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India Teams 2019

Tata Realty

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India Teams 2019

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Tata Realty

About

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 and acquisitions. There are regional lawyers situated in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai which provide local expertise in transactions. The company constructs residential and commercial projects, industrial parks, malls and infrastructure in almost all states in India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. The litigation team handles the legal notices and litigation in all these regions. The local laws vary in each of the states/regions and the team has an acute understanding of the nuances in the law in each of these regions. The litigation team also personally appear in court and argues the matters themselves. The contracts team drafts all contracts for the company in-house for all the regions. These include engineering contracts, service provider agreements, procurement contracts, tenders, customer contracts and communication. The work is not outsourced to law firms. The acquisition team manages the due diligence, as well as the M&A and sale of properties, assets, companies having extensive land parcels in all the company’s regions of operations. This requires an in-depth understanding of local laws since the laws pertaining to land are complex in India becuase there is no certification of title of by the government. The company has around 53 projects in almost all states in India, Sri Lanka and Maldives and the team manages most of the transactions through in-house expertise.

What significant cases and transactions has the legal team been involved with in the last two years?

First, an international arbitration with the Government of Maldives. Tata Housing had executed a contract with the Government of Maldives for constructing social housing and residential development in Maldives. The island of Lhossalafushi in Lhaviyani atoll was also leased to Tata Housing for developing villas. Following the construction of the social housing units, the Government sought to terminate the contract. Tata Housing (through its group companies) invoked arbitration claiming US$200m in damages. Tata Housing also obtained a favourable interim order from the Bombay High Court whereby the Government of Maldives was given an injunction from acting on the notice of termination and Tata Housing was permitted to continue with the sale and construction of units. Based on negotiations, the parties entered into settlement terms whereby Tata Housing was entitled to continue construction on the plots granted subject to revise commercials. Second, a contract with the Government of Sri Lanka for the development of social housing in Colombo. Tata Housing Development and others entered into an agreement for a public-private partnership project with the Urban Development Authority of Sri Lanka (UDA) for the redevelopment of land in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The project comprised the construction of rehabilitation buildings for the residents of Sri Lanka and the balance being the mixed use free sale component. The project contemplates the redevelopment of Slave Island and has been granted a special development status in Sri Lanka. The contract is in furtherance of the India-Sri Lanka ties to encourage Indian private companies to do business in Sri Lanka. The construction of the project has been praised and appreciated by the Government of Sri Lanka. Third, Xander-backed Virtuous Retail is purchasing two mall projects from Tata Realty in a deal valued at around Rs 700 crore. The company will be exiting the two mall properties, totalling 1.15 million square feet, in Amritsar and Nagpur. The due diligence has been extensive and technical since the Amritsar Mall has been operational and the construction of the Nagpur Mall has been recently completed and is due for launch. Last, a landmark investment by Hines in Mumbai. Global real estate firm, Hines invested US$23m in one of Tata Housing’s projects in Mumbai, being one of the first wellness projects in India. The deal is unique since it marks the entry of Hines in Mumbai. Further, the structuring of the deal transaction is unique due to the implementation of new legislation, the Real Estate Regulation Act, for the real estate sector.

What are some of the main challenges the team has faced when covering multiple jurisdictions?

The legal team manages transactions and litigation in almost all states in India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Risk convergence has impacted the role of the in-house team. The speed and impact of reputational harm in an era of social media requires the legal team to respond instantaneously. The strategy of the legal team is risk management rather than risk avoidance. The objective is to mitigate risk rather than eliminating it by suggesting alternatives. In the event that the business team is required to be given a negative response, the team provides a credible opinion. All states in India have different local languages and most government records and transaction documents are in local language. The team is required to be able to correctly interpret and analyse documents in local language and provide advice to the company accordingly. The team has also advised the government on challenges in recent new legislations which have led to the government issuing necessary amendments and clarifications for provisions of law. For example, the Maharashtra state government issued circulars on compliances by the company under the Real Estate Regulation Act with respect to certifications by engineers and accountants with respect to construction and banking operations.

In spite of the contribution of women in all spheres of life, they are made to “believe” that they are in need of empowerment. With almost half the population of the world being women, it is ironical that women need an external force to make them independent in all aspects from mind, thought, rights etc. In India, a working woman is either perceived as a single or divorced woman. When a women gets married, she is written off at work. The perception is that she has other responsibilities and will not be able to commit odd hours to work. Leaving the office before the boss is also perceived as being a less productive employee notwithstanding that all tasks are completed and there have been no long lunch or coffee breaks taken unlike their male counterpart. I have actually been told to tell my children that they have no mother and my husband should believe that he has no wife, and that would make me a high performing employee. The activism that is really required is changing the mind-set of women, that they are not a lesser species and need support from the other gender. As Jawaharlal Nehru said, ‘to awaken the people, it is the women that must be awakened. Once she is on the move, the family moves, the village moves, the nation moves’.

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