Two of India’s largest law firms have merged, creating one of the few firms with a strong presence in Delhi and Mumbai.
AY Chitale & Associates from Delhi and Karkhanis & Associates of Mumbai have merged to create India Law Services.
The merged firm will have 45 lawyers, including five equity partners, spread fairly evenly between Mumbai, the centre of banking and finance, and Delhi, India’s capital and centre for regulatory, construction and litigation work.
The two firms got to know each other while working together for the past five years, with White & Case, on the $1.2bn (£734.4m) Dabhol Power Project. The firms advised a consortium of foreign lenders, including ABN Amro, Citibank and Bank of America.
Partner Atul Chitale said: “The benefits of having strong offices in Mumbai and Delhi became obvious.”
The firm’s specialist practice areas are litigation and arbitration, banking and finance, corporate, project finance, antitrust, construction and aviation.
Other clients include Indian financial institutions IDBI, ICICI and State Bank of India, the Bank of New York, Skanska and Fortum.
