Team size: 11

What is the biggest risk facing your industry now and how are you preparing your organisation to deal with this?

The most significant risk is the ability to generate ROI on investment — organic and inorganic — and desired gross margins. Some of the initiatives we have taken to guarantee those are: taking proactive actions to protect the company’s IP. We have settled long pending disputes with minimum or zero impact on P&L. Additionally, we have renegotiated contracts with customers on price increases payment terms and to protect margins (improved terms). Furthermore, we have hived off on non-core assets to generate cash.

Practical and robust compliance and governance framework are essential to ensure positive outcomes. Developing comprehensive risk management with zero-value destroyers is crucial to improve the top-line and bottom-line. Automation and standardisation of processes are now imperative.

What are some of the most significant cases or transactions you have worked on recently?

Some of the most significant cases I have been working on recently included obtaining an interim injunction against an Indian competitor for infringing IPs – the first of its kind for the telecommunication sector.

My team and I have been involved in China customer litigations – initiated claims for breach of obligations under the Long-Term Supply Agreements and secured assets of ~ RMB 200 m.

We have participated in the acquisition of Clearcomm Group— a UK-based network integration company at an enterprise value of approx. £15.5m. Moreover, we have completed a multi-million-dollar buyback towards seeking a fairer market valuation which led to a price increase of 150% within three months. Another significant acquisition has been Optotec, a leading optical interconnect product company based in Italy, for an enterprise value of €29m.

Our legal team has been involved in a complex transaction under the PRC Laws after challenging (at times hostile) negotiations for over 18 months. This has been completed with the acquisition of a balance 25% stake from China JV Partner ~ RMB 67.5 m.

I have been driving the completion of the divestment of non-core assets (stakes in Indian JV for circa Rs. 90 Cr. Lots of my effort has also been given to the contract management for organic expansion (green field and brown field), having an investment of over Rs. 1800 Cr. covering locations in India, China and Italy; we have also implemented partner contracting on Ariba and customer contracting on Salesforce platforms.

Lastly, we have logically concluded over 20 years old Excise EOU matter at Supreme Court, which has required significant efforts for over ten years. We have defended a Non-Compete Claim initiated by competitors in the US and aggressively defended a Japanese supplier claim of around USD$10 m in ICC Singapore Arbitration.

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

I am passionate about sports. I like playing all kinds of sports – cricket, football, badminton, table tennis, chess and many more. Participating in competitive sports is a great learning experience that improves stamina, strength, mobility (physical attributes), focus, decision-making, and agility (mental attributes). Sports teach life lessons – learning from mistakes, team bonding, fighting spirit, taking risks, leading by example, communication and coordination, and staying humble and positive. It also helps in my role as a general counsel, wherein all these attributes help me gain a competitive advantage.