IndusLaw

IndusLaw is a reliable partner on both sides of banking and finance transactions. Since transferring from a highly recommended practice, Delhi-based Navin Syiem and Avirup Nag have been teaming on project financings, including regulatory and security advice to IDFC Bank on a Rs6.7 billion term loan. Nishant Singh, based in Mumbai, is commended for his “round the clock availability and deep knowledge”.

IndusLaw is growing its practice. Karthik BM, former in-house counsel at Inno Group, a real estate investor; Deepak Chowdhury in Hyderabad; and Vivek Daswaney, a real estate and employment specialist, have arrived. Suneeth Katarki advised pharmaceutical multinational Merck on leasing of a mixed-use development project in Bangalore. Instructed by Vatika, a Gurgaon real estate company, Gaurav Dani acted on a Rs7 billion real-estate debt financing by Altico Capital. M Nikhilesh Rao has assisted Nike India on the leasing of retail property in Mumbai.

IndusLaw continues to offer strong merger advice in the technology space. Leading lawyer Suneeth Katarki and Gaurav Dani have advised consumer internet company Quikr on its $120 million acquisition of CommonFloor.com, a real estate site. The “knowledgeable, skilled negotiator and deep domain expert” Srinivas Katta and Avimukt Dar, who is “quick to grasp essential issues” have acted for PayU Group on its $130 million acquisition of Citrus Payment Solutions. Saurav Kumar, Vivek Daswaney, and Anupam Prasad joined from Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, DH Law Associates and RDA Legal, respectively, while Winnie Shekhar and Pallavi Kanakagiri have been promoted to partners.

“Astute strategist [with a] great presence in court”, Srinivasa Raghavan, a leading lawyer, leads the “first rate, dedicated and smart” team at IndusLaw. “True professional, very smart and very responsive” Sandeep Grover, who joined from a top-tier rival, successfully represented Instituform Pipeline Rehabilitation, an environmental services company, in a tender bid dispute called Aegion- KKSP- O Liner JV vs Delhi Jal Board & Anr.

IndusLaw enters the highly recommended tier due to its strong performance in renewable energy. Instructed by Canadian Solar on its first investment in India’s solar energy market, practice co-head Avirup Nag, who impressed a client with “his calmness under pressure and ability”, advised on the acquisition of a 49% stake worth Rs528 million in Suzlon Energy’s two special purpose vehicles to develop 30 MW projects in the southern Indian state of Telangana. Ran Chakrabarti, another co-head, acted for Dutch development bank FMO, KfW’s DEG and the OPEC Fund for International Development in their $142.5 million financing of an 82 MW run-of-the-river hydropower project in Nepal. Renewable energy specialist Deepak Chowdhury joined the team in Hyderabad.

IndusLaw’s team tends to garner more work in soft IP (trade mark and copyright matters) than in patents. V Srinivasa Raghavan, Suneeth Katarki, the practice head, and Lomesh Nidumuri successfully represented Upstox, an Indian online securities brokering platform, before the Mumbai High Court in a passing off action to enforce rights in the client’s trade name and mark against Sunlight Broking’s unauthorised use.

IndusLaw enters the recommended tier due to its corporate and regulatory work across the IT, media and telecommunications sectors. Avik Biswas advised Yahoo India on media and IT regulatory affairs, and corporate services. Instructed by Elara Technologies’s PropTiger.com, Srinivas Katta, Avimukt Dar and Biswas advised on the acquisition of Housing.com, a large $55 million online real estate commerce transaction.

IndusLaw’s labour mandates tend to involve multiple issues, such as managing Shell India’s entire legal and human resource portfolio. Instructed by HIG Capital on the Indian leg of its $360 million global acquisition of Lionbridge Technologies, an American localisation solutions provider, Avik Biswas, the practice leader, conducted employment law due diligence of the target under urgent time constraints. Vivek Daswaney and disputes specialist Sandeep Gover have arrived from DH Law Associates and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, respectively.

While the energy and infrastructure practice at IndusLaw, led by Ran Chakrabarti, Avirup Nag and Navin Syiem, tends to have more assignments in energy projects, it can “provide efficient, good value and no nonsense legal advice” in infrastructure as well, according to a client. For instance, Syiem has advised InfraCo Asia’s Equicap Asia on a joint venture agreement to develop a 9.3 hectare hydroponics agricultural facility in northern India. The project is InfraCo Asia’s first such project. Based in Hyderabad, Deepak Chowdhury, a PPP specialist, has joined from K Law.