What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?

Post the amalgamation of erstwhile GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Limited (“GSKCH”) with Hindustan Unilever Limited (“HUL”), Haleon India (erstwhile GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare) (“Company”) had entered into a consignment selling arrangement (“CSA”) under which HUL was entirely responsible for selling and distributing the Company products. In a strategic move, the Company decided to terminate the CSA, my team and I were involved in overseeing a complex separation of 4 years relationship with HUL. This initiative posed a multitude of challenges, requiring the identification of cross-functional integration points between the two companies, financial reconciliation and handling a delicate termination of existing ties. Throughout the process, Haleon India Legal team demonstrated resilience, adeptness and its ability to handle complex transactions even with a small team.

With the termination of the CSA with HUL, the Company underwent a transformational change and set up its own supply chain and sales network in India. Over 6 – 8 months, the Company hired over 500 employees. My team and I advised on various employee policies including onboarding, benefits, launch of industry first global policies of care givers and paternity leave for 6 months. We worked with the cross functional teams in obtaining various regulatory and food licenses; advising on the entire go-to-market strategy; assisting in appointment of hundreds of distributors which also involved advising on the requirement of distributor agreements; advising and reviewing standard operating procedures; negotiating the contract and advising on the deployment of a distributor management system; setting up of warehouses and their leases. Remarkably, within a span of 2 months, the team successfully negotiated and closed more than 100 agreements. Notably, all this was achieved while simultaneously managing day-to-day business operations.

Despite resource constraints and navigating organisational restructuring, my team and I were also involved in launching new products and formats such as Eno Chewy Bites and Centrum, to serve our consumers. We provided strategic guidance on classification, licensing, and regulatory compliance and advising on product claims. Partnering with business and R&D teams, we worked on reviewing the product claims to ensure that they are consumer relevant, legally compliant and properly substantiated.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?

In-house counsels are uniquely placed in building bridges between the teams and fostering collaboration working for a common goal. To achieve this, the first and foremost is to clearly Understand the Business and its Objectives. This is essential to not only protect the company’s legal interests but also helps in becoming more flexible, adaptable and a strategic business partner understanding business priorities. Simultaneously, it is essential to Build Trust and Relationships. This is fundamental to any successful collaboration. Building strong, trust-based relationships with stakeholders requires consistency, reliability, and a genuine interest in their success. Being approachable, responsive, and maintaining confidentiality are critical to establishing and maintaining trust. Adopting clear and effective communication along with a solution-focused mindset, helps in identifying legally sound and commercially viable solutions which fosters a more collaborative and productive relationship. Lastly, I firmly believe that leveraging technology to streamline processes improves efficiency and ultimately benefits collaboration.

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives you would like to highlight?

Innovative collaboration with the in-house tech team resulted in the development and implementation of a comprehensive, internally built an in-house contracts repository system. We had spent time in understanding business requirements and hence created a system which was user friendly, accessible through the mobile & has features such as tracking contract expiry and providing cross-functional visibility. This has resulted in better record management and enhancing efficiency across the board.

The team demonstrated exceptional proficiency in deciphering the intricate regulatory tapestry within the marketing and advertising realm. Faced with the challenges posed by multiple regulations and overlapping jurisdictions, we consolidated and refined these complexities into a playbook. This initiative simplified the understanding of the advertisement regulatory landscape for the Marketing

team. The result was a significant enhancement in operational efficiency, marked by streamlined processes and notable time savings.

The team understood that the long virtual training sessions might not be the most effective way to capture the attention span of the young workforce hence, rather than sessions and video contents, team created short crisp educational gifs and imageries which are periodically circulated to ensure that learnings get refreshed from time to time.