Awarding and Applauding India’s Top GCs at the “Legal Era India’s Finest General Counsels Awards 2023”

Awarding and Applauding India’s Top GCs at the “Legal Era India’s Finest General Counsels Awards 2023”

Legal Era hosted its mega flagship 12th Annual India Conclave & Awards 2023, an unprecedented gathering of legal expertise at Hotel Hyatt Regency, New Delhi. The Conclave saw more than 500+ professionals participate from 12+ countries and across cities in India. Stalwarts and seasoned professionals participated and deliberated in the 40+ thought-provoking sessions and discussions at the India Conclave 2023, uniting legal luminaries, advocates, and scholars on a global stage.

On the second and third days of this Conclave, 25th and 26th August 2023, Legal Era proudly hosted India’s Finest General Counsels Awards 2023.

Conceptualized and organized by the Legal Era Corporate Counsels Community & the Legal Era - Legal Media Group, the awards celebrated India’s General Counsels (GCs) in two categories: India’s Leading Finest General Counsels, and India’s Leading Finest Legend General Counsels.

In 2022, Legal Era recognized GCs as a part of its marquee Distinguished Legal Minds of India Coffee Table Book. This year, a dedicated event for India’s Finest GCs came to life with a Powerlist Ranking of 100 fast-growing GCs. It shows Legal Era’s commitment to showcase and propel the significant role General Counsels play today in the development of India Inc.

Indeed, General Counsels have been making waves in the industry as business enablers. They are changing the landscape of corporate law, regulations, and best practices with their innovative and entrepreneurial outlook and business nurturing approach. They are enabling solutions through thought leadership and practical learnings for new India. And Legal Era’s initiative to recognize and honour the leading General Counsel was much appreciated. As one of the awardees affirmed in her acceptance speech, “This is what keeps us going!”

As the awardees got on stage to receive their dazzling trophies, their remarkable success was graced by the presence of Honourable Shri R. Venkatramani, Attorney General of India; Kevin Zervous, Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of Hong Kong; Honble Retd. Justice Deepak Verma, former judge of the Supreme Court of India; and Mahavir Singhvi, Joint Secretary (New Emerging and Strategic Technologies Division), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

The Chief Guest for the second Day, 25th August, Honourable Shri R. Venkatramani, Attorney General of India, shared a stirring and inspiring message - Let’s not be a mechanical cog in the wheel – let’s transform the wheel itself.” Honorable Shri R. Venkatramani opined,

“When we get into new roles, we have an opportunity to shape those roles. That’s the beauty of human creativity. Are we playing the role purposefully? Yes, we are all a part of the cog in the wheel. But ask yourself, am I transforming the wheel also? As law students, we study lifting the corporate veil…we raise legal, ethical, and moral questions. Keep doing that. The study of law is never complete. Every day, we come across a new problem, and we find legal solutions to it. You want to be ruled by the law. You don’t want to be ruled by men and women. Let’s not be a mechanical cog in the wheel – let’s transform the wheel itself.”

In the context of Legal Era’s initiative to organize India’s Finest General Counsels Awards 2023 and the entire 3-Day Conclave, Honorable Shri R. Venkatramani affirmed, “I agreed to come here because it would be a contribution to the nobler aspects of the law…legal professionals and their accomplishments. We must continue to create platforms of engagement and exchange that make a real difference.”

Legal Era is primed to continue to firepower platforms such as these and make an impact not only on the professional growth trajectory of the awardees but also the progress of law and the country’s economy.

Over cocktails and dinner, the attendees and awardees connected, expanded their networks, shared experiences, and exchanged thoughts on different aspects of their roles as GCs across industries and sectors.

Here’s the List of the awardees who claimed their on-stage moments of pride at the coveted Legal Era’s India’s Finest General Counsels Awards 2023.

CATEGORY	WINNER NAME
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	Bharat Mehta, EVP, Regional General Counsel And Ethics & Compliance Officer - India & APAC, Capgemini
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	Bhaskar Chandran, Group General Counsel, GMR Group
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	Rajeev Chopra, Managing Director – Legal, Accenture
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	Vineet Vij, Group General Counsel, Tech Mahindra
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	A. Shanmuga Sundaram, General Counsel, ITC Limited
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	Deepak Acharya, Group General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer, Aditya Birla Group
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	Dev Bajpai, Executive Director, Legal & Corporate Affairs and Company Secretary, HUL
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	Hemant Kumar, Group General Counsel, Larsen & Toubro Limited
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	Jatin R. Jalundhwala, JT President, Adani Group
India's Finest General Counsel - Legends	Parvatheesam Kanchinadham, Company Secretary and Chief Legal Officer (Corporate & Compliance), Tata Steel
India's Finest General Counsel	Abhishek Kanoi, Head of Legal & Group Company Secretary, PDS Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Amar Kumar Sundram, General Counsel - Sr. VP (Legal) & Chief Compliance Officer, NEC Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Amit Bhasin, Chief Legal Officer and Group General Counsel, Marico Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Anirban Deb Ray, General Counsel (India), Tata Communications
India's Finest General Counsel	Archana Gupta, General Counsel and Ethics and Compliance Officer, Capgemini India and Middle East
India's Finest General Counsel	Arpita Sen, Head of Business Legal, Associate General Counsel, Intel India
India's Finest General Counsel	Bijoya Roy, General Counsel, Pernod Ricard India
India's Finest General Counsel	Damini Bhalla, General Counsel, Zomato
India's Finest General Counsel	Deepika Chaudhry, Executive Director Legal- APAC, Xerox - India
India's Finest General Counsel	Divya Kumat, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary, Datamatics Global Services Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Dr. Akhil Prasad, Director, Country Counsel India and Company Secretary, Boeing India Private Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Dr. Mukul Shastry, General Counsel & Executive Director, Cube Highways
India's Finest General Counsel	Dr. Sanjeev Gemawat, Group General Counsel, Vedanta Group
India's Finest General Counsel	Dr. Vivek Mittal, Global General Counsel, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories
India's Finest General Counsel	Joginder Yadav, Associate General Counsel & Director-Legal, India & SAARC, Cisco
India's Finest General Counsel	Jyoti Pawar, Group General Counsel Legal & Corporate Affairs Microsoft CELA India, Microsoft
India's Finest General Counsel	Kanaiya Thakker, SVP (Head Legal), Adani Enterprise Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Kanika Shah Wadhwa, Legal Director and Senior Counsel (Head of Legal), GlaxoSmithKline Asia Pvt. Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Kapil Chaudhary, General Counsel, Junglee Games India Pvt. Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Kaushik Mukherjee, President Legal, Indiabulls Housing Finance
India's Finest General Counsel	Kumar Ankit, General Counsel and Vice President, Shree Cement Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Lakshika Joshi, Associate GC, Capgemini Americas and Lead IP Counsel, Global, Capgemini Engineering, Capgemini
India's Finest General Counsel	Lakshmi Menon Nair, Director and Associate General Counsel, Head of Legal - India Geo, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
India's Finest General Counsel	Lubinisha Saha, Airbus, General Counsel, India & South Asia
India's Finest General Counsel	Malav Deliwala, Head – Legal, Adani Power Ltd & Adani Transmission
India's Finest General Counsel	Manish Lamba, General Counsel, DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Manjaree Chowdhary, Sr. Executive Director and General Counsel, Maruti Suzuki India
India's Finest General Counsel	Mohit Kapoor, Executive Vice President & Head Legal, SBI Card & Payments Services
India's Finest General Counsel	Nagendra Pal Goel, Executive Director – Legal & Company Secretary, Ingram Micro India Pvt. Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Navita Chaubal, General Counsel & Sr. Director, Target
India's Finest General Counsel	Neera Sharma, Chief Executive & Legal Officer, Sistema Smart Technologies Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	P Ashok Kumar, General Counsel, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Panduranga Acharya, General Counsel, Zepto
India's Finest General Counsel	Pathik Arora, General Counsel, Senvion Wind Technology Pvt. Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Pooja Sehgal Mehtani, General Counsel, Sun Life Global Solutions
India's Finest General Counsel	Poornima Sampath, SVP & Chief Legal Officer, Tata Digital
India's Finest General Counsel	Pulin Kumar, Sr. Legal Director, Adidas (India)
India's Finest General Counsel	Rajbeer Sachdeva, President, Group Legal, JK Organisation
India's Finest General Counsel	Rajiv Chandan, Global General Counsel & Company Secretary, Tata Chemicals Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Rajiv Choubey, Group General Counsel, Dalmia Bharat
India's Finest General Counsel	Rakesh Prusti, General Counsel, OYO
India's Finest General Counsel	Richa Singh, General Counsel, Medanta Group of Hospitals
India's Finest General Counsel	Rohit Anand, Director, Legal Affairs, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ)
India's Finest General Counsel	Roopesh Jain, Deputy Vice President, Johnson Controls Hitachi Air Conditioning India Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Sachin Kalra, Vice President, Legal & Regulatory affairs, HT Media
India's Finest General Counsel	Saikat Sarkar, Global General Counsel, Eicher Motors Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Sameer Chugh, Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel, Games24x7
India's Finest General Counsel	Sameet Gambhir, Vice President (Corp. Law) & Company Secretary, DCM Shriram Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Sheel Sinha, General Counsel & Head (Legal, Compliance & Ethics), JLL India & South Asia
India's Finest General Counsel	Shelly Kohli, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer, United Breweries
India's Finest General Counsel	Shujath Bin Ali, Global General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Re Sustainability
India's Finest General Counsel	Siddharth Manchanda, General Counsel, Unacademy Group
India's Finest General Counsel	Smita Chandrashekhar, Legal Director, HARMAN International
India's Finest General Counsel	Sonal Basu, Vice President & Global Head, Legal and Compliance, LTIMindtree Limited – A Larsen & Toubro Company
India's Finest General Counsel	Sormistha Ghosh, Group General Counsel & Chief Risk Officer (Senior VP -Legal & Secretarial), Strides Pharma Science Limited
India's Finest General Counsel	Suchita Saigal, General Counsel, Cleantech Solar
India's Finest General Counsel	Sudipta Ghosh, General Counsel, Apraava Energy
India's Finest General Counsel	Surender Sharma, Whole-Time Director & VP - Legal, Secretarial & Corporate Affairs, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd
India's Finest General Counsel	Susheel Jad, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, AGP City Gas Pvt. Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Tejal Patil, General Counsel, Wipro
India's Finest General Counsel	Vandana Seth, VP- Legal, Tata 1mg
India's Finest General Counsel	Vani Mehta, General Counsel, South Asia, General Electric
India's Finest General Counsel	Vidyut Gulati, Director Legal & General Counsel, Bharti Airtel
India's Finest General Counsel	Vikash Jain, Global General Counsel, Renew Power
India's Finest General Counsel	Yogesh Gupta, Head - Legal (Railway Business), L&T Construction
India's Finest General Counsel	Yogesh Wadhwa, General Counsel, Hyundai Motor India Ltd.
India's Finest General Counsel	Zameer Nathani, Group General Counsel, CarDekho Group

Bharat Mehta is the Regional General Counsel and the Ethics & Compliance Officer for India and APAC for Capgemini. He is a key member of the Capgemini Leadership Team in India and is also a member of the Executive Legal Board and board member of Capgemini Asia Pacific Pte Ltd.

He is a strong advocate of governance and actively drives the same as a member of various internal committees in India such as Internal Audit Committee of the Board, Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace, Grievances, Corporate Social Responsibility and Procurement Governance.

Prior to joining Capgemini in 2011, Bharat was the Vice President General Counsel and Ethics & Compliance Officer at Oracle Financial Services Software (formerly i-flex solutions) where he spent nearly 15 years of his professional journey.

Bhaskar Chandran is the Group General Counsel at GMR Group. He heads the company’s legal functions spanning several sectors, including airports, energy and transportation and urban infrastructure. An expert on dispute resolution management, he has been involved in multiple complex arbitrations, both domestic and international.

Having worked with top Indian and international law firms on several complex transactions and litigations, Bhaskar has over three decades of experience in the legal and regulatory fields, particularly, regulatory strategy, corporate governance, legal compliance, secretarial, litigation management and structured transactions.

His prodigious experience in dispute resolution management has earned him several laurels and accolades. He graduated from Madras Law College in 1986 and is a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, New Delhi.

Rajeev Chopra, currently in the 30th year of his career, has been previously associated with several law firms and national and multinational corporates which has shaped his illustrious career. He started his career with private practice in the Delhi High Court, before moving to law firms in corporate commercial practice. He has been the General Counsel and led legal teams in LG, Airtel and Dell, before joining Accenture in 2007. Rajeev believes that fostering a culture of inclusion, fairness, equality and ethical conduct is critical to building strong teams and fostering innovation. Rajeev has led several transformational and change management projects at Accenture. Rajeev was recently recognised by Legal Era as the General Counsel of the year – South East Asia region in 2021. He also bagged several other recognition in the past and is acknowledged as one of the leading “General Counsel” in India. Notably, he was awarded Cheavening Scholarship by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1996. Rajeev is also

(i) Chair of the General Counsel Sub Committee and

(ii) Member, Task Force on International Legal Services constituted by Confederation of Indian Industry.

Vineet Vij is serving as the Global General Counsel of Tech Mahindra Group. Leading a team of 100 passionate and business-focussed lawyers spread across the globe with presence in India, US, Mexico, UK, Netherlands, Israel, and so on, Vineet and team is responsible for taking care of the legal and regulatory aspects to support the organisation’s growth in due compliance with applicable laws that involves supporting multi-billion cross-border commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, disputes and litigations, global compliances, legal policy and regulatory, IPR, strategic legal support with the overall responsibility to safeguard the legal & business interests of the company and its principal officers. As part of the overall department structure, the legal teams of group companies worldwide, namely, Comviva Technologies, Born Group, Target Group, Tech Mahindra Business Services, LCC also work under Vineet’s supervision and guidance. Vineet has worked for over 27 years at established IT, ITeS, Engineering, Banking & NBFC corporations. As an independent practitioner he has also worked across variety of practice areas including Commercial and Contract law, Litigation and Dispute resolution, Cross-border M&As, Global regulatory compliances, Financial and Banking laws, Real estate SEZ and STPI regulations, Company law, IT, Data protection, Privacy, Cyber and IPR laws, Criminal law, Telecom, Arbitration, Employment, Bankruptcy, Competition and Indirect tax laws.

A Shanmuga Sundaram is the General Counsel at ITC Limited. He heads a 60-member strong team, including about 45 lawyers, at the organisation which is a successful conglomerate with a strong presence in about a dozen business verticals.

Besides advising the company and handling a variety of legal issues, he assists in resolving complex deals across all its businesses. In addition, he trains and leads his team, ensuring that it is fully capable of delivering end-to-end legal services to the company. He cut his teeth on writs and other litigation – civil and criminal – at the Madras High Court, before moving in-house. After his foray into the real-estate and petrochemical sectors, Shanmugam joined ITC in 1997.

Shanmugam played a crucial role in closing several acquisition and divestment deals of vital importance to the company. With his nuanced understanding of facts and law, he has been a keyfactor in the successful closure of disputes in several areas of law, including trademarks, corporate law, taxation, labour and commercial disputes.

Deepak Acharya is the Group General Counsel at Aditya Birla Group. Deepak is a certified Corporate Trainer for various Corporate Training Programs like Corporate Athlete, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Coaching for Success. A law graduate from the Government Law College-Mumbai, Deepak is a Fellow member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and also an Associate Member of the All India Management Association.

Practicing for more than 25 years in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Industry, an experienced lawyer, Deepak has previously worked in various positions for The Procter & Gamble Company in India, Asia Pacific, Greater China, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and African Regions.

Earlier he was working as the Chief Risk Officer & General Counsel of Wipro Limited where Deepak was responsible for Legal & Compliance, Enterprise Risk Management, Enterprise Cyber Security, Global Data Privacy and Global Government Relations functions for Wipro Limited.

Dev Bajpai has more than three decades of working experience in the areas of legal, corporate affairs, governance & tax. He has worked in multiple industries like FMCG, Automobiles, Private Equity & Hospitality. Mr. Bajpai had a lead role to play in the recent merger of GSK Consumer Health Limited into HUL, the biggest merger of a listed FMCG company into another listed FMCG company in recent times. Mr. Bajpai has been instrumental in advocating lifting of sanctions by the US Administration on Iran based FMCG Companies at the time of the Pandemic in 2020 on the ground that daily needs products like soaps, sanitisers, shampoos & household cleaning products etc. were most required & served as the first line of defence during the fatal wave one of the Pandemic. Mr. Bajpai has been working closely with Trade Associations and has represented Industry before Parliamentary Committees dealing with important regulations. Mr. Bajpai is the Chair of the FMCG Committee of the European Business Group. He is the Chairman of Unilever Nepal Limited, a listed subsidiary of HUL.

Hemant Kumar is the Group General Counsel at Larsen & Toubro Limited. Skilled in strategic advisory board management, enterprise risk and compliance, complex transactions and litigation, cross-functional leadership, change management, public policy and government relations. Bring a global mindset and strong execution to grow businesses in challenging regulatory environments. Hemant is also a prolific writer and has written several articles on various aspects of corporate law and industrial laws, Mr Kumar has given several presentations at International & National forums on Arbitrations, ADR, cross-border acquisitions, negotiation of JVs etc. He has strong domain knowledge of various corporate laws of India and also has sound working knowledge of laws of different jurisdictions including USA, England, Australia, Africa, France, and Europe & Middle East. He has extensively travelled abroad for various assignments and has sound understanding of the laws and practices in different jurisdictions of the world. Kumar has considerable expertise in foreign investment and FEMA regulations for both in-bound and out-bound investments.

He is a gold medalist in LLB and started his journey as an advocate by conducting many high- profile cases, especially related to the Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assemblies.

Jatin R. Jalundhwala is a Commerce and Law Graduate and the Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He started his career as Assistant Secretary in Lalbhai Group in the year 1983. His career chart has grown to the position of Vice President–Finance, Company Secretary and Member on Board at Claris Life Sciences in July, 2003.

At present, Mr.Jatin Jalundhwala is Jt President - Legal & Company Secretary at Adani Group, heading the functions of Legal and Secretarial, at Group level. He has an experience of more than 35 years and has been with Adani Group for more than 15 years.

He has worked on variety of subjects like M & A, Indirect taxes, Corporate Laws, Litigations, arbitration, Trade mark, IPR, Joint venture, contracts/agreements, corporate governance and compliance, dealing with various regulatory authorities like Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Stock Exchanges, SEBI, RBI, etc.

He is instrumental in drafting and putting in place various Internal Policies like Insider trading, whistleblower, Anti-corruption, Code of Conduct, CSR and more.

Parvatheesam Kanchinadham is currently the Corporate Secretary and Chief Legal Officer (Corporate & Compliance) at Tata Steel. His 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.

Mr. Kanchinadham 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. He also has oversight responsibility of the legal and governance matters of Tata Steel’s Investment in Subsidiaries, Joint Ventures and Associate Companies in India and Overseas.

Prior to joining the Tata Group, he 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). Mr. Kanchinadham also serves as Member of the CII National Committee on Financial Reporting and on the CII National Committee on Regulatory Affairs’.

Abhishekh Kanoi is the Head of Legal & Group Company Secretary of PDS Limited. He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and also an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments, United Kingdom. Abhishekh Kanoi holds a Bachelor Degree in Law and Bachelor Degree in Commerce with (Hons.) in Accounts. He is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He has rich and diverse in-house corporate experience of over 16 years in Corporate Legal and Commercial Space across various industries like law firm, hospitality, manufacturing, automotive, media & entertainment, fashions and apparel industry and non-banking financial institutions with special reference to emerging technology and convergence. His wide array of specialisation includes Legal Affairs, Corporate Secretarial, IPO & Listing, Regulatory Compliances, RBI & FEMA Matters, Merger & Acquisition, Listing Compliances (India & Overseas Entities), Venture Capital Investments, Cross-Border and Domestic Transactions, Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, Media and Entertainment Laws.

Amar Sundram is the General Counsel - Senior Vice President (Legal) and Chief Compliance Officer at NEC Corporation Pvt India. He has been an in-house Senior Corporate Legal Professional, having rich experience in strategic thinking, formulation of operational guidelines and a business enabler to complex legal issues. With over 26 years of experience, he has worked with both Indian and multinational business houses including DCM Shriram, Birla, Tata, AT&T, Reliance, Citi, Ernst & Young and Royal Bank of Scotland. Amar has held Senior leadership management positions in many of the organisations that he has worked for.

He has handled high-stake international and domestic mediation and arbitration involving critical issues of law and multi-jurisdictional complexities. He has also spearheaded litigations in the Supreme Court, different high courts of India and the courts in the US. A topper in LL.M from the Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi, Amar has advised corporates on various legal issues in the arenas including regulatory, compliance, taxation, arbitration, insurance, financial laws, employment laws, cross-border transactions, government contracts, technology related laws, power, and criminal law.

Amit Bhasin is the Chief Legal Officer & Group General Counsel at Marico Limited. As a part of the Executive Committee, he is responsible for legal and corporate affairs functions at Marico’s Indian and international markets and also leads the corporate social responsibility functions. With over 19 years of experience in corporate legal, corporate compliances and governance and legal business partnering, he has worked across organisations in the consumer sector. He plays an active role in the advocacy efforts for the fast-moving consumer goods industry and is part of several industry organisations. Prior to joining Marico, he was associated with Hindustan Unilever Limited as General Manager – Legal and Corporate Secretarial for over 13 years.

He has undertaken multiple roles and worked on several mergers and acquisition transactions and corporate actions. He was part of various global working networks in the areas of competition law, governance and compliance. A Law graduate and a certified Chartered Secretary from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, in 2011, Amit earned a post-graduation certification in Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Anirban Deb Ray is a skilled legal professional with well-rounded experience of over 24 years across sectors in India. In various roles across companies Anirbanhas served, he has managed complex legal issues, acquisition/merger transactions, domestic and international commercial contracts/deals, legal compliances, critical litigations as General Counsel/Head of Legal and in certain cases as Company Secretary of listed entities.

A business enabler and a legal strategist to the core with proficiency in handling large and complex business operations, Anirban drives process redesign by tech intervention and lead transformational projects to support business growth. He manages scale while evaluating and advising on legal risks in relation to a broad range of complex matters with focus on business continuity, profitability and growth.

Anirban works closely with the business segments and leads large teams of inhouse lawyers to deliver results. He has advised on/managed compliance of/formulated internal policies on multiple laws applicable to the organization.

Archana Gupta, General counsel and ethics and compliance officer, Capgemini India and ME, comes with over 15 years’ experience in legal streams such as employment, labour laws, litigation, ethics and compliance.

Archana advises companies on employment issues, policies and processes; manages whistle blower protection mechanisms; and leads critical investigations under whistleblower frameworks. She has also played an active role in contracts, data privacy, competition law and export control, among others. A qualified lawyer and Certified Fraud Examiner, she holds a diploma in journalism and a certificate from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.

Arpita Sen has over 25 years of experience as an Attorney and over 20 years of experience as a designated General Counsel, Compliance Officer. She has held leadership positions as a trusted management advisor with required leadership skills for heading and managing a corporate legal, compliance and ethics function as also managing inter-company legal relationships. She also has expertise in providing strategic and practical legal advise, providing suitable legal options best suited for business/commercial strategy, being a trusted advisor, problem solver.

Recently in 2021-2022, she led a USD 1.2 Billion divestiture of healthcare services of an Indian public listed company including appointing Big 5 counsel across 4 geos, heading the entire reliance based legal DD for the org, negotiating and finalizing transaction documents and disclosures in a complex asset cum stock transfer deal. The List Co had upwards of 20 subsidiaries across the world.

Bijoya Roy has spent over two decades in the profession gathering experience across the globe. From her early days in Mumbai working for companies like Tata Housing, Asian Paints and Kodak, Bijoya went on to qualify as a Solicitor of England and Wales in 2008. She joined Thomson Reuters and spent 10 years with them, first as a senior lawyer in their EMEA team, based out of London and later being posted in Dubai supporting the global emerging markets of India, China, ASEAN, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Russia and parts of Europe. Ms. Roy returned to India in 2019 to join Flipkart as their Group General Counsel. Her experience has seen her manage teams spread across geographies, some large and in excess of 50 lawyers and some much smaller. During the course of her professional journey, Bijoya has specialised in European Competition Law, technology laws and litigation strategy. Thriving in complex environments, her professional journey has taken her from real estate to data and technology, e-commerce and the consumer industry. From handling high-powered litigations with claims in excess of Euro 60 Million to tackling FDI-related existential crisis’, the Enforcement Directorate and Competition Commission investigations into the e-commerce sector, Ms. Roy has had a rewarding experience of honing her skills as an astute legal professional.

Damini Bhalla has been the lead counsel on several Indian and cross-border transactions. Zomato’s listing involved dealing with several legal nuances under SEBI listing regulations. Additionally, she along with her team worked round-the-clock on all aspects of the Prospectus with various internal and external stakeholders to make the Zomato listing possible in record time.

With all these efforts and more, Zomato achieved the unique feat of being the first Indian unicorn to be listed on the stock exchanges. The success of Zomato’s listing has paved the way for other Indian start-ups working in e-commerce, digital economy and technology space and provided them with the necessary impetus to explore listing in India to scale their businesses further. Over the last year, supported by external counsel, the Zomato legal team has been instrumental in risk-based assessment and implementation of the acquisition of Blinkit, formerly Grofers, as well as minority investments in Mukunda foods, Urbanpiper, Adonmo, Curefit, Shiprocket and Magicpin.

Deepika Chaudhry is the Executive Director – Legal at APAC Xerox, India. She is a seasoned professional with a successful track record of executing strategic leadership roles across legal, compliance, public policy and government policies. She has been managing Asia-Pacific (APAC) and global roles across diverse industries including services, information technology, telecom, insurance, consumer products and manufacturing. An experienced advisor to the Boards, she possesses an extraordinary ability to manage shareholder and joint-venture partner relations in addition to being a trusted business advisor. She successfully partners with business teams and has deep knowledge and expertise in commercial transactions, corporate, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, intellectual property, FCPA, UK Anti-Bribery, and country specific compliance and regulatory laws across the US, the UK and APAC countries. Deepika’s experience of working across nationalities and diverse cultures has enabled her to nurture talent and building high performance teams across geographies, skills and cultures. Throughout her professional career, she has received recognitions and awards including being felicitated with Female General Counsel of the Year Award by Legal Era (2014) and recognized by ICCA publications (2017 and 2019).

Divya Kumat has more than 23 years of enriching experience as Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. As Company Secretary of a listed entity, Divya has formulated and successfully implemented various policies like Contract Management policy, Insider Trading policy, Whistle Blower policy, Investor Grievance policy, Prevention of Sexual Harassment policy to name a few.

Keeping pace with the digitally enhanced organization, I championed a bespoke contract management system and automated contract management for the Group. In her current role as EVP, Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary, Divya leads all the legal and secretarial initiatives for more than 41 Group companies worldwide with the support of an able and efficient team.

Dr. Akhil Prasad is currently a member of the board of directors of entities in Boeing Group and an Advisory Board Member (Honorary), UPES School of Law. Having over 28 years of experience, his legal expertise goes beyond the Indian shores in the UK and the US and he has worked with Fidelity Worldwide Investment, The Walt Disney Company India, General Motors India, Electrolux Kelvinator, Xerox India and Modicorp and Essar Group(s). He holds numerous degrees including a Doctorate in Law and a Doctorate in Commerce. He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, UK (FCIS) and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (FCS); a nonpracticing Solicitor of England & Wales; a Masters of Law (Honors) program from the Northwestern University and a Certificate in Business Administration program from Instituto de Empressa, Madrid, Spain (IE), USA; leadership training under the program “Leaders Shaping Our Future”, conducted by Boeing Leadership Center, USA; and is an alumni of the Wharton Business School.

Dr. Mukul Shashtry, General Counsel & Executive Director at Cube Highways. He has 20 years of experience and is adept in Business Strategy (Commercio-Legal), Corporate M&A, IBC Processes, PPP Infrastructure projects, Claim management, Litigation management, Legal processes (both civil and criminal), Arbitration including International Commercial Arbitration, Compliance with RBI, SEBI & MCA rules & regulations, Trade & Competition Law, General Corporate Laws. He has previously worked with in In-House roles with organizations such as Welspun Group, Adani Group, KEC International Ltd. He has also worked with the RBI as Legal Counsel. During his stint at RBI, he has advised RBI on policy issues on topics spanning across Banking operations, Payments & Settlement Systems, and foreign exchange; drafted and vetted international contracts between RBI and foreign entities; represented and defended RBI in multiple forums - Tax authorities, Finance secretary, GoI, and Central Information Commission. He was also an adjunct member of RBI Faculty, conducting sessions for Bank officials on dealing with Legal and Regulatory issues in Banking & Finance domain.

Being one of the founders of the GCAI, Dr. Sanjeev Gemawat has been encouraging the cause of General Counsels’ statutory recognition. Traversing through wide-ranging industries like automobile, real estate, hospitality and manufacturing, his experience graph touches three decades. He was previously associated with Indian and multinational corporates like Dalmia Bharat, DLF, JCB & others.

Dr. Gemawat is a post graduate and doctorate in law, a qualified Chartered Accountant, CostAccountant and a Chartered Secretary from India & the UK. He has been honoured as Top General Counsels of India by various prestigious institutions. Honoured as one of “India’s finest in house counsels”, the “Most Influential Corporate Counsel and Company Secretary” he has also been inducted to “Global Hall of Fame” for his contribution in the Legal Eco System in India and beyond.

“It is high time that the Government should formulate a code of conduct for non-litigious serviceswhich can prescribe rules relating to competence, independence, integrity, conflict of interest andconfidentiality,” expresses Dr. Gemawat.

Dr. Vivek Mittal is currently the Global General Counsel at Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited (DRL), an NYSE, NSE, and BSE listed multi-locational global generic pharmaceutical giant. At DRL, he leads a team of about 75 lawyers and professionals covering a gamut of activities like domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, in-licensing, out-licensing, commercial agreements, domestic and complex cross-border civil and criminal litigation, arbitration, ethical and statutory compliances, data privacy, and data protection. In addition to his existing role Global General Counsel, Dr. Mittal is also designated as DPO of DRL, he also oversees IPR, employment laws, regulatory issues, and corporate commercial advisory among others.

Dr. Mittal has a very diversified and successful multi-industry career spanning over 23 years with the latest stint being at Danaher Corporation, where he was Regional Counsel - METAI for Diagnostics Platform, Head of Legal at Lupin Limited and has been instrumental in critical roles at Reliance, Radico Khaitan, IndiaBulls, Caparo India and Mount Shivalik.

Joginder Yadav is the Legal Director & General Counsel for Cisco India & SAARC. He is responsible for legal support to the regional sales, engineering, and strategy & operations organisations. Joginder has had a stint with Cisco during 2007-08 with its Services & Globalization legal team, where he supported senior executives in the Service Provider segment, as well as strategy for mega deals in Asia, Middle East and other emerging markets. He also contributed to Cisco’s globalization efforts as an initial member of its Globalization Center, East in Bangalore.

He has over 20 years of global legal and business experience at leading law firms, legal departments, and the legal process outsourcing (LPO) industry, with diverse exposure across regulatory, litigation, M&A, general corporate affairs and large deal negotiations. He also has experience running a business vertical for a leading global LPO.

In the past, Joginder was Senior Vice President of Contract Solutions at UnitedLex, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), IBM and Sun Microsystems in regional legal roles. He also worked as a foreign associate for over a year at the leading Japanese firm TMI Associates.

His law firm experience includes working at the Indian firm Kochhar & Co., where the main focus was dispute advisory, foreign investment and regulatory as well as infrastructure sector work including power, energy and insurance.

After a successful journey of 9 years, working for Holcim India (Ambuja Cements Ltd.) I have joined the flagship entity of Adani Group i.e. Adani Enterprises Ltd as SVP - Head Legal for Natural Resources Business.

Journey at Holcim India was quite enriching. Under the able guidance of Board of Directors and Holcim Group, successfully achieved multiple milestones on high stake litigations like CCI, Sales tax Petcock ,environmental issues, potential M&A, etc, also implemented some of the best compliance & legal processes.

At Adani Enterprise, I will be heading the Legal function of the Natural Resources business which comprises of Integrated Resource Management, Coal mining and trading, Cement and aggregates, Iron Ore, Copper, Bunkering and ATF.

Kanika Shah Wadhwa is the Legal Director and Senior Counsel (Head of Legal), at GlaxoSmithKline Asia Pvt. Ltd. and is responsible for leading the legal and secretarial function for the India Subcontinent. She has been involved in many complex cross boarder transactions including the amalgamation of erstwhile

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Limited and Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), in the divestment of nutritional portfolio in Bangladesh and setting up a distribution set up with HUL in India for GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer healthcare products. She adeptly managed to work with multiple stakeholders in different jurisdictions and time zones, during the lockdown.

Her ability to carry the team with tenacity and calm during the most stressful times during the entire transaction has been recognized at global platforms within the GSK system. Her team has been recognized as an enabler for business and digital transformation. The legal team developed a chatbot to help clarify internal policy - related issues.

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 Schumberger, 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.

Kaushik Mukherjee is a corporate lawyer and senior in-house counsel with diverse experience across practise areas including capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, structured finance, real estate project financing, restructuring, and corporate and securities advisory and disputes. Kaushik has been a capital markets and public M&A partner with leading Indian law firms including ShardulAmarchand and JSA Law, amongst others. As an in-house counsel, Kaushik’s repertoire includes structuring and execution of commercial transactions. Additionally, he oversees all regulatory matters ranging from simple advisory in relation to compliance to strategizing (with external counsel or otherwise) in connection with investigations and disputes. He has regularly advised on queries raised by the Reserve Bank of India and the National Housing Board in relation to periodic inspections conducted by such regulators. Kaushik has multiple publications under his name including a National Stock Exchange (of India) publication on corporate governance (as a special advisor), apart from authoring articles in leading financial dailies including the Economic Times and the Financial Express.

Kumar Ankit is an esteemed legal professional with a distinguished career in the corporate world. Since May, 2023 he holds the position of General Counsel and VP Legal at Shree Cement Limited, one of India's leading cement manufacturing companies. As a key member of the senior management team, Ankit plays a vital role in overseeing various critical aspects of the company's legal affairs.

With his vast experience and expertise, Ankit efficiently manages corporate legal matters, litigation, risk management, ethics, compliance, and inorganic initiatives for the organization. His contributions extend to advising stakeholders on a broad spectrum of domains, including mining, environmental regulations, natural resource extraction, electricity, project and incentive planning, land acquisition, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) issues, competition law, revenue, and public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the infrastructure sectors.

Lakshika Joshi has been awarded the Thompson Reuters ILA WILL (Women in Legal Leadership) Power Award 2017. She appears in the List of Top Powerful Women in Law by World IP Forum. She headed the Content Licensing and Syndication business for The Times of India Group. Her latest podcast on deciphering IPR & Licensing is available on Audioboom @ ITunes.

Lakshmi Menon Nairis a General Counsel (with global and local experience) with a demonstrated experience of providing practical, outcome oriented advise to technology companies from medium sized to large Fortune 500 companies. She has advised on complex cross border commercial transactions, technology laws, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, employment laws, data protection laws, intellectual property laws, trade laws, insurance laws, antitrust issues, dispute management, facilitated corporate secretarial matters, corporate governance, real estate laws, environmental laws, business code of conduct issues and risk/compliance management.

She has experience managing large and small agile teams with a focus on driving excellence and elevating performance by creating an inclusive environment for team members. She is a member of several Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ERGs in her present organisation and drives strategic initiatives for these groups.

Lubinisha Saha is currently the General Counsel, India & South Asia for Airbus. Earlier she was working with GE Renewable Energy as the General Counsel. Before that she was the General Counsel for Baker Hughes, a full stream oil and gas company in India and part of the US conglomerate GE.

She has rich experience with leading global organisations and law firms and has handled a variety of commercial issues with a focus on infrastructure, commercial contracting, structuring, financing, M&A, compliance, trainings and policy making. She is known to be a business partner who owns issues and collaborates effectively with varied stakeholders to provide risk abated yet business enabling solutions.

While at GE, she has enabled business and led various strategic initiatives for the India region including the simplification of commercial processes, channel partner management, product segmentation risk mapping and commercial trainings.

Malav Deliwala is the Head - Legal at Adani Group. He has been an In-house counsel to Adani Group for more than 12 years and has been part of unprecedented litigations.

Malav has provided corporate consulting in a wide range of legal issues viz. Electricity laws, Corporate laws, Environmental law and also Court practice and procedures. He specializes in providing strategic advice on handling litigations in Supreme Court, High Courts, Commissions, Tribunals and other Courts/Authorities for resolving critical legal issues.

Malav has been involved in rendering strategic advice to the group in their bids to acquire stressed assets per the resolution process prescribed under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

He is an effective communicator with good relationship skills and is adept at liaison, maintaining cordial business relations with legal counsels and other external agencies.

Manish Lamba is the General Counsel at DLF Cyber City Developers Limited. Having done his Bachelor of Law from the University of Delhi, he attained a rich experience of over 25 years in the areas of corporate laws advisory, litigation, commercial matters, capital market, intellectual property, corporate restructuring and compliances. Prior to joining DLF, he worked as a General Counsel with Bharti Realty Limited, Bharti Retail Limited and as Vice President – Corporate Legal at Bharti Enterprises Limited. He was General Manager – Legal at Bharti Airtel Limited and a Senior Associate at Vaish Associates.

Later, he moved to the corporate world and became the In-house Legal Counsel of Coca-Cola. Subsequently, he got associated with Bharti Group and worked for their telecom, infrastructure and real estate retail sectors. Manish regularly delivers lectures on arbitration, corporate restructuring, compliances and legal reforms at meets. He has represented the industry on various forums and actively participated in the Legislative Consultative process.

Manjaree Chowdhary is the Sr. Executive Director and General Counsel at Maruti Suzuki India. With over 25 years of experience, she leads a team of 50 experts, working closely with the Board, the CEO and the Leadership team. She provides legal and compliance support in a dynamic regulatory and risk environment at Maruti Suzuki India, a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan. Manjaree has worked across South Asia, US, ANZ, and Japan in diverse industries like Industrial, Manufacturing, Auto, Healthcare, Power and Services. Skilled in strategic advisory, listed entity management, complex transactions, dispute resolution, enterprise risk, compliance and public policy, she has led industry initiatives including the formulation of a Voluntary Code of Ethics adopted by the National Healthcare Federation of India. At Maruti Suzuki, she has successfully led change management through incremental steps.

Mohit Kapoor is a dual-qualified lawyer with varied experience in litigation and corporate matters, spanning multiple industries and geographies. Having begun his career practicing at premier law firms, Mohit has handled a variety of matters ranging from indirect tax, consumer, antitrust, intellectual property and product liability laws, while engaging and working extensively with India’s senior-most counsels. He then successfully transitioned to more transactional and advisory roles by gaining rich experience working at different organizations including foreign law firms, global insurers, international HR consultants, leading banks, and NBFCs.

Mohit has more than three decades of experience and has held various responsibilities in various organizations and has been exposed to a variety of experiences including providing timely and cost-effective legal support to businesses against aggressive schedules and budgets, liaising with the Board of Directors, shareholders and regulators.

Nagendra Pal Goel is a well-recognised professional in the field of Corporate law with a plethora of experience spanning over two decades. In addition to holding a degree in Commerce and Law graduate from the University of Delhi, he is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. Nagendra specialises in Corporate Law & Governance, Company Law, Contracts, Compliance & Business Ethics, Litigation & Employment Law. His experience also extends in the fields of Banking and Insurance & Economic laws.

Joint Venture, Mergers & Acquisitions & Greenfield Projects are his passion and an integral part of his successful career. His career spans over 24 years during which he has worked with several diverse industries like FMCG, B2B, Beverages and even been a part of the Chemical, Pharmaceutical & Manufacturing industry. He has been employed in various capacities in both multinational and Indian companies, like Jindal Photo Limited, Valvoline Cummins Limited, Ashland India Private Limited & ISP India Private Limited.

Navita Chaubal is a solution focused legal & compliance professional with 26+ years’ rich experience in overseeing daily legal & compliance functions pertaining to regulation and standards. She is adept at understanding business operations & needs, mentoring teams to align with business requirements, conducting audits, verifying operational efficiency, evaluating internal control systems and recommending ways of improving internal controls.

Navita is proficient in managing legal groups/teams, Knowledge Management, legal project, investigating various cases and maintaining records. Focused and hard working with proven capability in discovering critical legal points in complex litigation and ability to easily grasp complex situations. Rich exposure of working with international clients/teams in SE Asia, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, USA, UK, China, Austria, Belgium, Spain, etc. Skilled in managing multiple projects simultaneously ensuring compliance. She has strong analytical, problem solving skills coupled with relation building skills with internal/external bodies & excellent negotiations skills.

Neera Sharma is the Chief Executive & Legal Officer at Sistema Smart Technologies Limited. She is a University of California, Los Angeles, alumni and an experienced chief of legal with a demonstrated history of working in the telecommunications, real estate and IT industry. She is skilled in negotiations, mergers and acquisitions, corporate law, legal compliance, complaint management, litigations, arbitration, and dispute resolution. With over 24 years of experience, she has worked with several startups and developed teams from scratch while handling multiple responsibilities. As a member of the Board of Directors, she has always played a role that goes far beyond her position as a legal adviser. Neera has been working closely with senior business leaders to develop corporate strategies across sthe region and acts as company representative in discussions with the government, the regulators and other stakeholders to help influence the policy decisions. She has been recognised as one of the leading senior counsels of India.

India qualified in-house lawyer having 18+ years experience with good commercial knowledge and flair for technology. Areas of expertise include complex telecom & power infrastructure projects; Contract structuring, negotiation & finalization; Contract- Risk & Claim Management; JVs, Consortiums and M&As; project financing, marketing & supply support, real estate, investment and exchange control; employment & immigration laws; other Corporate and Commercial Laws.

Special focus on various models of Thermal, Solar PV, Solar Thermal, Bio-energy, transmission and distribution EPC contracts including FIDIC and Bespoke models

Panduranga Acharya is a seasoned legal professional and a veteran in the ecommerce industry. He is solution-oriented and a great decision maker. He has led complex transactions and highly performing teams in his career. His vast experience on sectoral regulatory issues is outstanding. Panduranga has built high performance teams and has demonstrated great legal leadership in various organisations. Panduranga is a Law graduate from Bangalore University. After a brief period of court practice, he worked for various corporations. He carries 18 years of postqualification experience as in- house counsel and has been associated with Mobile Store, Videocon, Vodafone, Flipkart, Swiggy and CarDekho Group. His core competence includes, M&A Transactions Advisory, Business Structuring, Regulatory Compliances, Policy Advocacy and Real Estate Transactions. He is a regular speaker on diverse legal topics and has been co-chair for FICCI Online Food Aggregator Working Group and currently Executive Committee Member, e-Commerce Law Sectionat INBA and member of CII National Committee on Regulatory Affairs.

Pathik Arora is an ardent legal professional with over 22 years of advising and servicing the market leaders in varied spaces like chemical and petrochemicals, information technology, real estate & construction, hotels & hospitality, renewable energy, infrastructure, health care, private equity and so on. He is also a fellow member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

His experience of working in-house at leadership roles as well as in law firms extends across jurisdictions. It covers a broad spectrum of legal, secretarial, estate management, compliance & governance practice which includes strategic & business advisory, structuring complex commercial transactions incl. crossborder M&A, due diligence (corporate & real estate), real estate acquisitions & investments, PPP, financing (including project financing), risk assessment, setting up robust compliance programs encompassing FCPA, UKBA, POSH, litigation management and so on.

As the General Counsel and a member of the leadership team, she is responsible for leading Legal and Corporate Secretarial affairs at Sun Life Asia Service Centres, in addition to heading the Information Technology Contracting Centre, the Knowledge Services Legal Vertical, which provides legal support to various geographies on technology contracts. She is responsible for shaping legal strategy with the rapid advancements in the IT/ITES industry, is focussed on Corporate Governance and is a key contributor to organisational planning and the decision-making team. She remains passionate about leveraging technology for automation and digitisation of Legal and Corporate Secretarial processes. She advises leadership and management not just on law and related matters but helps shape discussion about business issues. She renders support and advisory for driving various organisational and functional initiatives for transformation and innovation and towards building a future-ready organisation. She is also the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion representative of Sun Life Asia Service Centres.

Poornima Sampath leads the legal and regulatory matters for Tata Digital. Previously, she was working with Tata Sons as Vice President - Group Legal.

She has also worked with Intel Capital as Senior Attorney, where she spent a few years handling legal matters across a diverse portfolio of venture capital investments in India, Asia-Pacific and the United States. Prior to Intel Capital, she worked at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York, focusing on M&A, private equity and restructuring matters.

Poornima is admitted to practise law in New York, India and the United Kingdom (non-practising solicitor).

Pulin Kumar is presently working as a Senior Legal Director of Adidas (India). He has an extensive exposure of handling high stake cases in various High Courts and the Supreme Court. He has had an illustrious tenure as an in-house counsel dealing with commercial matters and other matters. He has extensively worked on the issues related to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLAT) and Extradition Treaties with various countries and interacted with the legal counsels located at across the globe. During his tenure with various organisations, Pulin has also been involved in execution of the foreign contracts and high-stake international commercial arbitration. Pulin is actively involved with various regulatory groups of business houses. He looks after the legal and compliance functions of adidas India and Reebok India. His professional journey started as an in- house counsel from Indian and MNC conglomerates like Montari Industries, Triveni Engineering, Ambuja Cements, New Holland Tractors, Jubilant Organosys and Samsung India. During his tenure as the Legal Head for Samsung India, he initiated a legal case fighting against the menace of Parallel Imports which today is pending in the Supreme Court. Pulin has been rated amongst top 50 General Counsels by LEGALERA magazine in 2016.

Rajbeer Sachdeva was previously Senior Executive Director and Group General Counsel at DLF Ltdand prior to that worked as a Global - Head Legal with Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. He has extensivelyworked in the domain of Merger and Acquisitions, Competition & Antitrust laws, Real EstateTransactions, Intellectual Property and Trademark matters and Arbitrations in India and abroad. MrSachdeva hasalso been dealing with various matters relating to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code2016, after successful acquiring a Company under CIRP from NCLT. He is an alumnus of Delhi University with an LLB and LLM and has about 32 years of experience as a Corporate Lawyer. He views the role of a Corporate Lawyer as an advisor to business teams on various intricate matters and legal tasks should be completed meticulously and with precision.

The emphasis should be to effectively handle the transactions and litigations after taking into account the business perspective which is utmost important for taking a final view and to provide solutions to the business team. The role of the Corporate Counsel is a strategic and the advice given to the business team must be practical and business-oriented.

Rajiv Chandan is a corporate lawyer and a Governance Professional. He has a masters' degree in Commerce and a Law degree from the University of Mumbai. He is also qualified Company Secretary from The Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

Rajiv is with Tata Group since 2007 and he is a Key Managerial Person in Tata Chemicals Ltd and designated as Global General Counsel & Company Secretary. Being a member of Management Committee, he heads the Legal, Corporate Governance, Compliance and Company Secretarial functions of the Companyhead quartered in Mumbai and its subsidiaries based in India, America, UK and Africa.

Rajiv has over three decades of experience in the areas of Legal, Regulatory, Compliance, Corporate Governance andMergers & Acquisitions including cross border His experience is spread across diverse industries and sectors, including paper, automobiles, logistics, cement, chemicals, FMCG and fertilizers. Rajiv is also representing his company in various Legal affairs committee of industry bodies such as CII, FICCI and BCCI.

Rajiv Choubey is the Group General Counsel at Dalmia Bharat. Till recently and before joining Dalmia Bharat, he was the Chief Legal Officer at ACC Limited & Ambuja Cement Limited where he headed the legal, secretarial and compliance functions, which was part of Holcim, the world’s largest cement and building materials company. At ACC & Ambuja, he advised the management on the entire gamut of business activities including corporate laws, mining, environment and competition laws, commercial and industrial laws, mergers and acquisitions, governance, risks and compliance. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the ACC & Ambuja.

He is an alumnus of the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, the Indian Law Institute, the Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi, and the Institute of Company Secretaries. He was also a director and board member of Bulk Cement Corporation of India, Lucky Minmat Limited, Singhania Minerals Private Limited and other joint-venture companies of ACC and the Madhya Pradesh State Mining Corporation Limited.

Rakesh Prusti is an experienced General Counsel (GC) with over 26 years of successful history of working in diverse industries and complex ecosystems across geographies. A transformational change enabler, he is a problem solver, a firm believer in empowerment and is known for inspiring and enabling his team for superior performance. Mr Prusti is the Group General Counsel at OYO, a technology platform that empowers the large yet highly fragmented global hospitality ecosystem. Trusted by his business partners and stakeholders for his complex problem-solving abilities, Mr Prusti is a key member of the leadership team at OYO. He is also a member of the Risk Management Committee and the boards of group companies at OYO.

Over the last 17 years in GC Roles, Mr Prusti led global and domestic strategic and inorganic initiatives, managed crossborder mergers & acquisitions, financing, high-stakes dispute resolutions, enterprise risk management, board management, corporate governance and compliance framework, international legal strategy, key policies training, corporate restructuring and policy advocacy.

Currently at Medanta, Richais part of the senior leadership team and carries expertise in Corporate Affairs and Contract Management, advisory to the Board and Senior Management, Regulatory and Policy Affairs, Risk Mitigation and Litigation Management, Intellectual Property Management and Protection.

Richa Singh has substantial experience of structuring, drafting, negotiating and closing complex commercial transactions across various business verticals in a complex regulatory landscape. Expert in general corporate, joint ventures, acquisitions, employment and real estate matters, her approach is focused on protecting and balancing legal, compliance and governance aspects in any transaction while enabling the business and commercial objectives. While doing that, the effort is also to seek continuous improvement and achieve highest level of operational and ethical integrity in the system.

Rohit Anand  has more than 12 years of experience advising on a wide range of corporate finance transactions including acquisitions, strategic sales, joint ventures, IPOs, private placements, exits, share repurchases and other corporate advisory work in India and South East Asia.

Before joining CDPQ, Rohit was working as the Assistant General Counsel at Flipkart. He has also law firms such as Herbert Smith Freehills and S&R Associates.

Roopesh Jain is a commerce and law graduate. He is also a qualified Company Secretary and Cost & Management Accountant. He has more than 25 years’ experience advising businesses in Legal, Compliance and Taxation matters in his role as General Counsel with several reputed companies like Hitachi, Daikin, Menarini, Lloyd, SPL etc. in Consumer Durables, Pharma, Oil and Gas, Construction and Finance sectors. He has wide experience working with Indian entrepreneurs and MNC’s engaged in Manufacturing as well as Services sectors.

Roopesh is currently working with a BSE NSE listed and American-Japanese Joint Venture - Johnson Controls Hitachi Air Conditioning as its General Counsel, and designated as Deputy Vice President – Legal & Secretarial. He is based in Ahmedabad.

Sachin Kalra is the Vice President & Deputy General Counsel at HT Media Limited (Group). Having pursued his Master’s degree from Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune, he completed post-graduation and joined as a faculty of law with the same university. Soon, he decided to take up law as a career and became a practicing lawyer in litigation. Subsequently, he specialised in corporate law and intellectual property rights law.

In his prior assignments, Sachin headed and represented the legal functions of Bharti AXA, Bharti Retail, Samsung (South- West Asia), Vodafone India. He possesses a wide experience of handling a diverse range of legal matters in different industries including insurance, telecom, FMCG, retail, real estate, electronics, consumer durables, education and media. He has always been open to challenges and learning and never hesitated in taking up new tasks in any sphere. However, with a penchant for research and a love for academics, he continues to hold a keen interest in interacting with and tutoring law students on a wide array of subjects beyond the rote learning of textbooks.

Saikat Sarkar is a legal professional with over 24 years experience. He is currently heading the Legal function of Eicher Motors Limited supporting businesses with over USD 1.25 Billion Net Revenue.

He has actively worked to expand his experience, both professionally and personally. In his early career, Saikat worked in Private Practice before the Calcutta High Court. Later, he worked with Hindustan Unilever Limited (2000-2004.) In 2004, he joined Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (HCCB) which saw him work & relocate to various cities in India like Kolkata, Mumbai, Gurgaon & now in Bangalore.

Saikat has worked across India both in Operation and Corporate roles. In 2015, he assumed the position of General Counsel (Vice-President) for Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei & Myanmar. Later in February, 2020 he relocated to Bangalore, India as Associate General Counsel.

Sameer Chugh, with over 26 years of experience, leads the company’s legal, compliance and secretarial function. He holds a degree in aw from Symbiosis Law College, Pune. He has also completed the Masters in Marketing Management from SIMS, Pune followed by MSc in Telecom Business from UCL, London, UK.

Sameer has worked with leading Indian law Firms including Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas & Kochhar & Co. He has worked as the India General Counsel with companies such as NCR Corporation, BT Group, Essar Group and Cummins. He was the Director – Legal & Regulatory for Bharti Airtel before taking over as the Group General Counsel of Bharti Group

Sameet Gambhir, FCS, LLB is a Senior Corporate Legal & 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, Sameet’s expertise includes Regulatory & Corporate legal matters, Corporate Governance & Compliances, Corporate restructuring, M&A, RBI & FEMA matters, SEBI Regulations, Risk management, IPR matters, brand protection, data privacy issues, due-diligence, and investigations ESG, Industrial & labour Laws, Contracts & Agreements, 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 in its Powerlist-2021. He is also recognised in GC Powerlist India-2022 released by The Legal500. He is the Co-Chairman of the Corporate Affairs committee of PHDCCI and also a member of National Committee on Regulatory Affairs of CII. He is also a member of Board of Study of GD Goenka Law School.

Sheel R. Sinha holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) and Bachelor of Laws from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University (2002). He currently serves as General Counsel for India & South Asia at Jones Lang LaSalle(JLL), a multinational real estate services company and manages legal, compliance, and ethics verticals.

Sheel is an enterprising leader & planner with a strong track record of 21 years in streamlining legal operations, invigorating businesses, heightening productivity, and improving systems & procedures in senior-level legal assignments in contentious, transactional, and regulatory compliance domains.

Prior to joining JLL, he held positions as Director and Associate General Counsel at PwC India, where he managed legal issues for the firm across all service lines and Associate Vice President at SBI Card (then GE-SBIJV) where he had a diversified role in managing legal affairs of two distinct entities apart from being a participant in larger Generic Electric India legal leadership.

Featured in the list of “100 Influential Women Driving Change in the Indian Legal Ecosystem” in 2023 by BW Legal World. Recognized in & GC Powerlist’ 2016, 2018 and 2022 - a listing of top 100 in-house lawyers in India by Legal 500, known for their outstanding work in the country. Also featured in the “Top 100 Powerful Women in Law” in year 2017 Shelly is a corporate lawyer with over 20 years of experience, having worked both in private practice and in-house lawyer in senior management roles with large global corporations like General Electric, Unilever. She is a dual qualified lawyer enrolled to practice in India and the State of New York, USA. In her current role, she leads the legal and compliance function of United Breweries Limited and is a part of the Management Team. UBL is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange and is a part of Heineken Group. In this role, she is responsible for all legal and compliance matters, including corporate, litigation and intellectual property across geographies. She is a strategic legal adviser to the Board and Senior Management of the company.

Shujath Bin Ali is the Global General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer at Re Sustainability Limited. A graduate in Commerce and Law, he has done Masters in Law in Alternate Dispute Resolution & International Commercial Arbitration. A Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, he has attended executive education programs on strategy, general management and leadership from Harvard University, Massachusetts, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and National Law School, Bengaluru. He was also a member of Toastmasters International and lead various initiatives in the development of leadership and communication skills for professionals and students. Shujath served as Senior Director-Legal, Risk Management & Company Secretary and Compliance Officer at Parexel International–India, providing strategic corporate legal advice and operational legal support for India operations. Prior to that, he was a Senior Legal Counsel & Corporate Secretary for International Paper-India.

Siddharth Manchanda joined Unacademy Group as General Counsel in November 2021. Prior to that, he was with Indus Law, Mumbai as a Partner which he had joined in August 2020.

Siddharth started his career with Bharucha & Partners in June 2009 and was a part of the transaction advisory practice of the firm. While at the Firm, his primary fields of work included Capital Markets and Corporate Restructuring. He advised on various modes of fund raising through primary markets (including IPOs, Rights Issues, QIPs).

He focuses on corporate and business restructuring, mergers & acquisitions and equity fund raising. His experience also extends to capital markets, banking and finance. His areas of expertise include - FundRaising, M&A, Corporate Restructuring, Structured Finance and Compliance and Regulatory.

Smitha Chandrashekar is the Legal Director at Harman International and has worked across various sectors including but not limited to logistics, IT, healthcare, asset finance and audio/visuals in the Asia Pacific Region. She is a 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 and talent development. Core strength/focus in the areas of Privacy, Employment, General Corporate/ Commercial, Contract Negotiations, M&A, and Corporate Governance.

Sonal Basu heads Mindtree's legal, regulatory and integrity function with nearly twenty years of experience in the field of Information Technology. In her current role, she provides strategic counsel to the Board and management, across global markets and is also a champion of diversity and inclusion initiatives. Sonal regularly speaks at various reputed forums and educational institutions including IIM Bangalore and has been a faculty member for a seminar course on ‘Cloud Computing’ at the National Law School, Bangalore. Sonal has also co-authored a write-up on ‘Bitcoins’ and ‘Data Science to Drive Good Governance’ which were published in international journals. Sonal, an active volunteer with an NGO that emphasises the importance of children’s education, holds a BLS, LLB degree from Government Law College, Mumbai and a post-graduate diploma in Intellectual Property Rights Laws from the National Law School of India University. She has a Master of Laws degree in Corporate and Commercial Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She has also completed her executive leadership program from Cornell University, USA.

Sormistha Ghosh is Group General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer at Strides Pharma. A competent lawyer from India, she served as a consulting lawyer for almost a decade before taking up in-house roles with global MNCs. Sormistha has been associated with Strides Pharma Science Limited for over five years now.

In her current role at the group level globally, Sormistha looks after the functions of legal, secretarial, compliance and enterprise risk management. It enables her to exercise equal efforts for strategy, operations, collaboration, risk management and creating a legal centre of excellence. It brings in value to the Group operations as board member of the US entity (a material subsidiary outside India), where board members consist of independent director also. Acting as the Chief Risk Officer, Sormistha is responsible for the Risk Management Committee and the Board of Directors for reporting pro-actively all risks identified for the corporation globally.

Suchita Saigal is the General Counsel at Cleantech Solar. She joined the Company, a leading provider of renewable energy to corporations in Southeast Asia and India, in February 2021 as the Assistant General Counsel to head their India legal team. In December 2021, she was promoted to Acting General Counsel (India and SEA) and in March 2022 she was confirmed as the General Counsel (India and SEA). Suchita has 12+ years’ experience in top tier law firms across jurisdictions and leading power companies. She advises on transaction structuring, acquisitions, project development, project financing, litigations and disputes, and other operational matters.

Suchita started her career as a trainee lawyer at Clifford Chance, London, and thereafter, joined its Energy and Infrastructure practice as an associate, advising on key cross-jurisdiction financings and acquisitions, including the acquisition of the biggest residential solar rooftop portfolio. Subsequently, on relocating to India, Suchita worked with the Projects practice in JSA and Trilegal. In 2016, she moved in-house to join the CLP India (now Apraava Energy) legal team. In 2019, Suchita received the CLP India Service Excellence Award.

Sudipta's primary areas of practice include project financing and infrastructure projects. She is presently working with CLP India Private Limited, which is one of India's largest foreign owned power company, and is actively involved advising the Company on various legal aspects of setting up conventional and renewable projects, more specifically Wind and Solar Projects in India. In the energy sector, Sudipta’s experience also includes advising, drafting and negotiating project documents, offtake agreements and execution of both conventional and non-conventional power projects in India.

Sudipta has previously worked with two prestigious laws firms in India – Trilegal and AmarchandMangaldas and has handled various domestic and international financing for infrastructure projects including the financing for Power Projects and Airports. Sudipta has varied experience and keen interest in project financing.

Surender Sharma is Director, Legal & Company Secretary at Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited. Being part of the Board and Leadership Team at Colgate India, he uses his more than two decades of industry experience in helping the Management to devise business strategies, risk identification & mitigation strategies and Corporate Governance.

Prior to joining Colgate, Surender had worked as an In-house Legal Counsel in Companies likeMarico, Heinz India, Reckitt Benckiser, Taj Group and Maruti Suzuki. Other than India, he alsohandled legal issues pertaining to Bangladesh, South East Asia, Middle East & North Africa Region.He has established a reputation of solving complex business problems and introducing simplification of Legal tasks with the aid of technology. He takes keen interest in driving Ethics and Compliance Culture across the organization and developing the next line of legal talent. Under his leadership, his team has won Legal Era Awards 2020-21 for “Small Size Legal Team of theYear.

Susheel Jad is currently the General Counsel (India) with AG&P. He has close to three decades of experience in matters relating to Civil law, Service/employment law, Factory and Labour Law, Petroleum laws, corporate laws, Companies Law, Contract law, consumer law, property law, IPR and providing general advisory and developing long term strategy on legal cases.

He has a strong background in handling Legal Affairs, Litigation, Arbitration & Resolution of Disputes and Legal Advisory in all branches of law. He has successfully represented organisations before the Supreme Court of India, High Court of Delhi and other Courts and Tribunals on the Original as well as on Appellate side.

He carries an excellent track record of briefing Sr. Advocates such as Harish Salve, Ashok Desai, Mukul Rohatgi, Parag P Tripati, Abhishek Singhvi, Gopal Subramaniam,V.P. Singh, S. Ganesh, R.K. Anand, A.S. Chandhoik.

Tejal Patil is an industry expert with more than 29 years of expertise in legal, compliance, risk and governance across Asia Pacific. She has given strategic and risk advice to CEOs, senior management and the Board of Directors, assisting in ever-increasing growth, keeping company’s safety in mind as well. In her role as General Counsel for Wipro, Tejal heads the Legal & Compliance, Global Data Privacy and Government Affairs functions. She is also part of the Wipro Executive Council. Before joining Wipro, she was working as the Senior Legal Adviser for OYO Hotels and Homes since September 2020. Tejal joined OYO after a 19-year successful job in the global conglomerate, GE (General Electric Company) where her role was as a General Counsel of GE South Asia. Her prior experience includes Asia Pacific roles with GE’s healthcare, consumer, industrial, and aviation businesses, as General Counsel based in Singapore and Tokyo.

With more than 11 years of experience, Vandana’s profile is a combination of a law firm role, an in-house role and a consulting firm. A lawyer as well as a CS, Vandana is an excellent team worker who joined Themis Associates (a boutique law firm based out of Bangalore) in 2011. Her role at Themis was to lead a team for handling the pre- and post-actions related to funding transactions. Working for more than 50+ successful VC and PE transactions over a span of 3 years, in the same profile, Vandana worked on a lot of automation projects like compliance management, Term sheet automation, Nominee director training and related compliance automation and so on.

Post the role in the law firm, Vandana approached and joined Merger and Acquisition (Tax) team at Deloitte, wherein the major role she handled was end-to-end advisory and implementation of various mergers, demergers and other strategic transactions.

Vani Mehta is the General Counsel of GE for South Asia. Vani Mehta has over 18 years’ experience. She brings broad experience across geographies, verticals and regulatory landscapes and is experienced in managing a diversity of risk issues across operational contexts.

In her role as the General Counsel South Asia she covers all GE businesses for leadership and strategic advice for legal function.

Vani is part of GE South Asia senior leadership team and works hand-in-hand with C-suite and executive management of all GE businesses in South Asia to identify and mitigate legal risks, drive performance, protect organizational reputation and facilitate growth. She is also the Board Member of GE India Industrial Pvt. Ltd.

She is an expert in general corporate, HR, M&A, real estate and supply chain.

Following a highly successful private practice career Vidyut Gulati joined Cairn as the general counsel and a member of its executive committee. She joined her current employers, Bharti, in July 2017, at the group level as director of legal. In terms of the legal function at the group level, she focuses her time on strategic transactions and decisions of the Group, with a special emphasis on M&A transactions across our various businesses, including in Africa. Gulati’s approach to leadership within her legal team is to be in constant proximity to business realities and risks looking beyond the legal issues and acting as a business partner and as a stakeholder by driving critical business decisions.

Working on some very high-stake, marque matters both on the corporate and the litigation side, have provided her with tremendous perspective influencing her manner and style of leadership. She links these factors as being intrinsic to an in-house role. Gulati identifies that, ‘the Indian telecom sector is witnessing a phenomenal phase, where equations are being re-set very quickly.

A seasoned business leader, Lawyer, Executive MBA (Scholar of Excellence from ISB, India with immersions at Wharton, USA and CEIBS, China) and Company Secretary having rich and varied International experience of ~25 years in the disciplines of Corporate / Commercial laws, Compliance and Governance, Litigation and dispute resolution, Secretarial, Taxation (Direct & Indirect), Foreign Collaborations & Joint Ventures, Public Issues (both Indian and Overseas), Mergers & Acquisitions, Finance, Insurance etc.

Yogesh is a legal professional with over 23 years of experience in wide spectrum of practice areas including in core infrastructure sector projects advisory, construction projects, dispute resolution, arbitration matters, civil commercial litigation, banking and finance transactions.

In the last decade, Yogesh has handled few major Infrastructure projects advising both, the government agencies as well as private developers/ contractors. He has advised clients on various stages of the project cycle starting from planning and bid stage to project financing to construction and execution phase support to the project closure.

Yogesh also handles complex disputes and arbitration arising out of the project. In his previous assignments, Yogesh has advised clients in telecom, broadcasting, banking and civil &commercial litigation matters.

With an experience of 20 years in legal profession and a mix of in-house and law firm roles, Yogesh hasset up various businesses, negotiated and closed M&A transactions, worked with stakeholders all across businesses and managed complex litigations. He has also supported Government Relations and Public Policy at General Motors.

He is currently working as the General Counsel for Hyundai Motor India Limited at Gurgaon, India.

Yogesh has experience of working in India, South Asia and Middle East markets jurisdiction wit MNCs and Law Firms in Manufacturing and Oil & Gas sectors: Manufacturing (General Motors, Renault, Nissan) and Oil & Gas (Halliburton and Cairn Energy).

Zameer Nathani is the Senior Vice-President & General Counsel at UFO Moviez India Limited (Public Listed). He joined UFO Moviez, India’s pioneering technology company for digitisation of cinema theatres in India, in 2018. He is an LLB, LLM (Civil, Corporate, Criminal, Customs, International Laws), PLD (Harvard Business School), Executive MBA (NMIMS), and has certifications in IPR, Electronic Commerce and ADR from WIPO, United Nations, M&A (Harvard Business School), Private Equity (London Business School) and US IP Laws (Stanford University).

Zameer started his practice in 2002 and was a law firm attorney for reputed corporate like Eureka Forbes, LG Electronics, TCL India, Motul Oils, Ginger Hotels, Kale Consultants Software UK, Johnson & Johnson, Johnson Diversey and other multinationals from the US, UK and Asia Pacific. He joined the corporate world, becoming the Associate Vice President of Reliance Entertainment – Digital Businesses to head the legal affairs globally for all the digital businesses (gaming, e-commerce and OTT platform).