About

Founded in Switzerland in 1874, the Schindler Group is a leading global provider of elevators, escalators and related services. Schindler India is a 100% owned subsidiary of Schindler Group and takes pride in operating with a “leadership through customer services” outlook as the cornerstone of its growth strategy, something which is evident through their service presence across 42 major India cities. Considered a business partner by the business, the legal team has shifted internal perceptions of being the “no-go” department to the “know and go” department. ‘This is well reflected in internal customer satisfaction surveys, where the legal department was ranked 14th in 2015 but today it’s 4th’, adds general counsel, compliance officer and company secretary to India and Asia, Atul Juvle. Following the team culture of Team, Empowerment, Actions and Monitoring (TEAM), the legal team has broken the walls of job responsibility and so today ‘virtually anyone can take up any matter and can manage the show’. Performing as a team outstandingly for the last consecutive three years, on an individual basis as well as a team basis, the legal function has achieved significant recognition for its success as a team. Amongst its most stellar members the following stand out for their involvement: Priyam Singhvi, divisional general manager for commercial contracts and Mandar Nalawade, who joined as ethics and code of conduct officer, has been praised for excelling on a number of investigations whilst assisting in handling group audit and is now fully responsible for the Western and Eastern region, covering all legal and compliance matters. Sunil Khajjidoni stands out as the South legal representative, who handles all the general counsel functions for the Southern region, namely legal, contracts, commercial and code of conduct. Recently having won two major cases in the High Courts of Mumbai and Hyderabad further testifies the value of this highly competent team.