India Teams 2019 – GC Powerlist
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India Teams 2019

Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel

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Accenture

| Accenture

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The team consists of 21 legal professionals in India. In addition,...

Aditya Birla Group

| Aditya Birla Group

Airbus Group India

| Airbus Group India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? Airbus in India has a strong presence across its three business divisions (commercial aircraft, helicopters, defence and space). The customer...

Altico Capital India

| Altico Capital India

Amazon

| Amazon

Anheuser Busch InBev, India (GCC)

| Anheuser Busch InBev, India (GCC)

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? Jahnavi Ravindranath manages the global in-house centres of Anheuser Busch InBev (AB InBev), the Global Capability Center (GCC) and Growth...

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Apac Financial Services

| Apac Financial Services

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Apollo International

| Apollo International

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance

| Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has been involved with in the last two years? Regarding litigations, the team manages around 3,000 litigations across...

Barclays India

| Barclays India

Bharti Airtel

| Bharti Airtel

Bharti Enterprises

| Bharti Enterprises

Biocon

| Biocon

Boeing India

| Boeing India

What are the most significant projects that your legal team has been involved with recently? Boeing India legal plays a business enabler role and has been actively engaged in all...

Bosch India

| Bosch India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? Our legal team is structured to mirror the global matrix organisation...

Bridgestone India

| Bridgestone India

CG Power and Industrial Solutions

| CG Power and Industrial Solutions

Cisco Systems

| Cisco Systems

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? In keeping with the Cisco legal ethos, the Asia Pacific Service...

Citibank India

| Citibank India

Citibank India – Global Markets

| Citibank India - Global Markets

CLP India

| CLP India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? CLP India’s business saw significant changes and growth in 2018. In...

Cognizant

| Cognizant

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? The India and Asia Pacific legal team is headed by Narayanan T, senior vice president and general counsel – India...

Credit Suisse

| Credit Suisse

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has been involved with in the last two years? The India legal team deals with a wide array...

Danaher Corporation (Diagnostics)

| Danaher Corporation (Diagnostics)

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? Globally, the legal and compliance team at Danaher is divided by platforms (i.e. operating companies falling under the same function)...

DBS Bank

| DBS Bank

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The legal team at DBS Bank India Limited (DBIL) consists of...

Dell International Services India

| Dell International Services India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? Smita Priyadarshini is the senior managing legal director, for Dell Technologies...

Deloitte Shared Services India

| Deloitte Shared Services India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? Senior lawyers in the team oversee the provision of in-house legal...

Deutsche Bank India

| Deutsche Bank India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The team consists of five attorneys, one corporate secretary and two...

Diageo

| Diageo

Discovery Communications India

| Discovery Communications India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? Discovery Communications India prides itself with an “All-Women’s legal team”. The team is currently comprised of five members headed by...

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories

| Dr. Reddy's Laboratories

DuPont

| DuPont

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The legal organisation within the company has undergone restructuring globally and...

Feedback Infra

| Feedback Infra

Flipkart

| Flipkart

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? In order to best serve the needs of the company, the legal team at Flipkart is structured similarly to how...

GAIL (India)

| GAIL (India)

What have been the major external trends that have impacted your team’s work over the past two years? To strengthen the litigation mechanism in the company, the law department has...

GE John F Welch Technology Centre

| GE John F Welch Technology Centre

Can you explain how the legal team is structured and highlight senior individuals? The department is structured with the organisational head being the general counsel. Various verticals are managed by...

GE South Asia

| GE South Asia

Can you explain the structure of the legal team? GE in India is a conglomerate with diverse businesses ranging encompassing steam power, gas power, renewable energy, healthcare and aviation, and...

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

| Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

Godrej Industries and Godrej Consumer Products

| Godrej Industries and Godrej Consumer Products

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? The corporate-legal team, comprising of 16 in-house legal professionals and four paralegal staff, caters to Godrej Industries (GIL), Godrej Consumer...

Harman International

| Harman International

HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation)

| HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation)

Can you explain how the legal team is structured? The in-house legal team has two verticals, corporate legal and retail legal. The corporate legal deptarment functions as a strategic and...

HDFC Life Insurance

| HDFC Life Insurance

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? The legal and compliance department is led by general counsel, Narendra Gangan who manages the department. The legal department has...

HDFC Property Ventures (HPVL)

| HDFC Property Ventures (HPVL)

Can you summarise the role of each legal team member? The legal team of HPVL is headed by Rajeev Kumar, senior vice president – legal, who has about 20 years...

Hinduja Group

| Hinduja Group

What recent developments in India have impacted your company and the team the most? Our group company in India has been impacted by recent regulatory changes in relation to corporate...

Hindustan Unilever

| Hindustan Unilever

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? At HUL, our operating model is designed to deliver faster decisions....

ICICI Group

| ICICI Group

IIFL Finance

| IIFL Finance

IndiaRF

| IndiaRF

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? IndiaRF is an investment manager that looks to invest in distressed...

Infosys

| Infosys

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS)

| Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS)

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? We are a young and dynamic team of approximately 17 lawyers...

ISS Facility Services India

| ISS Facility Services India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? The ISS India legal team comprises of 12 talented individuals based at the ISS India corporate office in Mumbai. The...

Jacobs Engineering

| Jacobs Engineering

Johnson & Johnson

| Johnson & Johnson

KKR & Co.

| KKR & Co.

Kotak Mahindra Bank

| Kotak Mahindra Bank

How would you introduce the legal team to our readers? The legal team of Kotak Mahindra Bank is a one-stop shop for all legal requirements of a financial services conglomerate...

L&T Construction

| L&T Construction

L&T Financial Services

| L&T Financial Services

Lupin

| Lupin

What are the most significant activities that your legal team has been involved with recently? A bird’s-eye-view of the broad level of activities include: •M&A and JVs: Documentation/ Negotiation of...

Mahindra Rise

| Mahindra Rise

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The Mahindra Group legal team, comprising of 47 lawyers, provides assistance...

Marico

| Marico

What are the most significant projects that your legal team has been involved with in the last two years? In March 2017, Marico invested in the start-up ecosystem by acquiring...

Maruti Suzuki

| Maruti Suzuki

Max Life Insurance

| Max Life Insurance

Microsoft India

| Microsoft India

Mondelēz International

| Mondelēz International

More Retail

| More Retail

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? Legal head Gopal Naik is the most senior lawyer in the...

MRPL

| MRPL

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The legal heads at each location report to the general manager...

Mylan Pharmaceuticals

| Mylan Pharmaceuticals

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)

| National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The legal team has two clear divisions, namely, the contracts team...

Nestaway Technologies

| Nestaway Technologies

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The team is based on a hub and spoke model with...

Nexus Ventures Partners

| Nexus Ventures Partners

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? We have a very simple structure as we have only two members in the team. The vice president – legal,...

Nuvoco Vistas

| Nuvoco Vistas

Can you explain how the legal team is structured and highlight key individuals within the department? The Nuvoco legal team is a close knitted team headed by general counsel Sandeep...

OLA (ANI Technologies)

| OLA (ANI Technologies)

Oriflame India

| Oriflame India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The team is structured to support the business markets and global...

OYO Rooms

| OYO Rooms

P&G

| P&G

PayPal

| PayPal

Petronet LNG

| Petronet LNG

Piramal Capital & Housing Finance

| Piramal Capital & Housing Finance

Piramal Group

| Piramal Group

Can you describe the legal team’s structure and its key individuals? The Piramal Group, led by Ajay Piramal, is one of India’s foremost business conglomerates with a global footprint. The...

Raymonds

| Raymonds

RBL Bank

| RBL Bank

RBS Services India

| RBS Services India

Can you highlight the key individuals and their role within the department? Amar Sundram (head of legal, corporate governance and regulatory affairs) is managing legal affairs for RBS India, RBS...

Refinitiv

| Refinitiv

Rivigo

| Rivigo

Schaeffler

| Schaeffler

What challenges has the team faced when covering multiple jurisdictions in the region? Challenges with regard to multiple jurisdictions are mainly conducting business ethically in compliance with anti-trust laws as...

Schindler India

| Schindler India

Siemens

| Siemens

Snapdeal

| Snapdeal

Société Générale Global Solutions Center

| Société Générale Global Solutions Center

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The Bangalore hub of LeMANs (Legal Master Agreements Negotiations Team) is...

Standard Chartered

| Standard Chartered

Star India

| Star India

Sterlite Power

| Sterlite Power

Sun Life India Service Centre

| Sun Life India Service Centre

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The legal team at Sun Life, India is structured as follows:...

Syngenta India

| Syngenta India

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? Syngenta India is the mothership company in India and in the...

Tata Realty

| Tata Realty

How is the legal team structured? The legal department is based out of the corporate office in Mumbai. The legal team is mainly divided into teams that handle litigation, contracts...

Tata Sons

| Tata Sons

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) India

| The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) India

How would you introduce the legal team and its role within the organisation? HSBC is one of the world’s largest international banking and financial services organisations with origins in India...

The Indian Hotels Company

| The Indian Hotels Company

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? The legal function at IHCL is led by Rajendra Misra, executive...

The Times Of India Group

| The Times Of India Group

Times Innovative Media (A Times Group Company)

| Times Innovative Media (A Times Group Company)

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? The legal team led by Shardendu Kumar has been structured as a cohesive unit having five in-house lawyers, each handling...

Times Internet

| Times Internet

How is the legal team structured? The legal team consists of the head legal, general manager, chief managers and managers. Legal work across various businesses of the company are allocated...

Turner International India (A WarnerMedia company)

| Turner International India (A WarnerMedia company)

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department? A small legal team comprising of highly motivated attorneys who oversee...

Uber

| Uber

UltraTech Cement

| UltraTech Cement

Vedanta

| Vedanta

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured? The legal team at Vedanta has a total strength of around sixty talented lawyers spread across twelve business units, headed...

Vodafone India

| Vodafone India

Volkswagen Group Sales India

| Volkswagen Group Sales India

Can you explain the roles of team members within the department? I have five other lawyers in my team and one paralegal: a brief profile of each is given below:...

Volkswagen India

| Volkswagen India

Can you explain some of the regulatory challenges faced by legal team in working for a leading multinational in automobile sector? Automobile MNC companies have been experiencing many policy changes...

Wadia Group

| Wadia Group

Wipro

| Wipro

WNS

| WNS

Yes Bank

| Yes Bank

Zydus Wellness

| Zydus Wellness

Since first being published as The Corporate Counsel 100, The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist series has grown exponentially since its beginnings in 2013. It started by covering four of the world’s most established legal markets, and whilst the core objective of the publication – highlighting the most capable, outstanding and innovative in-house counsel in a jurisdiction – has remained the same, the reach and scope of the GC Powerlist has since become almost unrecognisable. Now present in a vast array of jurisdictions and with a portfolio of 70 unique editions, the GC Powerlist series has gone from strength to strength and has firmly been established as the “go-to” title that assesses and features leading corporate counsel across the globe.

Not content to rest on our laurels, we at The Legal 500 are evolving the GC Powerlist series even further, deepening our commitment to ensuring not only the widest geographical coverage, but to highlight and explore issues and challenges at the forefront of the minds of leading in-house lawyers. Therefore, this and future editions of the GC Powerlist will have a very different look to their predecessors. Instead of profiling individual counsel or in-house legal teams, more incisive insights from in-house thought leaders on the topics of the day will be featured throughout our new look GC Powerlist publications.

This new look entails the publication of Q&A transcripts regarding legal and business challenges, comment pieces on specific industry or regulatory affairs, more detailed analysis as to where the market is heading and content related to soft-skills, work ethic and business relationships that general counsel utilise. This new format will not only provide more thought leadership and insight, but provide more clarity on what is driving legal business forward in each market that we cover.

This brings me to India. I have personally covered the Indian in-house legal market for almost five years, which has allowed me to become familiar with the deep pool of in-house legal talent that exists across various industries and levels of seniority within the country. Whether it’s facilitating key company projects, adopting the latest technology to drive efficiencies or adjusting to new laws and regulations such as GDPR and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the country is brimming with in-house lawyers and teams who seamlessly adapt with the latest international business developments.

It was my pleasure to speak to and extensively interview India-based counsel spanning Fortune Global 500 companies, domestic business titans and organisations at the cutting edge of technology and the future of work, each with their own priorities and challenges. I would like to thank our sponsors – CMS, L&L Partners, Vahura and Blackstone Chambers – as well as our knowledge partner India Business Group for supporting this publication. I’d also like to thank our extensive network of law firm partners and in-house counsel in the region whose opinions we canvassed during the course of the research phase. Of course, feedback is valuable and welcomed, so if there are any comments or suggestions please feel free to get in touch with these.

Last but not least, I would like to congratulate all those featured in this year’s list. Their selection means they have been identified as legal teams who are amongst the standard bearers of the in-house legal profession, and as specialists who confront and manage commercial and legal challenges in a way that marks them as market leaders. They are not only talented legal teams, but instrumental partners to and crucial components of their respective organisations, demonstrably helping them drive success and move business forward.

Green Forum: Singapore 2025

Legal 500 hosted the Green Forum Singapore 2025 at Allen & Gledhill’s offices on the 30th level of One Marina Boulevard, offering panoramic views across the Singapore Strait. The event brought together leading general counsel, sustainability experts, and legal practitioners from across Southeast Asia for an afternoon of insight and discussion on the fast-evolving ESG landscape.

As sustainability remains a defining challenge for global business, the Green Forum served as an essential platform for exploring how corporate legal teams can navigate emerging environmental, social, and governance risks while helping shape long-term responsible growth.

Opening remarks were delivered by Joe Boswell, Global Editor of The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist series, who highlighted the increasingly strategic role of in-house counsel in guiding organisations through the sustainability transition. He was followed by Jerry Koh, Managing Partner at Allen & Gledhill, who reflected on Singapore’s leadership in driving ESG progress across Southeast Asia and the importance of collaboration between the legal profession and industry in delivering meaningful change. He also spoke about the firm’s long-term commitment to sustainability. This extends to personal exertions by himself and the other staff at A&G, who recently engaged in rubbish-cleaning efforts in Singapore’s waterways.

The first panel, The Impact of Technology and AI on ESG: Considerations and Challenges, examined how rapid technological advancements are reshaping sustainability priorities. Moderated by Tham Kok Leong, Head of Technology & Corporate Intellectual Property Practice at Allen & Gledhill, the session featured Sophie Lim, Co-Head of ESG & Public Policy Practice at Allen & Gledhill; Doris Chen, Head of Legal, APAC at dsm-firmenich; and Richard Koh, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Asia, Enterprise Partner Solutions. Together they discussed the ethical and regulatory implications of AI adoption, the importance of governance and transparency, and how legal teams can leverage technology to drive sustainable value creation.

The second session, Sustainable Finance and Green Capital Markets: The Legal Counsel’s Role, turned to the evolving role of lawyers in guiding businesses through sustainability-related financial frameworks. Moderated by Elsa Chen, Co-Head of ESG & Public Policy Practice and Regional Co-Head of Competition & Foreign Investment Review Practice at Allen & Gledhill, panellists Mushtaq Kapasi, Managing Director and Chief Representative, Asia-Pacific, International Capital Market Association; Ong Kangxin, Partner at Allen & Gledhill; and Bridget Burns, Capital Markets Counsel at Wells Fargo explored Singapore’s pioneering Singapore-Asia Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance (SAT) and its implications for disclosure, risk management, and investor confidence.

The event closed with remarks from Elsa Chen, followed by networking drinks and canapés overlooking the Singapore Strait. It was the perfect way to end a successful and engaging afternoon that reaffirmed the legal community’s pivotal role in shaping a more sustainable and transparent business landscape.