Khaitan & Co setting up shop in Chennai to expand South India reach
18 May 2021
Khaitan & Co setting up shop in Chennai to expand South India reach
The new office will be led by corporate partner Vivek Sriram and newly-hired dispute resolution partner Arva Merchant
Chennai Shutterstock Khaitan & Co has announced plans to open an office in Chennai in a bid to further expand its reach in South India. The Mumbai-based firm said the Chennai office will allow it to ramp up its work with existing and prospective clients in South India thanks to the region’s position as a base for a number of large and medium scale conglomerates and industries in sectors including automobiles, textiles, construction, engineering and pharmaceuticals.
Khaitan & Co has announced that it would open an office in Chennai later this year with a relocation from Mumbai and the hiring of dispute resolution independent counsel Arva Merchant as a local partner in the city.
Private equity/venture capital (PE/VC) investments into India from China and Hong Kong have seen a substantial drop in 2020.
Investments from these two regions combined have declined 72 per cent to $952 million this calendar year, from $3.4 billion in 2019, the data from Venture Intelligence shows. Investments from Mainland China have reduced 64 per cent to $377 million, while those from Hong Kong have fallen 75 per cent to $575 million in 2020. Also, over 150 applications concerning investments from Chinese entities have been pending since the introduction of press note 3 (PN3) for FDI in April, according to law firm Khaitan & Co.
The new PN3 norms and lack of clarity on what constitutes beneficial ownership are the primary reasons for the decline in investments from China and Hong Kong, experts believe. PN3 has especially dealt a major blow to start-ups by depriving them of funds from cash-rich China/Hong Kong-based investors.