Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co (SAM) is a leading firm in dispute resolution. It has strengths in core corporate and commercial dispute practice areas and has a truly pan-India presence, with offices in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurugram, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi. The disputes practice has more than 145 lawyers, including market-leading senior litigators who cover diverse sectors and industries including financial services, banking, telecoms, construction, energy, heavy industries, oil and gas, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, media and information technology. In addition, it has robust arbitration and white-collar crime and investigation practices. The firm regularly features in some of the country’s most high-stakes and complex disputes. This year the firm moves into the top tiers of the government and regulatory and white-collar crime rankings.
Managing partner Pallavi Shroff leads the dispute resolution group, which has 25 partners. Apart from Shroff, leading lawyers from the group include Tejas Karia, Ameya Gokhale, Manu Nair, Ajit Warrier, Ajoy Roy, Anirudh Das, Misha, Smarika Singh and Binsy Susan.
The team is acting for Punjab National Bank (PNB) against the two jewellers and their affiliate firms, companies and entities, for defrauding PNB out of more than $3 billion – in what has been called India’s largest banking fraud. In addition to advising PNB on various regulatory issues connected to banking laws and regulations of the Reserve Bank of India, the SAM team is assisting on the overall dispute resolution strategy for recovering the losses incurred by PNB, and to safeguard the client’s interests in court proceedings that are ongoing in India and the US.
The team is representing Facebook India Online Services in arbitration proceedings initiated by Parsvnath Estate Developers. The dispute pertains to payment of outstanding monthly sub-licensing fees and damages, and refund of security deposit, arising out of the sub-licence agreement and maintenance agreement entered into between the parties. This matter involves pertinent questions of law, including interpretation of a force majeure clause during Covid-19. In another commercial case, the firm is acting for JK Tyre & Industries in a high-value arbitration against an Indian conglomerate. The dispute relates to breach of key representation and warranties given under a share purchase agreement, including non-compliance with applicable laws by the share transferor and the consequent third-party claims and financial impact on the client.
PayPal Payments instructed the firm to challenge an order of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) claiming it wrongly declared PayPal a “reporting entity” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The order of the FIU also subjects the client to a series of regulatory compliances that would have serious ramifications on its business operations. This matter is of great significance as it raises substantive legal question qua the definition of payment system operators under the PMLA and whether the definition can be expanded to bring within its ambit entities which are functioning as online payment gateway service providers.
The firm is assisting Resilient Innovations Private, which operates popular fintech brands BharatPe, PostPe and Payback, in a case pertaining to an internal inquiry into issues related to gross negligence, wilful misconduct, abuse of position and fraud by the founder and other employees of the client. On the antitrust front, the team advised and successfully represented a confidential complainant who filed a case against Google before the CCI, alleging that Google was abusing its dominance in the smart phone ecosystem, including in relation to digital payment services.
The firm recently welcomed white-collar crime partner Samarth Gupta from Luthra and Luthra Law Offices, as well as general disputes specialist Shally Bhasin from Agarwal Associates. Partner Anuj Berry left for Trilegal last year.
Recent disputes clients include Axis Bank, FIS Payment Solutions & Services India, Hilton Worldwide Management, PayPal Payments, PVR, Tata Communications and Yes Bank.
Client feedback
“Did a good job helping us with the completion of the demerger through the court.” – Government and regulatory
Arjun Perikal
“Good advice and timely follow-ups.”
