Mr. Nishith Desai
Founder
Nishith Desai is the founder of the multi-skilled, research-based law firm, Nishith Desai Associates ("NDA"), which has offices in Mumbai, Silicon Valley, Bangalore and Singapore.
Nishith Desai is an international tax and corporate lawyer, researcher, author and lecturer. In November 2004, Nishith Desai was ranked as No. 28 in a global Top 50 "Gold List" by Tax Business, a UK-based journal for the international tax community, after a worldwide survey of tax professionals who had influenced tax policies. Nishith Desai also holds a special license from the State Bar of California to practice Indian law.
Nishith Desai's practice encompasses an extensive range of tax, corporate and technology matters, with a strong emphasis on private equity and venture capital funds. His other areas of practice include corporate globalisation, international listings, M&A transactions, corporate governance, e-commerce taxation, joint ventures and strategic alliances, employment and human resource laws, intellectual property rights, media and entertainment laws, complex information technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) transactions and social sector laws.
Nishith Desai has substantial experience in the Fund sector, advising perhaps the largest number of offshore investment funds, including the India Fund, the Bombay Fund and the South India Access Fund. He played a seminal role in structuring several private equity funds including TCW/ICICI India Private Equity Fund, The Indocean Funds, HSBC Pvt. Equity India Fund, Chrysalis, India Advantage Fund I - VI, UTI Funds, Kotak, Westbridge Capital, DSP Merrill Lynch, Indiareit, Helios Fund in addition to structuring several domestic venture capital funds. He has advised the Small Industries Development Board of India and the Department of Electronics, Government of India, on their Rs. 1 billion domestic venture capital fund.
Nishith Desai has been at the forefront of India's public policy reforms at both the Central and State government levels. Among his many initiatives, he convened the eComTaxpert group, comprising global experts in the field of information technology and international taxation, such as Prof. Dr. Klaus Vogel and Dr. Philip Baker, to provide recommendations to the Indian government on the taxation of electronic commerce in India. He has also assisted the State governments of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka in formulating infrastructure legislation. Nishith Desai has also assisted the Mauritius Government in the development of an offshore regime, which enjoys a high level of credibility today in the Fund Industry.
Nishith Desai was also on the Securities and Exchange Board of India Committees, set up by the Indian Government to evolve venture capital and Employee Stock Option (ESOP) guidelines for India.
NDA received the "Indian Law Firm of the Year 2000" and "Asian Law Firm of the Year 2001 (Pro Bono)" awards presented by IFLR (a Euromoney publication). NDA has also been ranked by International Tax Review (Legal Media Group) as a Leading Tax Advisory Firm in India for professional practice for the year 2005 and 2006.
Languages: English, Hindi, Gujrati |
