About

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 respective vertical leaders. The general counsel is John Thaliath. Senior counsel, Abhishek Bharti, is heading government affairs for the technology centre, general corporate, corporate governance and dispute resolution/litigation. Senior counsel, Mihir Chatterjee, is responsible for technology contracting, collaborative research arrangements, M&A, external commercial contracting. Surajit Atha is leader for the Patent and Analytics Centre of Excellence (PACE) handling patent landscape analysis for strategic research, IP analysis for M&A, IP strategy and IP operations. Compliance leader Yogish Patil is responsible for all policy and non-policy compliance including trainings, investigations and the design of compliance policies and procedures, providing counsel to lead ombudsman and the Committee for Prevention of Sexual Harassment.

What key projects has legal team has been involved with recently?

Over the last two years, there has been an increase in the engagement with both governmental and non-governmental institutions in the country and outside to collaborate on developing cutting edge technology. Collaborative research takes place on campuses at many of India’s institutes of technology and of science. The focus has also increased on technology licensing to adjacent non-competing areas. GE’s global focus on restructuring has also lead to many M&A transactions. Approaching dispute resolution in a strategic manner is another area where the team spends significant time.

What wider developments in India have impacted your company and the team the most?

New developments in India’s technology framework is transforming the way regulations work in the county. Keeping up with the pace, the research centre has aligned many of its activities with many ground-breaking government initiatives including: Additive Manufacturing and “Industry 4.0” Penetration; AI-based Airline Network Optimization to support the government’s “UDAN” initiative; Electric vehicle components and hybrid renewables to support “smart cities” for urban transformation; the government’s rural electrification programme; and affordable healthcare to support Ayushman Bharat, the healthcare scheme from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. These are all very proactive steps where we have enough impetus and autonomy within our legal team to work with business development teams, technology experts and scientists to work closely to determine possible answers to several tough scenarios in a technological world. In this regard, we are also working with the regulators to change the paradigm of how government sponsored research is done in India.

How does the team intend to assist with the organisation’s future goals?

The main focus will be on research as a service for external and clients. All of this is in emerging technologies. This team will assist in making the operation framework to enable this research, protect the interest of all stakeholders in this research and engage in enabling a policy environment conducive to the introduction of new technology.

How does the team utilise technology?

GE is a process-based organisation with internal technology resources, platforms and tools available for each department to customise to its needs. The legal department has driven tool-based efficiencies not just in the last year, but for many years. Some of the platforms we leverage include a contract management platform, a collaborative research technology gating and approval platform, document management systems and an automated regulatory compliance dashboard.

Can you explain the team’s culture?

The GE legal team is known for world-class talent and performance management culture. Our team at the centre is no different, and is highly business focused, solution-oriented, forward and future looking. We work towards reducing complexity and implementing simplified ways to reflect our centre’s fast-paced outlook. Each of our team members drives a culture of accountability, ownership and strictly believes in delivering a product which is not only high in quality but also positions us up to undertake any future research technology challenge posed by the regulators or internal stakeholders. Focus on…