Aug 2024 – Present · 1 yr 9 mos · India

• Pro bono weekend side hustle to build highly trained and fine-tuned micro AI agents to solve common legal problems of the common people.

Dec 2021 – Aug 2024 · 2 yrs 8 mos · Bangalore & Mumbai

• CoinSwitch is backed by marquee investors like a16z, Paradigm, Ribbit, Sequoia, Tiger and Coinbase. We are scaling retail and high frequency trading crypto trading platform to greater heights in India. We are also building a unified multi-asset investment platform to offer all regulated, unregulated, Indian and non-Indian assets for investment and trading.
• Built an AI tool to assess crypto regulations and state of affairs of 80+ countries on 30+ parameters. Open sourced it here: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-kfupsgiwz-crypto-jurisdiction-finder/. Now used extensively worldwide.

Apr 2019 – Sep 2021 · 2 yrs 5 mos · New Delhi & Mumbai

• Built eCommerce and fintech/payments business of WhatsApp and Facebook.
• Led the Legal, Regulatory, and Litigation affairs for WhatsApp's communication app.
• I also acted as the first-ever Grievance Officer of WhatsApp's chat app and Risk Officer for WhatsApp Payments.

Mar 2018 – Apr 2019 · 1 yr 1 mo · Mumbai Metropolitan Region

• Juggled with ever evolving law, policy and tax for growing the subscription video on demand business in India, South Asia & South East Asia.

May 2017 – Feb 2018 · 9 mos · Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• M&A, legal and regulatory leadership to Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd to be a leader in digital media and eCommerce market in ASEAN countries. Supported in digital transformation by acquiring latest technologies for advanced digital and satellite media. Created one of Malaysia's largest content joint venture in digital media. Acquired minority stake in a US based start up. Evaluated few eCommerce ventures in SEA region.

Oct 2014 – Apr 2017 · 2 yrs 6 mos · Greater Delhi Area

• Snapdeal operates in eCommerce. Its subsidiaries include "Freecharge" (mobile wallet) - sold to Axis Bank; "Vulcan Express" (logistics) - sold to Future Group; and "Unicommerce" (seller support technology) - sold to Infibeam. Snapdeal owned a high-end fashion portal exclusively.com. It operated a C2C marketplace app under the name "shoppo" and had a 50% JV in television shopping.
• Funded by marquee investors like Softbank, Alibaba, eBay, Foxconn, Mr. Rattan Tata, Mr. Azim Premji, Temasek, Blackrock, Intel, Sequoia in addition to other highly sophisticated PE/VC firms across the world. Peak valuation - US$ 6.5 bn.
• I assisted fundraise (equity & debt) & 15 acquisitions from legal, tax and regulatory standpoint. I created and mentored a team of 30 legal & tax attorneys. Snapdeal's legal team under my leadership won "largest internet acquisition of the year" award in 2015 and "Best e-Commerce legal team in India" in 2016.
• I received Young Achiever Award 2015 in the under 40 years in-house counsel from LegalEra, India's largest legal media company, and "Best eCommerce General Counsel in India' from Legal League Consulting in 2017.
• Successfully secured precedent creating orders from Competition Commission of India (India's Anti Trust body).
• Lead contentious indirect tax and criminal liability issues for eCommerce markets in India.
• Rolled-out GST readiness for the largest marketplace commerce model.
• Made representations before various govt. bodies for industry friendly regulations.
• Above all, created enabling legal, tax and regulatory eco-system in India for the high growth of eCommerce benefiting all stake holders viz. consumers, sellers, government and entrepreneurs.

Mar 2012 – Sep 2014 · 2 yrs 6 mos · Mumbai Metropolitan Region

• Converged my Media, Broadcasting, Internet and Technology legal knowledge and experience at Reliance and especially for its ambitious 4G / BWA project through Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited.
• Confidently and successfully led the structuring, negotiation and concluding quiet a few billion $$ + and a lot of 100mn $$ + high end technology transfer / licensing deals across various jurisdiction. Direct interactions and negotiations with CXO level people from various cultures and diversities.
• Achieved commercial excellence through legal and contracting strategies. Leveraged techno and commercial legal acumen to protect investments and increase project ROI.
• Provided legal leadership in the creation of ISP Network, Content Delivery Network, Multimedia Services Systems, Cloud Computing Systems, Content Business Plans, Content Acquisition, Content Creation, eCommerce and ePayment buisness ventures.
• Created and managed a team of 12 highly competent attorneys.

Mar 2010 – Mar 2012 · 2 yrs · Mumbai

• I handled the following at Star India Private Limited (a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox)
• 1. Corporate (M&A, JVs, Competition, Forex, etc.)
• 2. Digital Media
• 3. Broadcasting Technology procurement
• 4. Distribution & Ad Sales (domestic & international)
• 5. Programming & Content Acquisition
• 6. Regulatory and Advocacy
• 6. Law Enforcement

Sep 2005 – Feb 2010 · 4 yrs 5 mos · Mumbai Metropolitan Region

• Part of the founding legal team after eBay Inc. acquired baazee.com in India. Reporting to India legal head. I also acted as interim India General Counsel.
• Corporate, compliance, intellectual property, business advisory, contracts, litigation, risk mitigation and regulatory support to the following businesses of eBay in India:
• o B2C and C2C eCommerce activities – both domestic and cross border
• o Online escrow-type payment activities to support eCommerce
• o Retail imports through eBay India eCommerce platform
• o Advertisement Sales on internet properties
• o B2B Motors auctions platform
• o Online classifieds
• o Online database of used motor vehicle pricing (A US & India Patent Pending application)
• o Software Development Centre in Chennai
• International Profile:
• o Leading eBay and PayPal ‘Contracts – Centre of Excellence’ in India serving US, Europe and APAC legal departments. Running this like an independent Business Unit with separate budget and financial reporting.
• o Co-chairing eBay’s Asia Pacific ‘Commercial Contracts’ committee.
• Legal Department administration:
• o General cross functional support to Human & Work Place Resources, Finance, Audit, Regulatory Affairs and Public Relations team.
• o Managing India Law Department budget exercises and dealing with external counsels on budgets and billings.
• o Leading and mentoring 2 legal resources.

Oct 2004 – Sep 2005 · 11 mos · Mumbai

• Global General Counsel with direct reporting to the CEO. Managing a team of 3 counsels. Major accomplishments:
• Acquisitions & divestment: Stocks acquisition of two US based companies and subsequent divestment of the same to respective management groups.
• Contracts drafting & negotiations: Drafting and negotiating following software contracts and strategic alliance agreements with key partners and clients which involves direct participation by Managing Director and Sr. Vice-Presidents:
•  Products development
•  Products licensing (both outbound and inbound)
•  Software Services (maintenance, customization and integration)
•  Consulting Services
• Risk Management: Analyzing legal, contractual and country related risk and having dialogues with Management Council of the Company to finalize strategy for mitigation and averting the same.
• Legal Compliance Management: Initiated discussion with the senior management for implementing a legal compliance management.
• Intellectual Property Management: Patents & Trademarks in US & India
• Litigation Management: Managing litigations for and against the company in co-ordination with outside counsels.

Mar 2003 – Sep 2004 · 1 yr 6 mos · Mumbai Metropolitan Region

• Part of the founding legal team after NCR entered into India through a wholly owned subsidiary. I had the dual responsibility of legal and company secretarial. Reporting to the India senior legal counsel. I also acted as interim India General Counsel. Major work areas include:
• Drafting and negotiating various technical, IP and commercial agreements with large banks, petroleum, networking and telecom giants. Legal and contractual risk management of bid documents/RFIs/RFPs floated by public sector banks / companies.
• Supporting the organization in setting up Call Centre and Software R&D Centre.
• Advised the India and global management on the key legal developments in the area of Information Technology Laws, Electronic Cheques and Truncated Cheques to help them in strategy formulation for implementing certain business into India.
• Acted as a Secretary to the Board and Country Council and ensuring proper flow of communication w.r.t. legal compliance.

Mar 2002 – Feb 2003 · 11 mos · Greater Delhi Area

• Sole legal resource with dual responsibility of legal and company secretarial. Reporting to the CFO.
• Some of the major work areas were legal structuring, drafting and negotiating contracts, legal compliance for corporate M&A and investment transactions, both inbound and outbound; corporate and project financing.
• Managing ESOPs through independent trust.
• IPR filings and prosecutions.
• Civil litigation for recovery and other print media related content disputes.