Induslaw has hired Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) partner, Bangalore head and fund investment co-head Kartik Ganapathy as an equity partner, while NDA partner Vaibhav Parikh returned from the firm's Silicon Valley office.
Ganapathy has joined Induslaw's Bangalore office's M&A and funds team, which previously consisted of partners Srinivas Katta and Suneeth Katarki.
Bangalore co-founding partner Katarki said: "Clients' interest in using our firm for funds work has been growing so we felt it was the right time to pick somebody else who can augment our funds practice. The only thing is that we wanted someone senior – most clients appreciate the fact that a lot of partner time goes into a transaction and it helps us also get a bit of a premium in pricing."
Ganapathy said: "It's great to join a firm and be part of an exciting growth story."
He had been with NDA for almost six years, also sitting on its executive committee, before which he had worked as general counsel at Nirvana BPO and legal counsel at venture capital fund ChrysCapital, having graduated from NLSIU Bangalore in 1996.
Ganapathy added that he hoped to be able to further build up Induslaw's funds practice, branching out also into microfinance and the education sector, as well as spending more time with clients.
"At a smaller law firm you have the opportunity to spend more time with clients and to understand the business of the clients," he noted.
Induslaw now consists of eight partners across Bangalore, Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad, having merged with G&D Law in 2007. The firm also introduced a pre-partner "grooming" rung in February, promoting a Hyderabad senior associate into the role.
In mid-April of this year, NDA partner Parikh returned from heading up the firm's Silicon Valley office to Bangalore.
He was previously co-head of the funds investment group with Ganapathy and will take over as sole head of the practice and partner in NDA's Bangalore office, which employs around 20 lawyers and other fee-earners.
Parikh said: "We wish him very, very well and we believe that he will do very well. Just because he has joined Indus doesn't make it any different and there are times when we have worked with Indus where they have complementary services."
"Karthik remains a good friend," added Parikh.
(The story originally appeared at www.legallyindia.com)