Team size: 53

What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?

Target in India is a fully integrated global capability center (GCC) based in Bengaluru and a strategic partner for Target Corporation, a leading U.S. general merchandise retailer with over $100bn in sales which serves guests at nearly 2,000 stores and on Target.com in the U.S. Nearly 5,000 team members work at Target in India across disciplines ranging from technology, data sciences, digital and marketing to human resources, finance, supply chain, properties and merchandising.

What innovations have you made to the way your legal team works in the past year?

The Legal Affairs team at Target in India has been focused on understanding business processes end to end, identifying gaps, and addressing them with automation wherever possible to drive efficiency.

The team is carefully selected, groomed, and continuously trained to be future-ready and aligned with the company’s vison, growth plans, and evolving needs. As a result, the team boasts a wide range of capabilities, including lawyers, compliance professionals, analytics engineers, automation engineers, data privacy experts, corporate security professionals, business intelligence professionals, etc.

Over the past two years, the team has supported various business compliance functions in the U.S. through analytics and automation, covering areas such as food safety, supply chain, integrity hotlines, remote monitoring, and law firm scorecards.

Recently, the team launched an effort where the team was encouraged to identify improvement areas and take action to automate and enhance key processes.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?

Learning business fundamentals, developing business acumen, knowing the business goals and linking them to team goals and priorities, building trustworthy relationships where one is part of ethical and complaint business solutioning is key.

The team should be part of the strategic business vision, have the capabilities to support the long-term vision, provide risk mitigation plans embedded upfront, and own the delivery alongside the business. This will enable the business partnership to evolve from hesitation in approaching Legal teams to becoming reliable and trusted partners.

What is a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about, and why?

I am deeply passionate about giving back to the community and engaging in pro bono services. That’s why I took on the responsibility of Co-Chairing the Target India Volunteering Council, aligning with Target’s commitment to community support. Since 1946, Target has given 5% of its profits to communities in cash, products, and through the Target Foundation, which today equals millions of dollars a week.

In addition, the Legal Affairs team also began its pro bono efforts during the lockdown four years ago. Our initiatives include educating the underprivileged on cyber safety of women, women’s rights against dowry & domestic violence, and property rights in India. We also mentor startups on legal compliance, focus on environmental efforts such as tree plantation drives and lake cleanups, and provide training to underprivileged young girls on menstrual hygiene, which impacts their schooling and overall wellbeing. Additionally, we offer financial mentoring for the underprivileged and support programs for persons with disabilities.

Our organisation places a significant emphasis on DEI, ESG,CSR, and volunteering, which are integral to our long-term global goals. As early adopters, we proactively support these through our volunteering and CSR efforts.

We take pride in the fact that our diversity ratio is among the best in this space, with women accounting for nearly 50% of our workforce in India.

Are the effects of AI on the legal world overplayed, or underplayed?

I have two perspectives on this. First, AI is still in the early stages of adoption and will evolve over time, with learnings emerging for the legal fraternity. AI in contract management and M&A transactions will play a significant role, but its value will depend on the quality of the data it processes.

One aspect that remains unchanged is the need for legal interpretation and the handling of high-value transactions. For example, while AI can assist with due diligence in M&A, negotiating the deal and handling still requires the counsels’ intervention to align it with business needs.

As AI continues to develop, opinions will shift with experience. Currently, concerns include data privacy, confidentiality of organisation plans, and intellectual property protection.