India

Overview

India has become a global hub for transactional activity and innovation, making it a vital business center for stakeholders around the world. To help you navigate the India market landscape to achieve your business goals, we draw on our long history of delivering strategic solutions to Indian companies and high-net-worth individuals, along with international companies, private equity firms and financial institutions doing business in India.

Our highly skilled, cross-practice team combines global experience and knowledge of Indian markets to provide you with relevant insights that propel your success.

As a global law firm with deep local connections and experience, we are well positioned to serve as international counsel on your most complex cross-border transactions, investments, and compliance and disputes matters involving India. Our team’s broad understanding and knowledge, with particular insights in the areas of healthcare and pharmaceuticals, energy and natural resources, automotive and logistics, infrastructure, technology and data, and financial services, gives you a strategic edge as you make assessments and plan next steps. You also benefit from our decades-long history of acting on significant matters, helping clients mitigate risk and navigate the complex regulatory environment for projects in India. We regularly work with companies to review local partners, conduct thorough commercial due diligence and evaluate market conditions, all while engaging effectively and sensitively with local cultural and business norms.

As an international law firm, we do not practice Indian law, but we partner with and rely on longstanding relationships with trusted, market-leading law firms in India to deliver the best local legal advice for your needs.

Related Capabilities

COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS & OUTSOURCING

As one of the recognized leading destinations for outsourcing transactions across a wide range of sectors, India is essential to your company’s success.

To help you accomplish your objectives, our global team delivers effective, full-service solutions to your most complex technology, IT and business process outsourcing transactions. We are adept at handling transactions involving technology development, hardware and software implementations, licensing, cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) arrangements, technology maintenance and services, technology development/customization, wireless infrastructure, strategic alliances, e-commerce, strategic sourcing, and data security and privacy.

DATA PRIVACY & CYBERSECURITY

In an increasingly virtual world, protecting your company’s data and your customers’ privacy is more vital and complex than ever. Our top-ranked team is equipped to help you navigate the myriad—and constantly evolving—statutory, regulatory and enforcement regimes that govern the collection, use and disclosure of data in India and Asia, the United States and across Europe.

Our lawyers provide sophisticated privacy advice to domestic and multinational companies and vendors on a wide spectrum of data protection matters, including global privacy policies, data transfer mechanisms, Privacy Shield assessments, notifications to in-country data protection authorities, compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), reviews of new data laws and other compliance steps.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

We recognize that dispute resolution requires strategies not only for winning at trial, but for reducing risk and managing uncertainty along the way. To that end, we make it a priority to explain the strategies available to you, outline the potential costs of pursing those strategies and clarify the key distinctions between short-term victory and long-term success.

Our team includes well-known trial lawyers and litigators with skill and familiarity in handling the issues you face, such as international arbitration, consumer class actions, international trade disputes and product liability claims. With clients and experience in most industries, we have earned a particularly strong reputation for helping major multinational clients win big-ticket cases. We can also draw on our extensive experience in white-collar and regulatory matters to help you defend and navigate complex cross-border disputes that involve both commercial and regulatory threats.

To protect your interests, our lawyers resolve international commercial disputes under all major international arbitration institutions and rules.

EMPLOYMENT

Our global team provides creative, tailored solutions to tackle any employment challenge, partnering with you to identify and address the potential legal implications of workplace issues, provide cutting-edge counsel in the context of transactions and defend you in litigation. We advise on the full range of day-to-day employment issues, including employment contracts, termination packages and procedures, business reorganizations, international secondment arrangements, redundancy programs, workforce disputes, disciplinary and grievance procedures, discrimination and harassment issues, protection of trade secrets, and the enforcement of non-competes and other restrictive covenants.

We also provide pragmatic industrial relations advice, whether in relation to trade unions, employee works councils, or other representative and regulatory bodies.

ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE

To help you manage legal, reputational and political risks and seize opportunities in a constantly changing industry, our team tracks trends and provides forward-thinking counsel for India and other markets.

We align our seasoned lawyers’ skills with your needs, drawing on experience representing a broad range of clients in complex inbound and outbound India transactions that span power, renewables, oil and gas, LNG, metals, mining and commodities, and social and economic infrastructure across the value chain. We have been involved in many of the largest and most significant transactions in the industry. Our integrated multidisciplinary approach to every aspect of a deal, including project development and financing, M&A and joint ventures, commodities and trading, regulatory, environmental, real estate and tax, allows us to work efficiently and effectively on your behalf to exceed expectations.

FINANCE

Whether you are an individual or a business leader operating or intending to operate in India, our finance team is equipped to provide you with tailored, practical counsel. We have experience advising banks, financial institutions, venture capitalists, private equity funds and their portfolio companies, hedge funds, corporate borrowers and issuers, multinational corporations, industrial groups and other sophisticated capital providers. We also regularly act for corporate trustees, facility agents, security agents and custodians in relation to complex structured finance and banking transactions.

BANKING AND REAL ESTATE FINANCE

Having advised on some of the largest syndicated loan transactions in India, our team is well prepared to counsel you on external commercial borrowing transactions from the bank or borrower side. We also work on a variety of financings, including secured and unsecured lending, leveraged buyouts, domestic and cross-border syndicated senior, second lien and mezzanine lending, distressed debt trading, trade finance, structured export-credit financing and acquisition financing.

Our real estate team can provide you with comprehensive service on real estate acquisition, operation, leasing, financing and development. The team covers the full range of real estate mandates, from the structuring of large, complex acquisitions to development and ultimate disposition. Our lawyers advise a diverse group of clients, including developers, lenders, operators and private owners, and we frequently represent landlords and tenants in all aspects of office, commercial and retail industrial leasing transactions.

STRUCTURED FINANCE

Through our extensive work with a range of financial institutions and corporations, we have developed a deep understanding of the finance industry and skills we deploy to help fuel your success. We advise on capital markets transactions, including complex structure finance solutions, medium term note issues, fixed rate note issues, high yield issues, equity offerings, debentures, foreign currency convertible bonds, external commercial borrowings and global depository receipts. In addition, we have a wealth of experience in advising on restructurings, workouts and bond defaults. We are one of the leading teams for sustainable finance targeting environmental and social interventions.

HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES

As you pursue innovative partnerships and transactions in a rapidly evolving health and life sciences industry, you can turn to our top-ranked health and life sciences lawyers for strategic legal, business and regulatory advice.

Our clients include leading hospitals and health systems; medical and provider groups; health private equity funds and their management companies; insurers; health technology companies; medical device, pharmaceutical and medical supply manufacturers and distributors; and life sciences companies at every stage of development. We are trusted, knowledgeable and innovative advisors committed to engaging with all types of healthcare organizations.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

When it comes to your business, your intellectual property should help drive growth. These days, however, a return on your IP investment is hardly guaranteed. Product lifecycles are short, competition is fierce, and reputations can be won or lost at the push of a social media button. An increasingly complex web of international laws and regulations, judicial decisions and new legislation also pose a constant challenge.

Whether you’re building the next iconic brand, protecting game-changing new technology or creating new revenue streams from your established IP assets, our team can help you achieve your business goals at every stage of the IP lifecycle—in India and around the world . Beyond our legal skill, our business-first perspective uniquely equips us to support all aspects of your company’s growth. From global trademark registration to enforcement and everything in between, including global portfolio management, licensing of brand assets, due diligence in transactions and litigation, we are deeply invested in your success.

PRIVATE CLIENT

We partner with you, as either a closely held business owner or a high-net-worth individual, to deliver creative, customized solutions that meet your most sensitive and pressing needs. Our first priority is to earn your trust, providing nuanced, multidimensional advice that will guide you through critical decisions in achieving your personal, business, tax, civic and charitable goals.

We serve Indian and international business owners, executives, families, family offices, fiduciaries, private trust companies, public charities, private charities, closely held businesses, private equity fund partners, investment managers and publicly traded family-controlled companies. On behalf of our clients’ diverse
interests, we marshal and deploy the full resources of our global firm to develop and implement effective financial, business and legal strategies.

PRIVATE EQUITY

For your global investment needs as a private equity firm, we are at your side through the complete lifecycle of an investment, from initial acquisition to eventual sale. We counsel sponsors and management teams on all aspects of private equity transactional activity, from buyouts that create new platforms to recapitalizations, investments for growth, non-control and minority positions and distressed acquisitions.

We use our extensive international footprint to advise on deals in established business centers and emerging markets across the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including India. Our full-service teams include market-leading lawyers in the areas of leveraged finance, high-yield bonds, tax and employment, among other practice areas. We have deep cross-sector experience, with particular strength in energy, consumer goods, technology, industrials, life sciences and healthcare.

TAX

To ensure that our tax planning advice aligns with your commercial goals and enhances your return on investment, we work closely with you to understand your priorities and deliver innovative advice quickly and effectively. Partnering with our full-service global team, including a network of trusted advisors in locations where we do not have a local office, equips you to handle strategic international tax planning, covering all direct and indirect taxes. Our lawyers have extensive experience handling sophisticated international and domestic transactions, and we provide India-focused tax advice in relation to offerings of technology, digital goods and services in India; sporting and entertainment events; and restructurings of Indian companies.

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Results

Advised Comvest Partners, a private equity firm, in its acquisition of Leixir Dental Group, one of the largest providers of dental prosthetics and lab equipment with facilities in India, with more than half of its employee based in India. McDermott handled the structuring, negotiation and documentation of a senior secured credit facility, consisting of a term loan, delayed draw term facility and revolving credit facility, with NXT Capital, LLC, as agent for the lenders. Our multi-disciplinary, cross-border team worked on this complex deal, with assistance from our co-counsel at J. Sagar Associates, which involved aspects covering healthcare regulatory, employment, intellectual property and tax advice, among other areas.
Advised ICICI Bank in respect of a debt default by GVK Group (which operates a number of businesses in India) and in relation to the restructuring of Vedanta Group financings. Vedanta Resources Limited is a global diversified metals and mining company with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest mining and non-ferrous metals company in India and has mining operations in Australia and Zambia and oil and gas operations in three countries.
Advised Renew Power and Sumant Sinha in relation to its merger with RMG SPAC II. This is the largest renewable energy India-related SPAC merger.
Advised the British Asian Trust in relation to the design and structuring of the first-of-its-kind impact bond for improving the skills of young Indians and addressing the youth employment crisis, specifically for young women. Sharing the vision of an “employment ready” young India, the British Asian Trust, together with National Skill Development Corporation and other leading partners in the sector, have launched a skills impact bond, which aims to invest $14.4 million to support approximately 50,000 of India’s youth, especially women and girls, with skills that translate into sustainable employment. This initiative aims to equip youth with skills and vocational training and provide access to wage employment in COVID-19 recovery sectors including retail, apparel, healthcare and logistics.Show More

Advised State Bank of India in connection with advance payment and sale agreements and associated finance documents involving a number of complex jurisdictional issues.
Advised SyneuRx International (Taiwan) Corp., regarding filing and prosecuting patent applications in India (via Indian patent counsel) in the pharmaceutical space. Obtaining patent protection on pharmaceutical inventions can be challenging in India due to the strict patentability and patent eligibility requirements. We have successfully secured patent protection relating to SyneuRx’s contemplated therapeutic products.
Advised on the ground-breaking, cross-border impact bond known as the “Utkrisht Bond,” from the Hindi for “excellence.” The Utkrisht Bond aims to reduce the number of mother and infant deaths by improving the quality of maternal care in Rajasthan’s health facilities. The money will be used by service providers to improve access to and quality of care in up to 440 private facilities in Rajasthan, supporting government efforts to reduce maternal and newborn deaths. Interventions will reach up to 600,000 pregnant women with improved care during delivery and could lead to up to 10,000 lives being saved over a five-year period. The transaction was widely reported on in the press and media, and it breaks new ground with its innovative features enabling cross-border funding to target social interventions around the world.
Advised Instiglio, a nonprofit focused on international development, on a pro bono basis. The Social Impact Bond (SIB) seeks to raise funds to support the work of “Educate Girls,” an NGO that supports girls in schools and improves learning outcomes for more than 20,000 children in some of the remotest parts of Rajasthan in India.