About

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured?

The legal team led by Shardendu Kumar has been structured as a cohesive unit having five in-house lawyers, each handling a different profile with some overlap. Due to a small team size, all the members are reporting directly to the legal head, which has helped create a positive competitive environment, sense of ownership and responsibility, maximisation of potential and resources. Kumar is a seasoned legal professional having 20 years of proven experience in the domain of contract management, litigation, compliance, regulatory, secretarial, risk assessment and mitigation, legal advisory, acquisition support, legal strategy, overseas direct investment, company formation and structuring, corporate governance and ethics. He is regarded as an astute strategist and perfectionist when it comes to managing high stake litigation, closing critical contracts, accelerated settlement and recovery, overseas investment, new company formation or structuring. He is widely respected by the business function for his calculated risk-taking ability, flexibility, quick turnaround and ability to generate economic value and competitive advantage. The company has hailed his contributions and in a special communiqué, mentioning that ‘legal department in many companies is often a reactive support function. In TIML however, Kumar has been able to convert this department to be a strategic business partner’. Poonam Nagpal is a company secretary and lawyer having 12 years of experience in compliance management, contract drafting, corporate laws and litigation. Prior to joining TIML she had worked with one of the leading telecom companies of India for a long time and effectively handled the compliance and corporate legal profile. Nagpal is presently taking care of compliance and contracts. Navneet Kataria is a company secretary and lawyer having eight years of experience in secretarial filed, corporate law, project financing, mergers and acquisitions. Kataria has handled different profiles while working for power, telecom, media and internet companies. In TIML, Kataria is efficiently handling the secretarial profile and assisting the team in documentation and drafting. Nrip Vaibhaw is lawyer having litigation as his area of strength. He has experience of handling variety of litigation including recovery, arbitration, writs and special leave petitions. He is also having expertise in risk assessment and contract drafting. Vaibhaw is handling the profile of risk assessment and mitigation besides litigation.

What recent political, economic or regulatory changes in India have impacted your company and the team the most?

The enactment of Insolvency and Bankruptcy laws has impacted the legal team most and kept us busy. It has provided an effective legal framework for timely resolution of insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings. With dedicated adjudicating authorities and robust legal framework, it has put court cases on an accelerated track and the disposals have become quick. It has become a preferred option for debt recovery and time bound resolution. Apart from the Insolvency Law, the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act has caused varied compliance and implementation challenges. The earlier indirect tax system in India was characterised by multistage taxation with levy of taxes not only at the central level but also at the state level. The Goods and Services Tax law in India is now a comprehensive, multi-stage, destination-based tax. Due to the implementation of GST, companies have faced new challenges ranging from understanding the new and unique concepts, to, compliance, registration and proper documentation. Since the GST law is constantly evolving, the authorities have been quick to address the public concern by issuing series of clarification and the positive trend is now visible as the transitory impact of GST implementation has begun to abate. As the GST journey progressed, there is also a growing realisation of its far reaching impact.

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months and how does the team intend to assist with this?

The company has set aggressive targets for the acquisition of new properties. The legal team gets involved in the acquisitions process rights from the beginning and we have our task cut out. We plan to formulate; a broad legal strategy to help the management take an informed risk, to do thorough due diligence, risk assessment and mitigation strategy, regulatory compliances, approval from board and shareholders, proper documentation, watertight agreement templates to reduce turn around and closure. We also plan to pro-actively collaborate with the leadership, acquisition and finance teams and the external legal counsels / tax consultants for proper tax assessment and implications, regulatory approvals, formation and structuring of SPV/JV/WoS.

How has the team harnessed technology to improve output or drive efficiencies?

We believe in operational efficiency and excellence through people, process and systems. IT intervention and digitisation has improved the productivity, reduced manual intervention, risk reduction and data loss. Some of the repetitive manual processes were not only time consuming, but caused process delay in past, so we have stored customised forms which are now generated electronically, thereby significantly improving the overall operational efficiency besides mitigating the chances of manual error or mischief. The document management software enables us to add security permissions and provide access to specific folders having sensitive confidential information to a select group of users strictly on a need to know basis. We have used technology to harness the collective intellect of our team and to store relevant information related to contracts, court cases, secretarial and compliance issues into a centralised database. The Cloud based storage has provided enhanced backup and recovery and has also ensured that critical and sensitive information remains secure.

Can you sum up the team culture/ethos? Giving some information afterwards about how this is developed.

We do have an inclusive work environment and we provide equal opportunity to all the team members. All the members are valued, supported, nurtured and groomed irrespective of their gender, caste, creed, region, social or cultural background, religious or political affiliations. We strongly believe that a positive workplace culture increases productivity and efficiency, reduces work related stress and improves team spirit. As a team, we believe in creating a positive collaborative environment, open and honest communication channel. The team is supportive to each other, willing to take ownership, quite competitive, and motivated. This culture has been developed over a period of time by virtue of continued focus from the team leader, leadership team, company’s overall ethos and values system.