About

Anubhuti Agrawal joined Hilton in 2015 as counsel, development and operations (India), and was promoted to the senior counsel role in 2018. She is now part of the larger Asia Pacific legal team, and in addition to India, she also looks after the legal functions of Hilton in Nepal and Bhutan and is a part of the Hilton’s executive committee for India. Her role within the global Hilton legal team is unique as she is the only lawyer within Hilton’s global legal department, of over 100 lawyers, managing over 100 countries that handles development such as signing new contracts with owners which help in expanding the business, managing existing owner relationships and the renewals of agreements. For a global organisation like Hilton, the India office is relatively small in terms of head count. This necessitates that Agrawal develop an in-depth understanding of how different departments function across the globe, as the implementation of these projects often requires close coordination with global teams. This was demonstrated when changes to goods, services and tax law came into force in India in July 2017 and was further changed in 2018. While the change was merely to indirect tax laws, Argawal worked with departments such as IT, finance, tax, and revenue management to ensure that systems were updated in time and all teams were geared up for adapting to the changes. Since Hilton do not employ lawyers at the hotel level, in order to ensure that hotels management and staff operate in compliance with all applicable laws and company policies, Agrawal has organised extensive training sessions for hotel executives and staff. Agrawal and her team have worked on many major transactions including a large deal in India with the Embassy Group. The transaction was the largest of its kind in India and was completed in 18 months in what Agrawal identifies as a highlight of her early tenure at Hilton. Discussing her approach, she says her ‘attitude and approach of being a problem solver has helped me secure and retain my position as a business executive of the organisation and not merely their legal advisor. I think, my experience at Hilton has moulded me into a better legal professional’.