Affairs-Chatham House (London), London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)(London) and Brookings Institute (U.S).

 

Sonal Basu, General Counsel, MindTree

Sonal has spent nearly two decades in the information technology industry in various leadership roles. In her role as General Counsel, she is responsible for Mindtree’s legal, regulatory and integrity functions. She provides strategic advice to the board and management across global markets and is also a champion of diversity and inclusion initiatives. An alumnus of Government Law College, Mumbai, National Law School of India University, London School of Economics and Cornell University, USA, Sonal is recognized as one of the top General Counsels in India and is listed as amongst the finest top 100 legal counsels by various ranking agencies.

 

Siddharth Keskar, CEO, MZM Analytics

Siddharth Keskar heads MZM Analytics, a Forensic and Investigation Firm and is based in Mumbai, India. His areas of expertise include forensic accounting, bribery and corruption reviews, employee misconduct investigations, asset searches, business intelligence, among others. Siddharth has multi-geographic and sector experience including working with the regulators.

Siddharth has nearly 10 years of forensics and risk consulting experience. Prior to joining MZM Analytics, Siddharth was a Senior Director with FTI Consulting and has worked with the Forensic team of two of the Big 4 accounting firms.

Siddharth is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and he has a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Mumbai University, India.

 

Aparna Chablani, Regional Head - Legal & Group Company Secretary, DP World Subcontinent

Aparna Chablani is the Regional Head – Legal & Group Company Secretary at DP World Subcontinent and is stationed in Mumbai.

She has more than 28 years of experience as a Legal professional & Company Secretary. Aparna specializes in contract law, dispute resolutions, litigations, M&A, competition law, compliance & corporate governance, and regulatory issues. She has led the deployment of a compliance management framework across the various businesses.

She has vast experience in handling complex litigation matters and plays a key role in the new acquisitions and investments. In her current role, Aparna is responsible for the overall legal, compliance, and governance of the various portfolio companies of DP World in India and forging relationships with the strategic stakeholders.

She is a Board member of the various DP World group companies and its committees in India and plays an active role in the Sustainability committee and I&D council. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree, is a fellow member of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India, is a Certified Corporate Director from the Institute of Directors, is certified in Logistic Excellence from the Indian School of Business and is certified as Senior Women Lead from DP World.

 

Madhuri Sawant, Vice President – Legal, IvyCap Ventures 

Madhuri comes with 7+ years of experience on matters ranging from company formation to closure, investment term sheets, exits, business contracts, employment terms, stock options, corporate compliances, trademark, FDI, GDPR, business transfer, joint venture, etc. She is a lawyer from ILS Law College, Pune and a Company Secretary by profession with a master in Business Laws from NLS Bangalore.

 

Ashish Rathi, Founding Partner, Accomplir Advisors LLP

Ashish has over two decades of experience in banking, turnaround management, distressed debt advisory, Special Situation M&A and business
restructuring Ashish is a Chartered Accountant and a registered Insolvency Professional He also has done his MBA from Indian School of Business,
Hyderabad.

He is the Founding Partner of Accomplir Advisors LLP, an advisory firm with focus on Corporate Finance, Distressed Assets Resolution
Insolvency Before setting up Accomplir, he was a Partner with BDO India, and later with Mazars India, heading the Business Restructuring vertical.

Ashish has also worked for a decade in Credit Relationship with leading banks like ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, overseas and at different
locations in India across functions and various customer segments Ashish also headed Corporate Finance for a distressed listed entity, and gained
valuable first hand experience in turnaround and debt restructuring Ashish has acted as Insolvency Professional for multiple mandates in the core
sectors of Power, Steel, EPC with exposures ranging between INR 1500 Crores to INR 4400 Crores and has acted as an advisor in several other
insolvency mandates, giving him a sound understanding of the innate challenges of stressed assets.

 

Lakshman Singh, Head Litigations, Larsen & Toubro

Lakshman Singh is the Head of litigations and arbitrations with Larsen & Toubro Ltd. He has a broad legal background with more than 20 years of experience in planning, execution, and supervision of legal affairs & management advisory corporates such as L&T, Siemens, Alstom, Reliance Infra and Bajaj Hindusthan.

He has experience of advising on strategic & complex legal risks & opportunities, EPC/PPP projects, contract & claims management, litigations and arbitrations, corporate governance & compliances. Earlier, he practiced before various courts including Supreme Court and Delhi High Court.

 

Abhijeet Tople, Vice President Legal,Unity Small Finance Bank Ltd 

Abhijeet is having 21 years experience. Out of which 5 years in core sales and marketing and 16 years as in-house counsel and as an advocate. He has written 5 books including how to draft agreements with speed, how to recover amounts due within seven steps etc. He has been felicitated with various national General Counsel Awards including award through the hands of Mr Suresh Prabhu Minister of Commerce and Civil Aviation and Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalaani. His earlier stints were with Reliance Capital, Jio Financial Services, Kotak Mahindra Prime, Bharat Forge, Electronica  Finance, CIBIL, UTI Technologies and currently working with Unity Small Finance Bank Ltd as Vice President Legal. He has been part of deals worth 5000 crores and successfully drafted, vetted and negotiated high value agreements, managed litigation and provided strategic legal advisory. He speaks at various national legal and motivational summits and has acquired multidisciplinary education in commerce, engineering, law and marketing. 

 

Smitha Chandrashekaraiah, Director - Legal, Harman International (India) Pvt Ltd

General Counsel who has worked across various sectors including but not limited to logistics, IT, healthcare, asset finance and audio/visuals in the Asia Pacific Region. Trusted advisor to the top management covering a broad spectrum of legal and compliance practice - strategic advisory, Board Management, risk and compliance management, structuring and negotiating complex commercial transactions, M&A, litigation, external counsel management, government relations and talent development. Core strength/ focus in the areas of Privacy, Employment, General Corporate/ Commercial, Contract Negotiations, Technology & Licensing, M&A, and Corporate Governance. 

 

Nitin Sharma, Senior Legal Counsel, South Asia/India, Becton Dickinson

Nitin Sharma Legal Counsel, South Asia for Becton Dickinson India, a leading global healthcare company where he advises on legal and compliance issues, crisis and risks management and M&A initiatives in region. During his tenure with AZB & Partners, JSA and his independent practice his focus has been mergers & acquisitions, private equity, capital market initiatives of the firm and commercial litigation.

 

Belson Devarajan, Director, Data Privacy Lead (APAC), Cognizant 

Belson has 20 years of experience in a variety of legal domains including, litigation,  M&A, Prevention of Corruption, Trade Control and Data Privacy. He was instrumental in designing and applying the global privacy program for few companies and clients he had worked for in the last 11 years. As the extension of the global Data Protection Office in Europe, he has been covering Africa and Asia since 2018 and is working closely with the Data Privacy/Protection Regulators in these regions to comply with requirements of local laws apart from implementing GDPR requirements. Belson has also worked with the industry bodies in shaping the government policies around privacy and governance to facilitate better industry response to rules and laws framed by the governments in Singapore, Philippines, India, China, Australia, UAE and Japan.  Belson is a former co-chair of IAPP, Chennai Chapter. Whenever he has bandwidth, he coaches and mentors young lawyers and judicial aspirants on Constitution, IPR laws, Technology laws, Privacy laws and Media laws