This article on the rise of Indus Law is written by Noopur Kalpeshbhai Dalal, pursuing M.A. in business law from NUJS, Kolkata.
HISTORY
The inception of Indus was made in the year 2000 by Mr. Gomatam Sridhar, Mr. Srinivas Katta and Mr. Suneeth Katarki. Gomatam, Srinivas and Suneeth studied B.A. LL.B (Hons) together at National Law School of India University, Bangalore, in 1996 Batch and are all alumni from NLSIU Bangalore.
Indus is a multi-specialty firm practicing in Fund raising, partnerships, Joint Ventures and Collaborations; Litigation and Dispute Resolution; Merger & Amalgamations and Real Estate practice alongside a full service Litigation practice in Bangalore.
Avimukt Dar and Gaurav Dani founded G&D Law in Delhi in 2004. Avimukt Dar and Gaurav Dani studied Bachelor of Laws (LLB), together at University of Buckingham (UK) in 1999 batch.
G&D Law was a Law firm practicing in corporate, commercial and foreign investment laws, structuring of offshore funds and investments, private equity transactions, structured finance transactions, capital markets, regulatory advice, shareholders disputes and Mergers & Acquisitions in Delhi.
In 2010, Indus and G&D Law came together and merged both the firms to Indus Law firm. A brand name which created a truly democratic partnership to fit amongst the Top Law firms of the Nation. The partnership between Indus and G&D Law opened the doors to a new beginning by expanding offices in other metro cities of the Country including Mumbai.
In an interview, Mr. Avimukt Dar stated that the firm was deliberately named Indus Law instead of giving reference to initials of its partners, so that they can merge and expand the firm by joining hands with experts in other cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad etc. without adding too many initials every time a new partner is admitted to the firm. He also stated that there are no managing partners in the firm; every partner is given an equal opportunity to keep their point. Every day after work each and every partner has a conference call to discuss about the ongoing assignments of the firm. Also, each and every partner looks to it that they meet in person at least once in a month. The firm intends to expand by adding more expertise from the existing team members and thus offers them to join the firm as a partner by giving them ownership for certain areas and making them responsible for certain assignments.
Founding Partners
- Gomatam Sridhar
Mr. Gomatam Sridhar graduated with B.A. LL.B (Hons) from National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore in the year 1996. He has a vast area of experience in the field of Real Estate, Dispute resolution and Litigation. In Indus Law he handles areas including immovable property transactions is enhanced by the fact that he handles complex litigation.
He also advises the clients for purchase, sale, development, mortgage and leasing transactions of Immovable properties.
- Suneeth Katarki
Mr. Suneeth Katarki also graduated with B.A. LL.B (Hons) from National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore with Mr. Sridhar in the year 1996. Mr. Suneeth has a vast experience in the field of Mergers & Amalgamation and Private Equity Investment. At Indus Law Suneeth handles the assignments relating to mergers and acquisitions, joint venture transactions, corporate restructuring, shareholders arrangments, reduction of capital and complex schemes. Mr. Suneeth has recently been listed amongst the top 100 lawyers in India a definitive “A List” of India’s legal profession published by prestigious India Business Law Journal in association with the Indian Corporate Counsel Association.
He has been awarded as a leading Consultant for Corporate, Merger & Amalgamation and Private Equity field by Chambers & Partners in their Asia guides. He is also a trustee and advisory to various foundations and charitable trusts including Board of United Way, India and United Way, Bangalore.
- Srinivas Katta
Mr. Srinivas Katta also graduated with B.A. LL.B (Hons) from National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore with Mr. Sridhar and Mr. Suneeth in the year 1996. Srinivas has a vide experience in advising entrepreneurs on corporate governance, investment and fund raising in various industrial sectors.
Srinivas also has been awarded as a leading Consultant for Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions field (Bangalore based) by Chambers & Partners in Band. He is also an advisor member to the board of several companies. Srinivas also acts as a trustee and advisor to various charitable foundations and projects.
- Avimukt Dar
Mr. Avimukt Dar graduated with Bachelor of Laws (LL.B Hons) from the University of Buckingham in the year 1999 and did his Masters of Laws (LL.M) in Banking & Finance Law from the University College London in the year 2004. He has been advising clients on corporate, commercial & foreign investment laws, commercial and corporate disputes including competition law issues and has wide experience in negotiating exit strategies for investors and joint venture partners. Dar is engaged in representing domestic and international client companies and private equity investors in strategic and financial investment assignments in various sectors.
Avimukt has been recommended as one of the best lawyers for Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions in New Delhi in the Asia Pacific Legal 500 and also gives speeches at the UIA-ABA International Seminars on Corporate Governance and Mergers & Acquisitions. He is also a guest faculty at the Indian Institute of Management (Lucknow) teaching legal aspects of Mergers & Acquisitions. He has written various articles and hosted various seminars on the recent corporate developments introduced by the Companies Act, 2013.
- Gaurav Dani
Mr. Gaurav Dani is a Company secretary from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He graduated with Bachelor of Laws (LL.B Hons) from the University of Buckingham in the year 1999 and did his Masters of Laws (LL.M) in Banking & Finance Law from the School of Law – Boston University in the year 2001.
Mr. Dani specializes in offshore funds structuring, private equity assignments, Mergers & Acquisitions, Commercial Lending transactions, shareholders disputes, capital markets, and Real estate sector, telecom, retail and financial sector advisory.
He has also advised various clients for setting up of Special Economic Zones. Gaurav also recommended as a lawyer for Banking & Finance and Capital Markets in New Delhi in the Asia Pacific Legal 500. He has also been recognized as the top 100 lawyers in India a the “A List” of India’s legal profession published by India Business Law Journal in association with the Indian Corporate Counsel Association. He also delivers lectures & seminars in India and Abroad.
Before starting as INDUS in Bangalore and G&D Law in Delhi, they had worked with big firms like Dua Associates, Khaitan & Co and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
- Spreading the Wings
Indus Law does not believe in one man show and having a managing partner safeguarding everyone’s say in the firm. In order to expand and increase their presence all over the globe Indus Law firm has been recruiting great talents from different cities and even directly through College campus.
Today Indus Law has four offices located at Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi. There are 15 partners and more than 70 Lawyers as employees at present.
In 2010 Indus law hired Mr. Kartik Ganapathy, partner and fund investment co-head at Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) as an equity partner in Indus Law firm’s Bangalore office. Mr. Ganapathy joined Indus Law’s Bangalore office’s Merger & Acquisition and funds team, which was previously headed by Mr. Srinivas Katta and Mr. Suneeth Katarki. Joining hands with Mr. Ganapathy increased the firm’s credibility one step ahead in the ladder as most clients appreciate expert knowledge and experienced/ senior Advisor.
In 2012 a major breakthrough was attained by Indus Law when the firm established its Mumbai office under the leadership of Mr. Pramod Rao, Ex. ICICI Bank’s general counsel (GC) as an equity partner of the Firm. Mr. Pramod Roa was the general council of ICICI Bank Limited for more than seven years. With an objective to start private practice he joined hands with Indus Law in the year 2012. He established the Firm’s Mumbai office by starting practice in the area of structured finance, financial services, debt restructuring and insolvency complementing the firm’s existing specialisation in private equity and mergers and acquisitions.
However later in the year 2013 Mr. Roa left the firm as he was not able to cop up with the roles and responsibilities as an equity partner of a private Law firm being a Banker from beginning. The Mumbai office was then headed by Priyanka Roy, partner Indus Law Mumbai who joined from Alliance Legal.
“Recent list of Partners in Indus Law is as below”:
| Sr. No. | Name of the Partner | Area of Practice |
| 1 | Anupam Prasad |
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| 2 | Avik Biswas |
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| 3 | Avimukt Dar |
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| 4 | Avirup Nag |
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| 5 | Gaurav Dani |
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| 6 | Kartik Ganpathy |
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| 7 | Lomesh Kiran Nidumuri |
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| 8 | Navin Syiem |
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| 9 | Nikhilesh Rao. M |
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| 10 | Nishant K Singh |
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| 11 | Ran Chakrabarti |
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| 12 | Satyasree Akella |
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| 13 | Srinivas Katta |
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| 14 | Suneeth Katarki |
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| 15 | V. Srinivasa Raghavan |
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- Major Areas stepped into by Indus Law
Indus Law has worked for Private Equity and Venture Capital transactions extensively which has also contributed to 60% of the Firm’s turnover in the beginning period and during the global slowdown. However slowly but steadily the M&A transactions also started increasing which was the main stream and bread and butter for other Law firms.
The firm is involved in various transactions including arbitration, joint ventures, M&A, Litigation, Tax litigation, real estate litigation, capital market, corporate governance, Private Equity, Venture Capital, international and domestic banks, project finance, regularory, structured products and securitisation, Competition Law, acquisition agreements, subscription and shareholder agreements, acquirers, investors, off-take agreements, operating and maintenance contracts and contract guarantees, sponsors, contractors, guarantors and financial institutions on a range of project documentation, including bids, project, financing and security documentation, due diligence, transaction structuring, concession agreements, documentation and post-closing activities construction contracts, etc.
Sector wise Major Clients of Indus Law firm includes the following:
Banking & Finance:
FMO, Citibank, Axis Bank, IFMR Group, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Global Group, ICICI Bank, IL&FS, Punjab National Bank, Yes Bank.
Competition Law:
Olacabs.com, Snapdeal.com, Micromax, Myntra.com
Corporate & Commercial Advisory:
Arvind Lifestyle, Vatika Group, Microsoft, Oyorooms.com, Jabong.com, Snapdeal.com, Fujitsu India, Quikr.com, Accor
Energy, Infrastructure & Projects:
FMO, IFMR, Soham Renewable Energy, Environmental Clean Technologies Limited, Clean Max Energy Private Limited, SKS Ispat and Power Limited, IBC Solar AG
Fund Investment, Private Equity & Venture Capital:
Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Orbimed, Quikr.com, Matrix Partners, Intrepid Capital Partners, Ras-Al-Khaimah Investment Authority, Kaizen, Helion, Cisco, Snapdeal.com, Olacabs.com, Qualcomm, SAIF Partners, Flipkart, Micromax
Intellectual Property:
Arvind Brands, Orient Cement, Urbanladder.com, Whirlpool, Olacabs.com, Maiyas
Litigation & Arbitration, Dispute Resolution:
Arvind Group, Larsen & Toubro, Whirlpool, B/E Aerospace, Inc., Wipro, Fujitsu (India and Japan), Citibank, Olacabs.com
Mergers & Acquisitions:
Olacabs.com, Mahindra Group, Myntra, redBus, Snapdeal.com, Cipla Limited, CSS Corp, Yes Bank
Real Estate:
Brigade Group, Vatika Group, Intrepid Capital Partners, Ingen Cap Partners, Century, Concorde Group, Good Earth, Total Environment
Famous assignments/ cases handled by Indus Law firm are briefly discussed below:
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Advisor to Educomp Solutions for acquisition of Studyplaces.com-2010
Studyplaces.com a website providing information to students for higher studies in USA, UK, India and other countries which was previously owned by Zaptive Internet Services was acquired by Educomp Solutions Limited.
Indus Law advised the education service provider for acquisition of studyplaces.com one of the first global international education portals from Zaptive Internet Service of India without involvement of any other legal advisor Firm.
Indus Law involved in the documentation and advisory part of the acquisition with the help of the in house advisory team and financial advisors of the seller Company. The acquisition value was finalised at $1.5m, as the last mutual settlement between the two parties to the acquisition.
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Advisor to Snapdeal for raising funds -2014
Snapdeal.com is an online shopping portal started by Mr. Kunal Bahl and Mr. Rohit Bansal in the year 2010. For the purpose expansion and reaching mass it has undergone various fund raising through different Institutional Investors from India and abroad.
In 2014 one of such fund raising activity was handled by Mr. Srinivas Katta, partner Indus Law Banglore and Mr. Rashi Saraf and Mr. Sherrill Pal associates at Indus Law Banglore. The said assignment of fund raising involved investment of $ 133.7 million by eBay. For the said fund raising project Indus Law advised and involved in documentation on behalf of Snapdeal, India.
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Advisor to Ola Cabs raising funds -2015
Indus Law is famous for its fund raising Assignments in the Country. One of such assignments include advising Ola cabs on its fund raising transaction of $500 million (aggregating to Rs. 3,320 Crores) from Fifteen foreign Investors. The Investors were advised from different Law firms including Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Morrison & Foerster, Fangda Partners Nishit Desai and Associates, Ropes & Gray and Goodwin Proctor individually.
Mr. Gaurav Dani, partner Indus Law along with his team Ms. Divya Varghese, Ms. Vijeta Kanabar and Mr. Nitin Gera, Associates at Indus Law Delhi acted on behalf of Ola Cabs ( ANI technologies Private Limited.
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Advisor to the Canadian Solar Inc. purchasing the stake of Solar projects of Suzlon Energy-2016
Canadian Solar Inc. is one of the biggest solar power companies in the world. The Company acquired 49% stake each in two projects of Suzlon Energy in Telangana for an aggregate acquisition value of Rs. 26.4 Crore. Canadian Solar Inc. is listed on Nasdaq Stock Exchange, with a market capitalisation of $880 million.
Mr. Avirup Nag, partner of Indus Law along with his team Mr. Abhishek Bhalla & Mr. Vikram Ray principal associates at Indus Law and Mr. Rohan Gosh and Ms. Niyati Bhatt, associates at Indus Law advised and acted for Canadian Solar Inc. for the purchase of Stake of Solar Projects of Suzlon Energy.
Indus Law team also advised Canadian Solar Inc. in the project of special purpose vehicles for negotiating and finalising the O & M Contracts and EPC with Suzlon for development and operations of that project. For the same project Mr. Ajay Sawhney, partner Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Mr. Ashish Vats, senior consultant at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas acted on behalf of Suzlon Energy.
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Advisor to the Acquisition Project of SunEdsion- 2016
One more Acquisition project handled by Indus Law is the acquisition of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) developing and operating around 7 MW rooftop solar power assets in India of SunEdison.
Indus Law along with Gibson Dunn advised Amplus Energy Solutions and I-Squared Capital for the said acquisition project. Mr. Avirup Nag, partner of Indus Law along with his team Mr. Abhishek Bhalla, principal associates at Indus Law and Mr. Rohan Gosh, Shaima Khan and Ms. Niyati Bhatt, associates at Indus Law advised and acted for Amplus Energy Solutions and I-Squared Capital, whereas the In-house advisory team Mr. Vinay Bhatia (GC) and in house lawyers Ms. Meghna Singh and Ms. Sujata Kukreja of SunEdison acted on behalf of the Company.
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Advisor to Emvantage Payments Private Limited for its acquisition by Amazon-2016
Emvantage Payments Private Limited was involved in developing online payment services based in New Delhi. It has developed various payment services including mobile payment gateways. Amazon.com acquired the Company along with its Employees to develop advanced payment options and solutions for Amazon’s Indian Market.
For the said Acquistion project, Mr. Avimukt Dar, partner Indus Law Delhi along with team of Ms. Anubha Sital senior associate Indus Law Delhi and Ms. Shreya Suri, associate Indus Law Delhi and Vikrant Rohilla, partner RSS Legal advised and acted on behalf of Emvantage Payments. Amazon.com was represented by the team of J. Sagar and Associates, Banglore for the Acquisition.
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Advisor to PayU Global, South Africa for acquisition of Citrus Pay- 2016
Citrus Payment Solutions Private Limited is an online payment portal providing online payment solutions to merchants and consumers. PayU Global, South Africa, one of the leading payment solution providers of the World, acquired Citrus Pay for an aggregate acquisition value of $ 130 million in September, 2016.
The Advisory for the said deal included advice on Merger & Acquisitions Law, Competition Act and Employment Laws as Citrus Pay was a Rivalry Company of PayU Global, South Africa.
Mr. Srinivas Katta, partner Indus Law Banglore, Ms. Winnie Sheker, principal associate and Ms. Ashi Bhat, Senior associate IndusLaw firm advised the PayU Group for the said Acquisition. The matters of Competition Act was handled by Mr. Avimukt Dar, partner Indus Law and the issues of Employement Act was handled by Mr. Avik Biswas, Partner Indus Law.
On the other side Citrus Pay was represented by Mr. Vishnu Jerome and Mr. Shameek Ray, partner P&C Legal.
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Awards & Recognitions
Since its Inception in the year 2010 Indus Law Firm has been recognised and awarded by many reputed Associations and Chambers for its magnificent work in the field of Law. Some of its Major Awards includes the below:
- Best Law firm of Hyderabad Award by International Financial Law Review (IFLR) in the year 2010, 2011, 2012;
- The firm has also received recognition and Awards from Venture Intelligence many times for Private Equity transactions, M&A;
- Partners of the Firm are also listed amongst the top 100 lawyers of India for Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Restructuring, Dispute resolutions, Banking & Finance, Investment funds, Private Equity & Insolvency by Asia Law Profiles in 2016.
- It has also won award for Foreign Investments in India Category and Investment Funds in Karnataka from Corporate Live Wire Global Awards in 2016.
- Indus Law has also received Recognition from Legal 500 Asia Pacific for Merger & Amalgamation as well as banking and Finance in the year 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
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Conclusion
From the in-depth study I have undertaken due to this opportunity given by the University, I am fortunate to learn very important lessons from the growth story of the Indus Law Firm.
During the short stint of just 6 years, Indus Law Firm has widely expanded its horizons giving tough competition to the age old renowned firms.
The success is contributed to the fact that the Firm has never limited its vision to specific areas. Rather, they ventured into unexplored areas hiring best talents from the industry.
The partners of the firm always emphasised on growing the firm and believed that a firm can never progress at top if it depends solely on the skills of the Managing Partner. Indus law being a typical democratic firm has joined hands with many professionals and experts from around the nation by offering them equity share in the firm and expand the firm by adding them as partners. Regular meetings and conference calls amongst the partners strengthens the communication in the firm.
The new partners and employees who get associated with the firm also take in-depth interest in their assignments. Many assignments undertaken by the firm of some big corporates are often used as reference for research and legal studies by law students.
Also, many law students who have done their Internship from Indus Law Firm have stated that it had been their best experience during the Law school to work with the partners and associates of the Firm. At Indus not only associates, but interns are also given a chance to go with the partners in Courts for litigations as well as are made part of the preparation of reports/ documents and research.
For any organisation to be successful, many factors like leadership, commitment, management skills etc. play a big role. Indus law is one such firm which has shown growth in all these fields as well. Over the years the firm has grown from only one Office in Bangalore & Delhi to four offices today including one in Mumbai.
