Firm Profile > IndusLaw > Bangalore, India

Corporate and M&A Tier 1

Acting for clients in the private and public sector in industries such as e-commerce, power, and renewable energy, including corporations and investors, IndusLaw’s expertise spans acquisitions, gaining regulatory approval from bodies such as the SEBI and the NCLT, acquisition financing, corporate restructuring and foreign direct investment. Srinivas Katta, whose experience encompasses corporate governance, fundraising, joint ventures and private equity investments and exits, recently advised Tangible Play Inc on the sale of its entire shareholding to start-up Byju for $120m, representing one of the most lucrative transactions in the tech sector in India. Nishant Singh regularly advises clients such as private equity funds, investment banks and Fortune 100 companies on cross-border transactions. Recently he advised Agritrade Resources Limited on its acquisition of SKS Power Generation through a one-time settlement of its debt to lenders totalling approx. $31m. Manish Gupta is due to join from Link Legal - India Law Services. Navin Syiem left the firm in December 2019 and is to join L&L Partners Law Offices.

Labour and employment Tier 1

Avik Biswas leads the full-scope employment practice at IndusLaw, which is regularly instructed by household-name corporates on regulatory, advisory and dispute resolution mandates. The team has strong experience with matters specific to, among others, unionised workforces, collective bargaining, contract workforces, employee benefits structuring, policy review, retrenchment and internal investigations. Recent unique contentious issues involved providing advice on alleged breaches to the Employee’ Provident Fund Act, disputes arising from C-suite terminations (including currently acting for an ex-CFO) and advising on employees’ claims to shares arising from M&A transactions. Manishi Pathak has recently been welcomed to the partnership from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, who strengthens the team’s regulatory expertise.

Capital markets Tier 1

Antitrust and competition Tier 2

IndusLaw has bolstered its antitrust and competition offering with the recruitment of Rahul Goel and Anu Monga from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, who together are go-to names in the nascent field of relevant turnover applications. Current mandates for the competition team include representation before the CCI, NCLAT and upper courts on matters relating to abuse of dominance, cartelisation and anti-competitive allegations. The firm handles merger control matters for a range of clients in the e-commerce, tech, telecoms, pharmaceuticals and financial services industries, among others.

Banking and finance Tier 2

IndusLaw’s banking and finance group often acts in mandates relating to the resolution of distressed companies under the IBC process. The group displays further expertise in acquisition financing and project financing, particularly in the renewable energy sector. Nishant Singh, who is qualified in India and New York, recently advised Agritrade Resources on the acquisition of SKS Power Generation through a one-time settlement of the company’s debt to several lenders, including State Bank of India.

Dispute resolution Tier 2

The litigation team at IndusLaw frequently handles recovery matters before the NCLT on behalf of petitioners, and also has expertise in cases relating to allegations of fraud, patent infringement, bilateral treaty disputes and contentious matters governed by the Companies Act, 2013. Lomesh Nidmuri, whose expertise includes intellectual property and commercial disputes, successfully represented SAIF III Mauritius Company in a claim against iVision Media India and several others concerning the transfer of the client's investments into a different group company. The group was strengthened by the arrival of four partners, including Swapnil Khatri, who represents clients including major corporations and banks before the Supreme Court, Bombay High Court and the NCLT.

Investment funds Tier 2

IndusLaw is particularly active in the venture capital space for which the investment funds team advises both founders and investors on their transactions. The sizeable team provides advice on transaction structuring and use of appropriate instruments, deal documentation and exit strategy. Investee clients are sourced from a broad range of sectors including pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, real estate, tech and healthcare. Suneeth Katarki, Avimukt Dar and Kartik Ganapathy handle high-value private equity transactions.

Projects and energy Tier 2

Fielding a strong reputation for M&A and investment related matters in the energy, infrastructure and natural resource sector, IndusLaw also assists with cross-border and regional projects, including development and bid advisory. The practice has particular experience preparing and negotiating concession, off-take, EPC, O&M and supply agreements. Advising clients on complex financing arrangements is another strength for the department, where Avirup Nag stands out for his involvement in an array of deals in the power, transport, oil and gas sectors. Deepak Chowdhury, Arun Kumar, and Nishant Singh are also noted.

TMT Tier 2

The TMT practice at IndusLaw offers legal expertise in innovative fields such as cloud computing, data localisation, digital streaming, fintech and AI. Stand-out professionals such as Namita Viswanath and new addition Rahul Goel (joining from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas) assist global players and Indian start-ups with regulatory approvals, legislative insights, contractual negotiations (including SaaS agreements, product licensing and strategic partnerships) and digital content commissioning. A robust transactional offering sees the firm handling M&A and private equity transactions in the telecoms and technology sectors with a recent uptick in instructions from fintech clients.

White-collar crime Tier 2

The strength of IndusLaw’s white-collar crime offering lies in conducting internal investigations for commercial clients when allegations of anti-bribery, anti-corruption and codes-of-conduct breaches arise. Partners from the firm’s employment and commercial litigation practices also regularly revise and devise internal guidelines and enforcement structures in compliance with the relevant laws.

Intellectual property Tier 3

Enforcement strategy has been a recent strong point for IndusLaw’s IP practice, with instructions for recently promoted partner Aditi Verma Thakur involving trade mark infringement and passing off litigation, issuing take-down notices, dilution-prevention strategy, copyright infringement and domain name disputes. The team also assists with filing and prosecuting IP assets and provides general advice on brand protection requirements in India and the broader APAC region. Due diligence support on corporate transactions and IP commercialisation strategy are other core aspect of the practice, with practice head Suneeth Katarki being a go-to name for these services. Clients are predominantly domestic with a strong list of startups, SMEs and big-ticket corporations.