About

Having qualified as a solicitor at both the Bombay Incorporated Law Society and the Law Society of England and Wales, Tejal Patil has previously gained experience from well-known law firm Wadia Ghandy & Co., in Mumbai. She moved her career in-house when she joined the multinational conglomerate GE in 2001. Based in Singapore she has served as general counsel for GE Lighting Asia Pacific, and several other GE businesses, covering aviation, healthcare, consumer and industrial (appliances, lighting and industrial products) before relocating to Delhi in 2012 to assume her current position as general counsel for GE South Asia. Leading a team of over 40 legal and compliance professionals and reporting directly to both the CEO of GE South Asia and the general counsel of GE’s global growth organisation, Patil is a key member of the leadership team in the region. Patil assisted on the Indian leg of GE’s acquisition and integration of Alstom’s power and grid businesses, its largest ever industrial acquisition. She also played a leading role when the company secured the largest foreign direct investment contract by the Indian Railway Ministry in 2015, allowing them to set up a diesel locomotive project in a deal worth $2.5bn. Internally Patil has created an integrated “one-team” structure to function seamlessly and support the growth of the company in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. With a pragmatic approach to communication and the collaborative spirit she has instilled in the team, Patil ensures divides are non-existent. Her proactive management style has seen her establish cross-business projects to build legal efficiencies, as well as create centres of excellence in corporate governance and compliance to ensure GE’s highest standards for its over 40 legal entities in India. In 2013 Patil and the GE India compliance team ran a seminar on “Fostering an Ethical Business Environment”, inviting other multinational conglomerates, industry associations and international organisations to attend. She also assisted in establishing the GE India Legal Diversity Forum to strengthen ties between diverse legal professionals, enabling and encouraging their personal and professional development. In 2016, Patil (on behalf of GE) launched the “Compliance Management Program” in collaboration with the Indian School of Business and CII as an executive education course aimed at positioning and enabling compliance professionals in India as strategic business partners. Despite all this, Patil doesn’t lose the focus on the importance of the team’s day-to-day performance: ‘Ably supporting thousands of transactions across different business delivery models, including a number of big ticket deals with large Indian conglomerates, public sector undertakings and business restructuring, the team is also proud to clock one of the lowest legal spends in the company’.