About

Since July 2017, Yogesh Wadhwa has served as Alliance General Counsel at Renault Nissan – India, the Indian subsidiaries of the French -Japanese strategic partnership between the two global automobile manufacturers and monitors the legal affairs of Renault and Nissan entities in India. In a short space of time he has already impressed peers ensuring the legal department remains a true business partner to support on business decisions with a fine balance to ensure that the company’s interests are maintained in a compliant manner. Wadhwa works very closely with the business in strategizing business policies, network plans and risk mitigation for long term sustained growth. He has trained his team to embrace the business first policy. Regarding his philosophy towards managing a legal team and the skills counsel require, Wadhwa says, ‘It is important to empower and allow the team to take more responsibility – It is the right balance of business and legal acumen which is very important for an in-house lawyer to be successful’. Wadhwa started his career with Fox Mandal and moved to be a part of Tax and Regulatory Services at PwC. His journey to in-house role started with Halliburton. Immediately prior to joining Renault Nissan India, he served as a general counsel at General Motors India where, he also supported compliance and investigations team and managed government relations. He says that while working at General Motors, ‘working on government relations issues, gave me a different perspective and helped me to support [the] business in a more efficient manner in terms of policy framework and long term company perspective’. Wadhwa notes that legal function has evolved as a true business partner and acts as a continuous support to the business acting as a trusted advisor to the managing directors of the company to secure company’s interest. They also have the task of being an ethical watchdog, tasked with ensuring corporate compliance in accordance with law.