The Legal 500

A heavyweight of the Indian legal market, Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co is able to devote significant resources to advising lenders or borrowers on big ticket financings. The ‘responsive and knowledgeable’ Gunjan Shah is a mainstay of the practice and recently acted for a consortium of banks on the $1.86bn debt restructuring of steel producer JSL Stainless. Recently promoted partner Prashant Gupta is the first full-time capital markets partner based outside 
Mumbai or Bangalore, and recently acted as local 
counsel to the underwriters on Coal India’s 
$3.5bn IPO - India’s largest IPO to date.

Luthra & Luthra provides ‘very good’ advice to many banks and corporates including Petronas International, Canara Bank, State Bank of India and Cairn India. It is particularly strong in the energy industry, and recently advised Power Finance Corporation as lead lender on the $3.6bn syndicated project financing of a coal-based thermal power project in Janjgir. On the capital markets side, the team advised Coal India on its $3.5bn equity raising. Sameen Vyas and Madhurima Mukherjee are recommended for project finance and capital markets respectively.

AZB & Partners’ ‘responsive and very commercial’ service represents corporates and banks on a range of financings. The team has 
also acted on various Mumbai-led capital 
markets transactions, including IPOs and bond issuances, for both issuers and underwriters.

J Sagar Associates provides ‘very professional and solutions-oriented advice’ to a strong roster of corporates and banks on asset, acquisition and project finance. Amit Kapur and Vishnu Sudarsan recently acted for an SBI-led consortium of lenders on a $181m term loan to JPVL. In addition to bank lending work, the team also has a significant reputation for capital markets instructions, although this is primarily handled from Mumbai.

While the bulk of the firm’s finance work is driven out of Mumbai, DSK Legal’s New Delhi office regularly provides assistance. The firm has a particularly strong reputation for capital markets mandates, and has advised a number of issuers on significant IPOs.

FoxMandal Little has a strong reputation for project finance work and recently advised the lender on financing for Rural Electrification Corporation’s 1,320MW thermal power project in Andhra Pradesh.

HSA Advocates provides ‘very pragmatic and solutions-oriented advice’ to an impressive portfolio of banks including Standard Chartered. Able to leverage its ‘pre-eminent projects’ expertise, the firm recently advised Deutsche Bank on the proposed financing for the holding company of a large power company in India, which has power projects all across India. Navim Syiem is recommended.

IndusLaw’s ‘young, enthusiastic and talented’ team is active for a broad range of clients at all levels of the capital structure. On the capital markets side, the ‘very professional’ Gaurav Dani represented Micromax on its $100m IPO. Avimukt Dar is also recommended.

Khaitan & Co. advises corporates and banks across the full suite of financing, and has a ‘strong capital markets’ offering led from 
Mumbai. New Delhi-based Sharad Vaid has an excellent reputation for advising on financial regulations.

While it is better known for its corporate strength, Kochhar & Co also handles financings for its corporate client base and a number of banks. Clients include HSBC, Asian Development Bank and Mastercard. Anjuli Sivaramakrishnan is praised for her ‘responsiveness, individual attention and depth of knowledge’.

Delhi-based S&R Associates opened an office in Mumbai in 2010 and is fast becoming one of the preeminent outfits for capital 
markets work. Active across the debt and equity spaces for underwriters and issuers, recent highlights include advising MakeMyTrip on its $80.5m Nasdaq Global Market IPO. Also active on bank debt facility transactions, Uday Walia represented Standard Chartered on a $900m revolving credit facility provided to Cairn Energy. Other clients include ICICI Securities, BNP 
Paribas, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.

At the ‘first-class’ Seth Dua & Associates, the ‘highly knowledgeable and precise’ Sunil Seth heads a small team that handles financing work for corporates from various industry sectors. It advised Fitness First on potential structures to finance its Indian operations, and also continues to represent the government-sponsored PPP National Skill Development Corporation on financing certain investment projects.

Trilegal is a ‘truly outstanding outfit’, which handles most of its financing work out of Mumbai, but where the New Delhi office regularly assists on transactions.

In addition to regularly representing banks in corporate finance transactions, APJ- SLG Law Offices also has a significant practice acting on debt and equity capital markets mandates.

Dhir & Dhir Associates is best known for its insolvency work and as such regularly advises corporate clients on restructuring. In new-money deals, it has a niche specialism for project financing and recently represented PTC India on several mandates including the INR1bn facility for Konassema Gas Power and the INR3.8bn 
financing for Madhya Bharat Power Corporation to establish a major hydroelectric project in Sikkin. Madhav Rastogi and Girish Rawat are recommended.

Dua Associates has developed a significant reputation advising clients on financing in the infrastructure and energy sectors. For example, Munish Sharma recently advised IOT Infrastructure & Energy Services on its IPO and Caparo Energy on its £50m AIM listing. Other clients include Deutsche Bank, IFC and Rural Electrification Corporation. Jyoti Pande provides excellent advice to lenders in project financings.

Jafa & Javali represented Shalimar Wires Industries on procuring a $151m facility to refinance and develop the company. Other clients include Deutsche Bank, Handelsbanken and ABN AMRO.

K. R. Chawla & Co advises banks across a raft of plain vanilla and more complex financings. It also regularly advises foreign banks on establishing themselves in India.

KSB Partners has been particularly busy advising on restructuring, while new-money deals have included acting on a $50m facility for a 600MW coal-fired plant on a greenfield site in the State of Maharashtra.

Link Legal has been involved in a number of project finance transactions including advising a consortium of banks on the financing of a 1,400MW coal-fired thermal power plant at Rajpura. In December 2010, the firm merged with Zenith Law Partners, a boutique capital markets firm, and is already picking up a significant flow issuer and underwriter mandates. Raj Rani Bhalla is recommended.

O.P. Khaitan & Co. Solicitors and Advocates handles transactions and restructurings in the real estate sector. Recent highlights include advising a leading real estate company on a $150m offshore loan. Clients include Axis Bank, Mashreq Bank and DNB Nor Bank.

In addition to handling some financings for corporate clients, P & A Law Offices continues to represent financial institutions such as State Street Bank.

Bhasin & Co advises on project finance mandates, in addition to acting for clients on equity capital markets transactions.

In addition to advising a number of banks such as Arctic Holdings, Australia on day-to-day commercial work, LexCounsel also handles financing work for banks and private equity sponsors.

Rajinder Narain & Co’s ‘very strong’ aviation finance practice is its signature area. Clients include airlines and banks.

Singhania & Partners has a good reputation for project financing and regularly handles work for banks and borrowers across a range of infrastructure projects particularly those involving power, ports, roads and railways. The team has handled a raft of work for Power Finance Corporation, recently advising it on a INR50bn loan to Andhra Pradesh Power Development Corporation for the purposes of establishing a coal-based thermal power station in Andhra Pradesh. Dipak Rao led on the aforementioned deal and is recommended.

Titus & Co advises banks and corporates on financings and restructurings. Recent highlights include advising Himalaya Steel Mill Services on its loan agreements.

Vaish Associates’ Satwinder Singh advised Amber Enterprises on receiving an investment of $6.75m from IFCI Venture Capital Fund.

Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co is ‘preeminent for banking and finance 
matters’. Clients have included Reliance Capital and JM Financial Products. Cyril Shroff is recommended. The recent arrival of Niloufer Lam, a former consultant director for Bank of America Trustees, bolstered the practice’s resources.

The team at AZB & Partners is recommended for its ‘excellent analytical skills’ and ‘good understanding of financial 
products’. It advised Bharti Airtel on negotiating and documenting a $2.7bn syndicated loan 
from lenders including State Bank of India,
IDBI Bank Limited and HDFC Bank. It also acted as counsel to a lender consortium of 18 banks and financial institutions, led by ICICI Bank, regarding a 
INR 56.7bn loan facility to Jaiprakash Power Ventures. Bahram Vakil is ‘excellent’.

Dave & Girish & Co is praised for its project finance experience, and advises a number of domestic and international financial institutions.

Key work for the team at Juris Corp includes advised RBS as lead lender on a $500m loan to Reliance Industries and Infotel Broadband Services. Sonali Sharma and H Jayesh are recommended.

Khaitan & Co.’s ‘first-rate’ team is jointly led by Shishir Mehta and Devidas Banerji, the 
latter having recently joined from Clifford Chance in Singapore. It advised Reliance Industries 
and Infotel Broadband Services on $500m financing to fund their recently acquired pan-India Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum. It also advised ICICI Bank on Maytas Infra’s debt restructuring.

Luthra & Luthra’s efficient banking team advised a consortium of banks including 
Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas 
Bank on a $3.18bn loan to Videocon Telecommunications. Mohit Saraf, Vijaya Rao Aniket Sengupta and Sudipta Routh are the key individuals.

Trilegal is recommended for its ‘excellent industry knowledge’. It advised Standard Chartered as lead arranger of a $7.5bn acquisition facility and a $2bn bridge facility for Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of Zain’s African telecom business. Other clients include Axis Bank and State Bank of India. Karan Singh is ‘first rate’.

Wadia Ghandy & Co is an experienced adviser to a number of international and domestic financial institutions.

Led by the ‘brilliant’ Alka Bharucha, the team at Bharucha & Partners advised Tower Vision on a INR8.3bn syndicated project finance facility, arranged by Axis Bank. On the lender side, it advised Axis Bank and ICICI Bank on a $120m facility to an overseas subsidiary of the Religare group.

Clients of DSK Legal’s ‘top-notch’ team include JBF Industries, Union Bank, Bank of Baroda and Lakshmi Vilas Bank. Practice head D K Vasal is ‘excellent’, and managing partner Anand Desai is also recommended.

Desai & Diwanji’s roll call of clients has included Société Générale, Union Bank of India, Royal Bank of Scotland and BNP Paribas.

Recent work for India Law Services includes advising IDBI and six other banks on a $350m loan to Tata Teleservices.

J Sagar Associates advised the arrangers of a $500m financing for Indian Oil Corporation, and advised Standard Chartered on a $429m financing of an Indian telecoms company. Dina Wadia and Aashit Shah are highly recommended.

Majmudar & Co’s ‘outstanding’ team acted for Axis Bank on its $150m financing of Essar group’s Cyprus entity. It also advised Punjab National Bank on a $20.5m loan financing for Opera Minmetals. The ‘very experienced’ managing partner Akil Hirani is recommended.

Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe has vast experience in asset finance and banking work.

Udwadia & Udeshi has substantial experience in banking arbitrations. Darius Udwadia is recommended.

Crawford Bayley & Co is recommended for its experience in structured and acquisition financing as well as investment funds, trade and private equity financing.

Dua Associates advised Proparco and DEG on the €7.5m financing of a solar power project set up by Bhoruka Power. Anil Agarwal is recommended.

FoxMandal Little’s Mumbai office is recommended for project finance.

The ‘knowledgeable’ team at Gagrats advises Godavari Sugar Mills on its cross-border financings and corporate guarantees.

Kanga & Co’s clients have included Barclays and State Bank of India.

Kochhar & Co’s clients include Aditya Birla Finance Company, Finnfund, SwedFund, Volkswagen, Société Générale and Avnet India. Rupali Sharma is recommended.

Led by Narayan Iyer, the team at Talwar Thakore & Associates advised the arrangers of facilities totalling $6bn to finance the acquisition of a controlling stake in Cairn India by Vedanta Group members.

Vaish Associates served as Indian counsel for RHC Financial Services (Mauritius) advising on multicurrency term and bridge loan facilities from DBS Bank. It also advised on the acquisition of a retail mortgage loan portfolio from Citifinancial Consumer Finance India. Sandhya Iyer heads the team.

ALMT Legal advised a leading international brokerage firm on restructuring its Indian stockbroking arm, including advising on income tax, SEBI and foreign investment laws. Aliff Fazelbhoy heads the four-partner team, which also includes Ryna Karani.

A.R.A. LAW’s banking team has acted for clients including Société Générale.

D H Law Associates recently advised State Bank of India, UCO Bank, HDFC Bank and National Insurance Company on documentation and insurance as well as subrogated recoveries. Prasad Dhande is recommended.

JBSS & Co is on the panels of Indian Bank and Citibank. Abhay Ahuja heads the practice.

The ‘enthusiastic’ team at Brus Chambers, Advocates & Solicitors represents clients including Union Bank of India, Dhanalaxmi Bank and HSBC Bank.

Clasis Law’s Ishtiaq Ali and Damodara Rao are recommended for banking law advice.

HSA Advocates acted for Deutsche Bank on the proposed financing of the holding 
company and subsidiaries of a hydro and 
biomass power generation entity and also advised IDFC on its financing of Essar Power Hazira.
Anjan Dasgupta is recommended. Utsa Shome recently moved to Argus Partners.

MDP & Partners expertly advises a number of high-profile banks and financial institutions. The highly regarded Ashok Paranjpe 
recently joined from Naik Naik and Company.

M.V.Kini & Co’s clients include Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and UCO Bank. B.D. Bhandary heads the team.

Nishith Desai Associates regularly advises banks on transactions, investments and regulatory issues.

Key clients of Rajani Associates include RAS Infrastructure and Glodyne Technoserve.

S.N. Gupta & Co has experience advising national and international financial institutions.

SJ Law has vast experience in advising 
banks and financial institutions on project finance.

Tyabji Dayabhai advises its clients on aviation leasing.

Deemed to be a ‘leader in the field’, Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co’s recent record includes advising on the $850m 
QIP of Adani Enterprises. It also advised the managing banks - Deutsche Bank, UBS and Goldman Sachs - on Tata Power’s $450m hybrid bond. Cyril Shroff and Ashwath Rau are highly regarded.

AZB & Partners acted as legal adviser to the underwriters - including Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Citigroup Global Markets India Private and SBICAP Securities - on the Tata Steel’s supplemental public issue of equity shares. Shameek Chaudhuri is recommended.

The ‘highly rated’ team at Crawford Bayley & Co was instructed to advise public sector undertaking SAIL on its follow-on public offer (FPO). The group is experienced in a range of areas including IPOs, cross-border syndicated loans, structured and acquisition financing, and regulatory matters.

Headline clients for the team at J Sagar Associates include IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, State Bank of India and Financial Technologies India. Somasekhar Sundaresan is excellent.

Khaitan & Co. advised the underwriters in the $584m IPO of JSW Energy and acted for KSK Power Ventur on its secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange. Ravi Kulkarni always ‘works to the highest standard’ and Vibhava Sawant and Nikhilesh Panchal are also recommended.

Talwar Thakore & Associates acted as Indian counsel to the joint global co-ordinators and joint book runners for the $175m FCCB offering by Suzlon Energy. The team also acted as Indian counsel to Citigroup Global Markets India and RBS Equities (India) for the right issue offer by Central Bank of India.

Bharucha & Partners advised Suzlon Energy on its INR 13.08bn rights issue of equity shares. The ‘brilliant’ Alka Bharucha heads the team.

Desai & Diwanji is recommended for its equity capital markets experience.

Luthra & Luthra’s ‘reliable’ team advised the Ministry of Coal and Coal India on the latter’s $3.49bn IPO. Mohit Saraf and Manan Lahoty head the team.

Nishith Desai Associates has advised clients such as Indiabulls Financial Services, Pyramid Retail and Orbit Corporation on capital markets matters.

Rajani Associates’ clients include Glodyne Technoserve, Mudra Lifestyle and APL Apollo Tubes. Sangeeta Lakhi and Sanjay Israni heads the team.

Trilegal acted as local counsel for DSP 
Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Enam Securities and UBS Securities on the QIP of Exide Industries. It also acted as the domestic legal counsel to Ramky Infrastructure in its IPO of equity 
shares. Srinivas Parthasarathy is recommended.

DSK Legal acted for Strides Arcolab on its $100m QIP and advised Arrow Textiles on a rights issue. Raksha Kothari is recommended.

Dave & Girish & Co is highly regarded for its experience in US securities.

Gagrats advised Hysen Development Corporation of Hongkong on its script 
dividend schemes and acted for Elder Pharmaceuticals on a proposed issue of global depository receipts.

Juris Corp’s client base includes Morgan Stanley, Edelweiss and Société Générale. H Jayesh heads the five-partner practice.

Kanga & Co’s ‘reputable’ capital markets practice has advised clients such as ARSS Infrastructure Projects and Raheja Universal.

Wadia Ghandy & Co advised Lodha Developers on an IPO.

ALMT Legal acted as counsel to the issuer, Flexituff International, on its INR1.5bn IPO. It also advised a leading US financial services company on the securities and banking laws affecting its group companies in India. Bangalore-based S R Arun and Dhanya Menon head the practice. Aliff Fazelbhoy and Ryna Karani are the key contacts in Mumbai.

A.R.A. LAW’s clients have included ICICI Prudential and You Telecom.

Economic Laws Practice is recommended for its capital markets expertise.

Established in 2010, FINSEC Law Advisors acted for MCX Stock Exchange in its ongoing dispute with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). It also advised Claris Lifesciences on regulatory matters relating to its IPO. The ‘knowledgeable’ Sandeep Parekh is recommended.

MDP & Partners expertise includes advising issuers, investment banks, underwriters and lead managers on offerings in the domestic 
and international capital markets, including 
IPOs, follow-on public offerings, QIPs and rights issues.

Majmudar & Co provides ‘concise and commercially focused advice’ and advised Dubai Mercantile Exchange on Indian securities and foreign exchange laws applicable to trading commodities derivatives on offshore exchanges from India. It also acted as local counsel to Essar Shipping Ports & Logistics regarding a $280m foreign currency convertible bonds issuance. Akil Hirani heads the team.

Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe has ‘vast experience’ in the capital markets arena.

Vaish Associates clients have included Illinois Tools Work, National Stock Exchange of India and Intel Capital Mauritius.