The Legal 500

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.