Full-service law firm J Sagar Associates is opening an office in the central business district of the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), its eighth office in the country, a company statement said.
Nitin Potdar, senior M&A partner at JSA’s Mumbai office will head the GIFT City office. He was instrumental in drafting crucial amendments to the Companies Act 2013 for ease of doing business for the smart city.
“The GIFT City office underpins the firm’s strategy of establishing its presence in emerging growth markets,” Amit Kapur, senior partner at JSA said.
The development comes at a time when the Ministry of Commerce and Industry early this year issued a notification to allow foreign law firms to open their offices in special economic zones (SEZ) in India.
“Many major law firms have started their operations in Ahmedabad to get access at GIFT but JSA already had an office there. Many major, as well as mid-sized law firms, might follow and soon open their office in the region,” said a Mumbai-based law firm consultant.
Other firms that opened their offices at GIFT City include private sector lender Federal Bank Ltd, which in April received a loan of $100 million to fund its branch at the GIFT City from the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private-sector investment arm. In June this year, the National Stock Exchange launched its trading centre in the smart city in order to reclaim the market shares it lost to equity futures in Singapore. In August, Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) also initiated its operation in the smart city.
