India M&A Forum 2020

Mohit Saraf

Senior partner, L&L Partners

Mohit Saraf heads the Corporate practice of the Firm, including, Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity practices and Insolvency & Bankruptcy Law. With over 25 years of experience across sectors & industries, he has advised major global and Indian companies. 

On the M&A and Private Equity side, he has represented clients such as Mylan, Baxter, Bayer, Carlyle, Abbott Laboratories, Goldman Sachs, Zee Group, Capgemini, Everstone Capital, Arcelor Mittal and Nippon, in multi-billion-dollar deals.

Mr. Saraf is a member of the National Executive Committee of FICCI and a Co-Chair of the following FICCI Committees – Private Equity & Venture Capital Committee, Committee for Corporate Laws and the Stressed Assets Committee.

Mr. Saraf has been awarded the ‘Shaurya Chakra’ (a national peacetime gallantry award by the Indian President, Mr. R. Venkatraman).

Additionally, he has over 50 publications in various national & international journals and magazines like Financial Worldwide, Finance Yearbook by PLC, Economic Times, Business Standard, Financial Express, Powerline, Tele.net, India Infrastructure, India Business Law Journal and SIAC Yearbook. 

Mr. Saraf is also a visiting faculty at various law & management schools in India and is a regular speaker at various conferences.

 Speaking session 

Overview of M&A activity in India

September 10 - 10.00-11.00 BST

Amber Gupta/strong>

Head legal & company secretary, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance

Amber Gupta is Head - Legal & Company Secretary, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited (ABSLI) and has been associated with Aditya Birla Capital (ABC) since 2008.  He manages the litigation, dispute resolution, IPR, contract management, Corporate Secretarial, Board and Shareholders matters. He has rich experience of 18 years in Corporate laws, Securities & Capital markets, Insurance, Banking & NBFC regulations, IPR & IT Laws.  Apart from formulating strategies and best practices for an effective legal department and advisory to business, Gupta has also worked on various projects, transactions and acquisition at Aditya Birla Capital with specific focus on risk assessment, regulatory issues,  technology and privacy laws.  

Gupta holds Bachelor degree in Law and is a member of ICSI. He also holds Diploma in Business Finance from ICFAI and Diploma in Cyber Laws from NALSAR. Gupta has also completed membership level international arbitration -Chartered Institute of Arbitrator, London. Amber also undertaken certification course on Governance and Director Duties Excellence by Institute of Directors. 

 Speaking session 

Distressed M&A

September 10 - 11.20-12.20 BST

Kavitha Gupta

Senior corporate counsel, India and South Asia,  Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks is an American Multinational Corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California that manufactures networking products including routers and switches. At the helm of Juniper’s legal function, Kavitha Gupta, CIPP/A is Senior Corporate Counsel - India and South Asia and a leading Privacy and Technology Lawyer with over 18 years of experience in IT & ITES sector. Prior to joining Juniper Networks, Kavitha was Head Legal of Airbus Group India advising on business and transactional matters including Bizlab, Airbus’ start-up incubator. Her major achievement was setting up the first Airbus Flight Training Center (ATO) in India. In her previous tenure, Kavitha was Head Legal, Asia Pacific of Hitachi Consulting overseeing the legal function for APAC region which encompasses IT and Cloud Computing contracts, Global Compliances and Employment matters and also worked with Wipro Technologies in the Compliance team heading Global Compliances for Americas and then in the Commercial Contract team for Wipro Infotech for India region. Kavitha is a Certified Privacy Professional for Asia (CIPP/A) from IAPP and on the committee of Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for India Chapter. She received Appreciation for her valuable contribution in Privacy and Cyber Security by Justice BN Sri-krishna at the General Counsel Summit on July 19, 2019 and ‘Young Women General Counsel of the Year, 2015’ award by the Legendary, Shri. Ram Jethmalani, Senior Counsel at the INBA 66th National Law Day, November 26, 2015, New Delhi. 

 Speaking session 

A look at cross border transactions

September 10 - 13.20-14.20 BST

Chandrashekar Iyer

Managing director,,  JMeghraj Capital Advisors

Chandrashekar Iyer has more than 27 years of experience in corporate and advisory engagements. He started his career from Reliance Industries Ltd where he worked in the      Vice Chairman’s Office on Strategic Planning and then worked in CRISIL, PwC and Meghraj Capital Advisors. At Meghraj Capital, he is responsible for Investment Banking and Infrastructure Consulting businesses in India and is working on several cross border engagements with clients in Japan, UAE, Africa and Europe besides India and South Asia. He has successfully closed transactions in Industrials, Building Materials, IT, Electric Vehicle, Water purification, Power, Urban and Transportation Infrastructure sectors. Meghraj Group is a 98 year old international investment banking advisory, fiduciary services and infrastructure consulting organization headquartered in the British Isles

 Speaking session 

A look at cross border transactions

September 10 - 13.20-14.20 BST

Subodh Gupta

Head - mergers & acquisitions - investment banking,  Edelweiss Financial Services

Subodh Gupta is Executive Vice President, Head - M&A and Head - Consumer & Healthcare   at Edelweiss Investment Banking division since 2016. He has over 20 years of experience across domestic and cross border M&A, restructuring, private equity placements, and IPO advisory transactions. 
During his career, he has worked on over 50 transactions with over US$5bn in deal value across sectors. Some of the key sectors include Aviation, Aerospace & Defense, Logistics, Business services, Consumer, Healthcare, Industrials and Media.
Prior to Edelweiss, his key experience includes Rothschild India (10yrs) and McKinsey (4yrs).  
Subodh is a CFA charter holder and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from International Management Institute, New Delhi and Bachelors in Chemical Engineering. He was among top 5% of the Class at IMI and scholarship holder in Engineering. 

 Speaking session 

A look at cross border transactions

September 10 - 13.20-14.20 BST

Vinita Korti,

Senior legal director,  Sanofi

Vinita has over fifteen years of experience spread across private practice and in-house roles. She commenced her career at Remfry & Sagar with intellectual property law practice followed by several years at Amarchand Mangaldas (now Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas) in Mumbai during which she focused on mergers & acquisitions and private equity transactions. In 2011 she joined Huntsman India and was responsible for managing the legal department during her tenure as well as managing and leading various compliance initiatives for the company. Most recently she was with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and was heading the legal team responsible for the Global Operations & Supply Chain at Glenmark which includes legal advisory for the 14 Glenmark factories. She joined Sanofi as the Senior Legal Director in 2019 and manages legal affairs for Sanofi for the South Asia region.
She has held key management positions and was on the Board of Directors and the Leadership Team of Huntsman India. 
She is passionate about people development and giving back to society and is an alumnus of the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata.

 Speaking session 

The rise of Healthcare

September 10 - 14.40-15.40 BST

Taral Ajmera

Senior legal counsel and compliance officer, Cleantech Solar

Taral Ajmera is leading Legal and Compliance division for Cleantech Solar – India, Asia’s largest solar developer. Ms. Ajmera offers a wealth of expertise in inbound & outbound capital structuring, crisis management, corporate governance, due diligence, litigation and has navigated end-to-end fundraising transactions.

Ms. Ajmera has been instrumental in the framework creation of Cleantech policies and commercial agreements and advising the board on key legalities and strategic M&A’s during the period of swift growth. She has driven complex negotiations for 150+ Power Purchase Agreement with counterparties originating from myriad industries, reserving the regulatory and commercial intricacies of each business. Her efforts have resulted in increased client retention, resolution of disputes, and formation of several strategic alliances through JVs set up across India.

Ms. Ajmera is recognized as leading women in solar, featured by EQ Magazine in its “Women in Solar” magazine 2019 and in 2018 by International Energy Agency (IEA) & Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) in its joint report as the top 1% women leaders in the solar industry and quoted her as one of the “strongest women leaders in Indian solar power sector”. She works as an industry representative for IEA and CEEW for various surveys, in 2020 CEEW issued a report named “Jobs, Growth, and Sustainability – A New Social Contract for India's Recovery” launched by Union Minister, features Ms. Ajmera’s recommendations.

Ms. Ajmera is certified in Energy Law and Management from NLSU (Bangalore). She received her Company Secretary from ICSI, LLB, and BCOM from Mumbai University.

 Speaking session 

Lessons learned from COVID-19

September 10 - 16.00-17.00 BST

Dinesh Agrawal

Global head M&A, Larsen & Toubro Infotech

Dinesh serves as Global Head of Mergers and Acquisitions within LTI (NSE: LTI). In his role, Dinesh is responsible for all the Inorganic activities, including acquisitions, mergers, investments, divestitures for LTI - a Billion 1.5 USD Technology Consulting and Digital Solutions company with Operations in over 30 Countries

His professional career spans over 20 years working for companies like Accenture, IBM, Fidelity Investments across markets like India, Japan, US, UK and Singapore

Besides M&A he is a start-up evangelist and has a very strong connection in start-up eco-system across India, Israel and Silicon Valley. He mentors start-ups and does angel investment in his personal capacity.

Dinesh is a regular speaker in industry events, Engineering and B-Schools.

Dinesh holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela and MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar

 Speaking session 

Lessons learned from COVID-19

September 10 - 16.00-17.00 BST

Seema Manku

Vice president & head legal – IF & MEA, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

Seema Manku brings over 20 years of legal experience, both as a lawyer in private practice in India & the UK; as well as an in-house lawyer for multinational corporations.  Her last 10  years of legal experience have been in the pharmaceutical industry Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Apotex & Glenmark.  At Glenmark currently  she is responsible for India & Middle East Africa markets. Seema holds a Masters of Law (LLM) degree from University of Virginia and Bachelor’s degrees in Law (LLB) and Commerce (B.Com) from Mumbai University and is a qualified Company Secretary. She is also a qualified lawyer in India (Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa), the United Kingdom (Law Society of England & Wales), and the United States (New York State).

 Speaking session 

The rise of Healthcare

September 10 - 14.40-15.40 BST

Sandeep Rathod

General Counsel, USV

Sandeep K. Rathod is a legal professional with 18+ years of experience in the global generic pharmaceutical sector, spread across both domestic and multinational companies. He currently heads the legal and strategic IP function at USV Private Limited.

He is an avid observer of pharmaceutical and IP Policy in the developing world and works with civil society organizations on access to drug issues. He writes on issues pertaining to the pharmaceuticals sector and is the contributor of India chapter for Thomson' International Contract Manual (2019).

Sandeep has Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in law from the University of Mumbai as well as a Masters’ degree of Law from University of Pittsburgh School of Law. 

 Speaking session 

The rise of Healthcare

September 10 - 14.40-15.40 BST

Ajay D’Cruz

Vice president – legal and secretarial, ISS Facility Services

Ajay D’Cruz is Vice President- Legal and Secretarial for ISS India. Prior to joining ISS India, he has worked with Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants India Private Limited (JLL India) and GKB Carl- Zeiss India Private Limited in prominent legal and secretarial positions in the field of legal, compliance, regulatory and secretarial functions encompassing Corporate laws, IT laws, Litigation, Contract Management, Board, Shareholders, Governance matters, JVs in various jurisdictions in India, Singapore, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, North Africa and Middle East. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Magna Carta award for Legal Excellence during his tenure in JLL India and have also received numerous other laurels.

 Speaking session 

Lessons learned from COVID-19

September 10 - 16.00-17.00 BST

Atul Juvle

General counsel, compliance officer & company secretary- India & South Asia, Schindler

Atul Juvle is employed as General Counsel, Compliance officer & CS- India & SA, with  Schindler India Pvt. Limited. Atul joined Schindler in July-2014.  He is responsible for Legal, Compliance, code of conduct & secretarial functions. His experience span over three decades with varied industries- banking, export, NBFC, life-insurance, agro-based, and elevators & escalators business. During this journey- he has handled transactions, litigations, investigations, complex secretarial matters etc.  Atul has worked with premium companies like Bank of India, TATA International, HDFC-Life, Godrej Agrovet.

Atul is qualified Lawyer, Banker, F.C.S. and C.F.E. (Certified Fraud Examiner, US), & MFM- JBIMS, DPC-Certified (GDPR), Cert. Mediator (IICA). He is also member of - CII Regulatory Committee- 2018-21, and Harvard Learning Square, USA 2018-2020.

 Speaking session 

Lessons learned from COVID-19

September 10 - 16.00-17.00 BST

Manisha Girotra

Chief executive officer, Moelis India

Manisha Girotra is Chief Executive Officer of Moelis India. Ms. Girotra has more than 25 years of investment banking experience, with extensive cross-border M&A expertise across a broad range of industries. Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Ms. Girotra was CEO and Country Head of UBS in India managing its investment bank, commercial bank, markets, equity research and wealth management divisions. Previously, she was Head – North India of Barclays Bank. Ms. Girotra began her investment banking career at ANZ Grindlays in London. She has appeared in Business Today’s “25 Most Powerful Women in Business in India” for the past six years as well as Fortune India’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” in 2014 and 2015.

Ms. Girotra holds a degree from St. Stephen’s College and received a gold medal for her master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics. She currently serves on the boards of Ashok Leyland, Mindtree and Jio Payments Bank.

 Speaking session 

Overview of M&A activity in India

September 10 - 10.00-11.00 BST

Raju Dodti

Chief executive, infrastructure finance & special situation group, group general counsel, L&T Financial Services

Raju Dodti is a member of Group Executive Committee & serves on the Board of Group entities. He is in-charge of resolving stressed loan assets & managing exit of equity investments of the Group. 

In his capacity as Group General Counsel, he is in-charge of & provides leadership to the group legal (advisory, transactional & litigation) and regulatory compliance (advisory & regulatory inspections) functions.

Mr. Dodti holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Government Law College, Mumbai University, and a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Mumbai University. He loves music, travelling and is a fitness enthusiast.

 Speaking session 

Overview of M&A activity in India

September 10 - 10.00-11.00 BST

Sumit Khanna

Partner & head corporate finance and restructuring services, Deloitte India

Biography coming soon.

 Speaking session 

Overview of M&A activity in India

September 10 - 10.00-11.00 BST

Durgesh Singh/strong

Group chief legal officer, group chief legal officer

Durgesh is the Group Chief Legal Officer at DMI Finance Group, leading a team of 16 legal professionals to provide end to end legal representation to diverse business entities under the DMI Finance Group engaged in business of Corporate Lending, Consumer Lending, Housing Finance Lending and Asset Management in diverse practice areas including Debt and Equity/ asset purchase transactions from, legal and data privacy issues, disputes resolution/recovery matters, data privacy issues, fraud prevention etc.    

Prior to DMI, Durgesh was a career law firm lawyer, last as a Partner with Link Legal India Law Services at its Delhi office. A regular speaker at conferences and round tables, Durgesh has numerous domestic and international publications to his name.

 Speaking session 

Distressed M&A

September 10 - 11.20-12.20 BST

Rajeev Kumar/strong

Senior vice president – legal, HDFC Property

Biography coming soon.

 Speaking session 

Distressed M&A

September 10 - 11.20-12.20 BST

Apurva Jayant

Partner, L&L Partners

Biography coming soon.

 Speaking session 

Overview of M&A activity in India

September 10 - 10.00-11.00 BST