Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is one of the only Tier-1 Indian Law Firms to have a dedicated Financial Institutions Group (FIG), focusing on M&A, regulatory projects and enforcement matters for our financial services and technology clients, to service the growing demand for specialized advice from financial institutions, Fintechs and emerging technology players, and has the largest Fintech Practice in India, both basis partner and associate headcount.

The team’s strong grasp of regulatory issues comes from decades of experience of working with regulators and policy makers. The access to a team of senior retired-regulators gives us a unique insight into the thinking of regulators and management of regulatory processes with the relevant Government of India (GOI) Departments, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Indian Central Bank, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Indian securities market regulator, which forms an integral part of all large M&A and private-equity transactions in the FIG/ Fintech space in India today.

Our sub-specialisations include advising on:

(i)public and private M&As in the banking, non–banking, Fintech, securities market and information/ emerging technology space, including fund raising, joint ventures, mergers, demergers, asset and business transfers, restructuring, bank finance and commercial agreements; and

(ii)regulatory matters, including setting up of businesses in India, product offerings, compliance, governance, risk assessment and investigations.

In recent past, our practice has grown to cover data protection, cyber–security, e-commerce, commercial contracts, emerging technologies such as blockchain, digital assets, payment aggregators/ gateways, over the top (OTT) media services, technology–payments integration, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data localisation considerations, KYC/ AML aspects, digital lenders / banks, neo-banks, representations before Indian regulators, internal investigations and policy, keeping in view the growing demands of our FIG clients.

Our key clients include banks (both Indian and global), including payments banks and small finance banks, speciality finance/ NBFCs, core investment companies, payment system operators, payment aggregators and gateways, card payment networks, digital lenders/ BNPL players, account aggregators, P2P lending platforms, wallet players, big–tech/ tech-fins, e–commerce, securities market participants such as foreign portfolio investors, portfolio managers, research analysts, investment advisors, securities broker–dealers, custodians, asset managers/ mutual funds, merchant/ investment banks and rating agencies.

Some of our key clients include Reliance Industries, Jio Financial Services, Mastercard, JSW, Tata Communications, L&T Finance, Adani Finserve, JPMorgan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, IDFC Group, SMBC (Japan), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Standard Chartered Bank, Amazon, Google, American Express, Stripe, Western Union, Worldpay (FIS), Worldline, CRED, Centrum Group, EaseBuzz, Infibeam, CoinSwitch Kuber, etc.

Some of our key PE / VC clients include Madison Dearborn Partners, Temasek, Gaja Capital, Blackstone, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) Washington, Bain Capital, Sequoia, Eight Roads, Leap Frog, Azim Premji Foundation, Bessemer, Stellaris Venture Partners, etc.

Our FIG Group includes our IFSCA/ GIFT Practice, set up in 2021, and based out of our Ahmedabad offices, to provide India entry options to our FIG/ Technology clients via GIFT, a marquee initiative of the Government of India. Our clients include Vayana (IFSC) Pvt. Ltd, Mynd Solutions Pvt Ltd, Deakin University, University of Wollongong, State Bank of India IFSC Banking Unit, Axis Bank Ltd IFSC Banking Unit, HDFC Bank Ltd IFSC Banking Unit, ICICI Bank IFSC Banking Unit etc.

Our Recent Financial Institutions Group (FIG) Accolades:

IFLR Asia-Pacific Awards 2023- Specialist Award: Financial Services Regulatory- APAC Hearquartered.

ALB India Law Awards 2023-:

Anu Tiwari recognised as Fintech Lawyer of the Year (Law Firm).

Banking and Financial Services Law Firm of the Year: Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

Who's Who Legal- Thought Leaders, 2023-:

Cyril Shroff- Global Leader: Recommended- Banking & Finance; L. Viswanathan: Banking - Finance - Global Elite Thought Leader.

Recognized as ‘Team of the Year’by IFLR Asia-Pacific Awards 2023 for “Financial Regulatory Services”.

Recognized as ‘Tier-1’ by Legal500 APAC 2022-2023 for Financial Services, with our lawyer cited as ‘Leading Individuals’ in this category (only 2 such citations in India).

Recognized by FinTech Legal Guide, Chambers Asia–Pacific (2022- 2023), with our lawyer cited as ‘band-1’ in this category.

IBLJ’s A- List 2022-23- Cyril Shroff – Icon, L. Vishwanathan – Icon.

‘Highly Recommended’ for Financial Services Regulatory by Asialaw Profiles.

Ranked ‘Outstanding’ for Banking & Financial Services by Lawyers Worldwide Awards.

Named ‘Best Overall Law Firm of the Year’ for Fintech by India Business Law Journal 2020- 2022.

ALB India Law Awards 2022-:

Arun Prabhu recognised as Data Privacy and Protection Lawyer of the Year (Law Firm)

Technology, Media and Telecommunications- Law Firm of the Year.

Asia Legal awards 2022- Arun Prabhu recognised as ‘Top TMT lawyer’; Anu Tiwari recognised as ‘Top Fintech Lawyer’.

Forbes PowerList 2021- Arun Prabhu recognised as ‘Top Individual Lawyers’.