Welcome to ALB Virtual India In-House Legal Summit 2021

    DATE              12 August 2021, Thursday

    TIME                9.00am to 3.30pm, India Time

     FORMAT         Virtual

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Summit Chairperson

 

Ruchika Nayyar, Vice President & Head – Business Legal, GMR Infrastructure Limited

Ms. Ruchika Nayyar is a distinguished legal professional with over twenty-five years of experience in handling wide range of legal and regulatory issues. She graduated with First Class (LL. B) from University of Delhi and also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Mergers & Acquisitions.

Presently she is Vice President & Head - Corporate Legal for the GMR Group. She is spearheading the GMR Legal Team and is instrumental in advising the Group on various legal matters, strategizing the legal actions, successful closure of Debt, Equity and M&A Transactions, development of system and legal processes for the business.

Prior to joining GMR, she has been associated with M/s. L&T Infrastructure Finance Co. Ltd as Head - Legal (Infra & Project Finance) for 9 years. Before that, she has also worked with companies viz. Apple Finance Ltd, KSL & Industries Ltd, New India Insurance Co. Ltd., Oriental Bank of Commerce etc.

She has a vast experience in representing clients both on the corporate and litigation side. She has wide and well-rounded expertise in Project Finance & Infrastructure funding, Real Estate Financing, M&A, General and Commercial Laws, Property matters, Litigation and Dispute Resolution matters.

During the initial 14 years of her carrier she has been as a practicing lawyer and has regularly appeared before various High Courts, DRTs, Consumer Courts, District and Sessions Court in civil and criminal matters, as also on various other Tribunals.

A prominent panel speaker in various leading Legal Conferences, she has been providing thought leadership on future of Legal and role of arbitration and challenges.

 

Speakers and Panelists

 

Dr. Torsten Kerber, IP Solution Consultant, Corporates EMEA, Team Lead, Clarivate

Dr. Torsten Kerber and his team enable corporate IP departments to maximize their efficiency and minimise risks by efficiently using IP management software systems. During the last years, he also consulted large corporates with best practises in digital transformation in materials data. He holds a PhD from Humboldt University in Computation Chemistry, before working in the IP industry, he has worked in several multi-national research projects on green energy and catalysis.

 

K Subodh Kumar, Head, IP Services, Tata Consultancy Services

K Subodh Kumar heads the Intellectual Property services of TCS.He has 25+years’ experience in the industry, managing Intellectual Property, strategic and operational leadership, project & program management, corporate initiatives, policy advocacy, government and industry relationship management. In the last two decades, he has been actively involved in a variety of India’ Intellectual Property Initiatives.

Prior to TCS he has served one of India’s premier business associations and was instrumental in setting up of intellectual property cells which worked at national and state level capacity building of Indian Industry. He was involved in strategic industry consultancy projects with government bodies and international development agencies for technology upgradation, promotion & management of intellectual property rights.

Mr K Subodh Kumar studied chemical technology at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras & holds a Master’s Degree. He is a member of CII National Committee of IPR, member of LESI, IEEE, IICHE and several other professional bodies.

 

Bhavin Gada, Founder Partners, Stratage Law Partners

Bhavin Gada is a founding Partner of Stratage Law Partners. He has over 16 years of experience in advising clients on investment transactions, M&A, dispute management and corporate dispute resolution.

He has advised clients, in public as well as private investments, M&A, establishment of funds, compliance matters, governance related advisory and regulatory issues. He also appears before various judicial forums. He enjoys the challenges of dispute resolution. He not only has an eye for, but also the aptitude to look out for opportunities to favourably resolve disputes. 

Bhavin has in-depth knowledge of exchange control regulations, SEBI, RBI, conveyancing and general corporate laws.

Bhavin has acted across a wide variety of sectors, such as, real estate, pharma, healthcare, manufacturing and financial services. 

Bhavin is recognized by many leading legal publications including IFLR 1000  (2018-2021- Rising Star M&A) and RSG India Report.

He was recognised as Super 50 Lawyers 2020 and India’s Rising Star 2021 by ALB India.

 

Shyam Pandya, Founder Partners, Stratage Law Partners

Shyam Pandya is a founding Partner of Stratage Law Partners. He has over 18 years of experience in advising clients on fund formation, investment and structured transactions, private equity, M&A and anti-trust issues. He also assists clients in pre-litigation / conflict management strategies. He is actively involved in transactions and resolutions driven pursuant to the Insolvency & Bankruptcy law in India.Shyam is a versatile lawyer and his expertise in multiple areas of legal practice helps him provide a 360° hands-on approach to a transaction. He is highly regarded by clients and peers for his “commercial understanding of the business” and “a lawyer to be on your side’”.Shyam has acted across a wide variety of sectors, such as, clean tech, insurance, manufacturing, payment gateways, online and offline financial services, retail & QSR, and technology. 

 

Anupama Dias Abeyagunawardene, Senior Legal Counsel – Intellectual Property, MAS Holdings Group

As a pioneer of the role of IP Counsel in the organization and after a decade of seeing the value of IP grow and flourish, Anupama is still passionate and dedicated to the capturing the value of IP rights and the proliferation of IP knowledge. After returning to Sri Lanka with a Master’s in IP Law from the National University of Singapore and being admitted to the Sri Lankan bar, Anupama takes an innovative approach to the law. To her, practicing law more than the traditional vision of going to a courtroom. She is an IP lawyer with experience in fostering IP awareness, protection and strategy to ensure that the business targets and goals are achieved. A Tedx speaker, she is committed to the belief that IP is an essential tool in the arsenal of an individual, organization or country to obtain the maximum benefit from creativity and innovation. 

 

Harsh Walia, Partner, TMT and Data Protection, Khaitan & Co

Harsh is a partner in New Delhi office of the firm. He is a leading lawyer in the field of technology, telecommunications and data protection focusing on complex regulatory and legal matters. He has advised various foreign based and Indian clients on issues related to data protection, privacy policy, ISO standards, conducting data protection based due diligence to ensure compliance and advisory on best practices, advisory related to cyber security related obligations and security practices. Harsh has been involved with Government in the discussions on upcoming data protection law. He has authored several articles pertaining to data protection which have been published by renowned journals and leading publications. Harsh holds a GDPR FAS Certification and is an Associate member of IACCM. Recently, Harsh has also featured in the list of ALB India's Top TMT Lawyers 2021. He has featured in the 2020 - Business World 40 Under 40 elite list of lawyers and legal influencers in India.

 

Naina Krishna Murthy, Founder & Managing Partner, K Law

Naina Krishna Murthy, one of India’s most formidable legal advisors, is the Founder and Managing Partner of K Law. She started her career with Arthur Anderson followed by a stint as the In-house Counsel at Biocon. Founded in 1999 in Bengaluru, K Law, under Naina’s leadership and guidance, is a major player in the Indian legal market today.

With over 24 years of experience, Naina specializes in corporate commercial law, specifically M&A, JV, collaborations and PE/VC investments. She is also a trusted legal advisor to some of the foremost corporates in India.

Naina is on the Board of several leading organizations, including the Universal Business School. She has co-chaired the Infosys Grievance Redressal Board for five years. In addition to that, she has been on committees of various companies involving sexual harassment complaints. Some of these companies are Novartis India Ltd, Mphasis Ltd, McAfee Software India Pvt Ltd, GE India Technology and British Telecom, among others.

Naina has been appointed as the external Ombudsman of SB Energy, a Softbank company. She has also served as a Director of various companies including National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd. Currently, she is on the Board of Bajaj Energy Ltd. since March, 2019 and IndoStar Capital Finance Ltd. since February, 2018.

Naina has been acclaimed tremendously as being at the forefront for women in business. She has been widely appreciated by accolades including being awarded the Most Influential Woman in M&A Law by APAC-Insider 2016, Woman Leadership for Excellence in Entrepreneurship award by CMO Asia, Pan Pacific, Singapore and Woman Lawyer of the Year by Legal Era Awards in 2013. Also, apart from her practice of law, her interests go beyond to animal welfare, environment conservation and education of the impoverished.

 

Nofia Ridwan, Legal Operation Manager, PT Antam Tbk

Nofia ridwan is a legal operation manager at the largest precious metal producer in Indonesia, member of LBMA. Prior joining PT Antam, tbk, nofia ridwan was an associate in law office that focused on intellectual property rights. His 12 years of experience mostly focuses on mining and property law. He also handles various disputes in Indonesia court, including but not limited to general criminal and civil, taxation, intellectual property rights, indigenous people rights, corruption and anti-bribery cases. He is also experienced in the development of corporate governance as well as several ISO certifications. Nofia Ridwan is a member of the Indonesian Advocates Association. He is a graduate of the University of Indonesia, focusing on criminal procedural law.

 

Anish Bhatnagar, India General Counsel, BT

Anish Bhatnagar is the General Counsel, India at BT. He has 15+ years of experience as lawyer and specialises in IT and telecom law. He has extensive experience in cross border telecom infrastructure deals as well as IT services. As GC for BT in India, he oversees all legal aspects for the company in India including telecom regulatory and legal matters related to data. He was previously a civil litigation lawyer in New Delhi and was also part of the TMT practice for a full-service law firm in India

Anish comes with hands-on legal experience in transactions requiring data flows across geographies and works closely with the DPO organisation within BT for ensuring sustainable and compliant transactions.

 

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.

 

Chandan Pani, Chief Information Security Officer, Mindtree

Chandan is Chief Information Security Officer for Mindtree, where he is responsible for leading Mindtree’s global and diverse information security and cyber risk strategy. In his earlier stints he was in several projects such as life-cycle ecosystem of penetration testing, threat modeling, vulnerability management, third-party security risk assessments in pre & post-production environments and Information Risk management for large IT/ITES projects. He has over 18 years of IT and Information security leadership experience with banking, telecom, ITES and healthcare businesses in US, Europe & India. Along with his master’s degree in information technology, he is also CISSP, CISA, CRISC certified. His areas of specialization are Strategy, Information Security, ISMS, BCP DR, Forensics, Vulnerability Management, and Infrastructure Security. Following cyber security industry is his passion and that keeps him busy due to the rapid change during pandemic. Otherwise, he loves going on long jogs for unwinding. 

 

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

  Smitha has worked across various industries including but not limited to logistics, IT, healthcare, asset finance and infotainment 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, privacy, M&A, litigation and external counsel management, government relations and talent development.

 

S. Chandrasekhar, Group Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy, Microsoft India

Sekhar has a unique combination of his wide and varied experience in both Information Technology and Government. Of his total experience of 30 plus years, he spent 15 years in the Government of India as a bureaucrat (1990 batch), which also included a three and a half year stint in Singapore as the First Secretary in the High Commission of India. After resigning from the Government, he has worked in the field of Information Technology for bigwigs like TCS, IBM and HCL. He was also the Principal Consultant to the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, responsible for the rollout of Government of India’s USD 200 million Mission Mode Nationwide Passport computerization Project, which has won several National Awards. Currently he is Group Director Government Affairs with Microsoft India and his role involves interfacing with external and internal stakeholders driving technology and public policy related initiatives for Microsoft. His interests include Technology Policy and Strategic Affairs.

 

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.

 

Prashant Marathe, General Counsel & Head - Legal & Compliance, Sula Vineyards

Graduated with degrees in Law from Symbiosis Law School, Pune and BSc. from MPKV University and Post-graduation in IPR from Mumbai University. Further, completed PG Certification (Gold) in Cyber Forensics, Cyber Crimes, Cyber Security and Cyber Laws from International Forensic Sciences (IFC) and Advance Programme in Cyber Laws from Asian School of Cyber Laws. Having 15+ years of experience in legal fraternity wherein worked on diverse positions with eminent organization like Aditya Birla Retail Ltd., The MobileStore (Essar Group), Reliance Industries Ltd., Sapphire Foods (KFC & Pizza Hut) and others. Before joining, Sula Wines, was successfully run own law firm namely “Lexsolve Consultancy LLP” wherein appeared before various courts and registered favorable orders.

 

Atul Juvle, General Counsel, Compliance Officer & C.S, India & SA, Schindler India Private Limited

Currently employed with Schindler India Private Limited, Swiss MNC, as General Counsel- GC, Compliance officer & CS -India & South Asia. Atul leads a legal team which is recognized as one of best performing 100 legal teams of India, list published by Legal-500. His responsibilities include legal, ethics, compliance, data privacy & company secretarial compliance for India & SA. Atul is qualified lawyer, banker as well as certified fraud examiner, Mediator and MFM.  Forbes India- included Atul’s name in the list of general counsels of India-2021.

 

Shuchita Bhushan, Corporate Counsel, Marriott Hotels

Shuchita Bhushan Vayttaden is a Corporate Counsel at Marriott Hotels India Private Limited. She is part of a 4 member team of attorneys that handles the legal and compliance functions for the South Asia region. Before joining Marriott, she was with the corporate team at one of India’s largest law firms.

At Marriott, she focuses on the development of new hotels but also advises on the asset management and operations side of the business. Her work involves instructing solicitors and counsel on contentious matters, drafting and negotiating transaction documents for the development of new properties, and guiding the business on strategy overall.

Shuchita graduated from the National Law University in Jodhpur, India with special focus on Business Law.

 

Abhimanyu Ghosh, Principal Professional, Legal/Principal Counsel, New Development Bank (Shanghai)

Abhimanyu Ghosh is a principal counsel at the New Development Bank’s (NDB) headquarters in Shanghai. NDB is a 21st century multilateral development bank that has been founded by the BRICS countries and came into operations in July 2015. Abhimanyu advises on all legal matters pertaining to the Bank and works on a mix of NDB's operational transactions, as well on institutional and policy related matters. Among Indian transactions, he has recently advised on NDB’s USD 1 billion loan to the Government of India for Emergency Covid Assistance, USD 100 million investment in NIIF, USD 300 million loan to REC and USD 500 million loan for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Project.

Prior to joining NDB, Abhimanyu was a partner at Khaitan & Co (New Delhi), and has also spent several years working at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Trilegal where he specialized in the power, infrastructure and project financing sectors.

 

 

Sean Matthew, Legal Counsel and Compliance, PT Indomarco Adi Prima

Sean is an all-rounder litigator and has fruitful experience representing companies and individual clients. Now, Sean is working as Legal Counsel and Compliance at PT. Indomarco Adi Prima (Subsidiary of PT. Indofood Sukses Makmur) one of the largest FMCG company in Indonesia. During which he has taken a major role in and has been acknowledged as the leading strategist in numerous complex disputes in the fields of, such as employment, trading, and distribution cases. He is also active in providing Pro Bono to poor communities and providing many legal overviews regarding city regulations and policies.

Moreover, He is often invited as a Speaker for webinar(s) in companies and several universities regarding Manpower Law and Omnibus Law, one of the most discussed topics in Indonesia. Sean is also speaker of “Bincang Hukumon the Geolive.id YouTube channel which provides many legal analysis. Sean has also write on the electronic media and paper concerning law issues, such as writings regarding Government Regulations and Policies.

 

Vikhna Raj Sivalingam, General Counsel Asia Pacific, Clarios

Vikhna Raj Sivalingam is the General Counsel Asia Pacific at Clarios. He leads a team of legal and compliance professionals across the region, ensuring the delivery of robust and efficient legal, compliance and government affairs services, ranging from advisory work on corporate and commercial issues, defining risk mitigation strategies and solution-oriented tactics to name a few. He also serves as a trusted advisor to the APAC President and leadership team.

Vikhna has more than 20 years of deep legal and compliance experience in the Asia-Pacific region and a diverse array of skillsets developed across varied industries from manufacturing to technology to shared services. He was an Advocate & Solicitor, Supreme Court, Singapore (1998) and Solicitor, Supreme Court, England & Wales (2001). He graduated from National University of Singapore - LLB (Hons).

 

Naveen Bhardwaj, Regional Senior Counsel, Terumo Asia Holdings Pte Ltd

Naveen Bhardwaj is Regional Senior Counsel for APAC at Terumo Asia Holdings Pte Ltd, the APAC regional headquarters Terumo Corporation, a global medical technology company from Japan, Japan. Naveen manages the legal and compliance function for APAC and is responsible for designing, implementing and monitoring Terumo’s Global Compliance Program in the APAC region (except China and Japan) for addressing bribery, unethical behaviour, data privacy related risks while ensuring compliance with applicable laws and other legal requirements. Naveen has more than 13 years of experience working in India, Japan and is now based in Singapore. Naveen is a qualified lawyer, with law degree (LL.B) from University of Delhi (India), a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP-I), and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

 

Deeksha Machanda, Partner, Chandhiok & Mahajan, Advocates and Solicitors

Deeksha Manchanda is a Partner at Chandhiok & Mahajan and specializes in advising clients on all aspects of competition law.

She has extensive experience in representing clients in merger control, cartel investigations, and abuse of dominance cases before the Competition Commission of India, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, the erstwhile Competition Appellate Tribunal, and the Supreme Court.

Deeksha’s experience in merger control includes advising and acting for clients in relation to the notification and approval process in India. Deeksha has also represented clients before the Competition Commission of India in proceedings initiated for failure to notify.

Her practice spans across various industry sectors. She specializes in advising and representing clients on complex competition law issues in hi-tech & technology, pharmaceuticals, and port sectors.

 

Saurabh Awasthi, Senior Counsel, IBM India

Saurabh Awasthi is Sr Counsel (Services) at IBM India. He supports IBM's Services business in India and has, in his previous roles advised its Cloud & Cognitive business in Asia-Pacific. He has about 20 years professional experience including as Partner at a boutique law firm and stints with JP Morgan, India and Andersen Legal (DSK Legal). His primary areas of professional interest include Technology, Media and M&A.

 

Pooja Yadava, General Counsel, Nayara Energy Limited

Pooja is the General Counsel of Nayara Energy. In this role she leads the legal function of the Company. She is a tactical business partner supporting the business in all legal and regulatory matters and ensuring the implementation of the ethics program of the Company in line with Nayara’s core values. Pooja is a seasoned professional with over 17 years of experience, including as Head Legal of the largest Indian private oil and gas E&P company, and as Corporate counsel of one of the largest natural resources conglomerates globally where her mandate included counsel on complex international transactions. Pooja had also served as private practitioner in law firms in India and UAE. Her past leadership positions include Board Member of various infrastructure and port companies. Pooja has a BSL and LL.B. degree from Pune University.

 

P.M. Devaiah, Group General Counsel, Adani Group

Mr. Devaiah is the Group General Counsel of Adani Group. Prior to joiningAdani Group, he has been associated with TATA Projects, Hindustan Unilever, TCI, BPL Group, the Carlyle Group, ICICI Venture, Future Capital and Everstone Capital. He was responsible for legal and compliance as a functional head at BPL Cellular and Carlyle Group, ICICI Venture and Everstone Capital (Asia Pacific responsibility). He has also worked on multi-lateral legal assignments, cross-border M&A transactions, complex shareholder litigations & arbitrations, legal and compliance matters relating to power, telecom, and manufacturing sector and ESG management. Mr. Devaiah has done close to three hundred investments (comprising of minority investments, buy-outs, asset purchases and new initiatives including platform deals, consortium investing with global investors. Mr. Devaiah has been enlisted on the Forbes legal power list 2020 as one of the top General Counsels published on #1st March 2021, and was the first and only GC in the private equity industry in India to have become a partner and thereafter, a Vice Chairman donning the hat of legal and other leadership related functions. Finally, he was one among the 8 Nominees for Innovative General Counsel- Asia Pacific by Financial Times (FT) in 2019- the only GC nominated from INDIA.

 

Deepak Chauhan, Director & Head, Legal, Welspun Group

Deepak Chauhan heads the Legal function for Welspun Group. He has over 26 years of hands-on experience in diversified areas such as corporate & securities laws, real estate, disputes, and intellectual property laws. Having worked across varied sectors, he significantly contributes towards strategic initiatives, risk mitigation, and policy advocacy. Chambers Asia-Pacific has recognized him amongst the most influential General Counsels in India. Deepak holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Law and a master’s degree in Law from Government Law College, Mumbai, specializing in Corporate & International Business Laws. 

 

Dr. Ajit Ranade, Group Executive President & Group Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group
Dr. Ajit Ranade is the Group Executive President and Chief Economist at Aditya Birla Group which is an Indian Multinational company with operations in more than 45 countries with its head office in Mumbai. He is an active member and serves on apex committees of national industry chambers. He has served on several committees of the Reserve Bank of India. His career has spanned both academia and the corporate sector. He currently serves on the boards of some companies as well as research and academic institutions. He writes regularly in the press, on current economic and social topics. He is also a co-founder of the Association for Democratic reforms, a civil society organization working in electoral and political reforms. 
Ranade is an engineer from IIT Bombay, a management graduate from IIM Ahmedabad, and received his Ph.D. in Economics from Brown University, USA. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Bombay in 2009, and the Scholar of the Year award from Wadia Trust in 2010. 

 

Ashwani Verma, Vice President Legal, Sequoia Capital India

Ashwani Verma is the Vice President Legal at Sequoia Capital India. He has extensive experience in handling private equity, venture capital and M&A transactions in technology, e-commerce and consumer space. As part of Sequoia Capital India, he advises on investment transactions, mergers & acquisitions, exits, IPO, restructuring and other regulatory matters in India, Singapore and other South-East Asian countries. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital India, Ashwani was a partner at Themis Associates, a boutique private equity and venture capital focused law firm.
Ashwani graduated from ILS Law College and is also a qualified Company Secretary. 

 

Lakshmi Menon Nair, Co-Founder & COO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Advising executive, senior management and the board of directors on legal matters; leading and managing the performance and development of the in-house legal team; managing and resolving major disputes with minimum impact to business; working with senior leaders on significant corporate initiatives. Advising on strategic and large commercial transactions; Advising on business expansion and business acquisitions, employment issues, global trade and customs operations, procurement related disputes, vendor compliance and real estate related issues; Planning and managing legal budgets and expenditure; implementing legal compliance programs for the organization; member of the ethics and compliance council; member of the inclusion and diversity committee.