• Zia Mody, Chairperson
• Bahram Vakil, Founder Director
• Ajay Bahl, Founder Director
• Arihant Patni, Chief Executive Officer
• Apoorva Patni

Zia Mody, Chairperson

Zia Mody, one of India's top corporate lawyers, is known internationally for her legal and business acumen. Business Today selected Zia as one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Indian Business. The AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers Survey identified her as one of Asia's leading business lawyers in the field of corporate finance.

Zia received her law degrees from Cambridge University and Harvard University. Upon graduation, she worked for four years as a corporate associate in the New York office of Baker & McKenzie. Upon her return to India, Zia opened her own practice, specializing in litigation and corporate law. In 2002, she was a founding partner of AZB & Partners, today one of India's largest and most prominent law firms.

Zia's experience includes the following practice areas: Mergers & Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Foreign Inward Investment Related Practice and Corporate Law (major corporate acquisitions in India and overseas acquisitions by Indian companies, and resultant restructuring; foreign investment into India and regulatory approvals, drafting of relevant documentation; corporate and foreign exchange related advice and regulatory compliances); Project and Other Financing (oil and gas, power and telecommunication projects and other lender financing issues); Securities Law & Capital Markets (legal advisor to issuers and underwriters in FCCB and Eurobond transactions; counsel for major financial intermediaries in proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Securities Appellate Tribunal and the Supreme Court of India); Litigation and Arbitration (appeared before various courts and forums, including High Courts throughout India, as well as the Supreme Court of India, in matters involving indirect tax, commercial and company law and constitutional issues); Offshore Funds/Venture Capital/Private Equity Funds (structured various offshore equity funds in Mauritius; counsel to venture capital companies and private equity funds, as well as major private equity funds and investors for investments into India); Mutual Funds (advised mutual funds and asset management companies).

Zia is actively involved in business and charitable organizations: Member, the SEBI Standing Committee on Mutual Funds; Member, Capital Markets Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry; Member, National Council on Corporate Governance and Regulatory Framework of the Confederation of Indian Industry; Member, Mutual Funds Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry; Director, Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation, Hong Kong; Trustee, New Era High School, Panchgani, Maharashtra; and Trustee, J. N. Petit Trust, Mumbai.

Zia is admitted to practice in India and in the State of New York.

Bahram Vakil, Founder Director

Bahram Vakil is one of India's top corporate lawyers and has extensive legal experience in Indian and international transactions. The Asia Pacific Legal 500 identified Bahram as a leading attorney in the fields of banking and finance, as well as projects and energy.

Bahram completed his law training at Bombay University and Columbia University. Upon graduation, he worked for Debevoise & Plimpton in New York and McCutcheon, Doyle, Brown & Enersen in San Francisco. Upon his return to India, he worked at Little & Co., where he became a partner. In 2002, Bahram was a founding partner of AZB & Partners. AZB was recognized in 2006 by the International Financial Law Review as India's National Law Firm of the Year.

Bahram has represented Indian and international clients in the following areas: Mergers, Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Foreign Inward Investment Related Practice and Corporate Law (major corporate acquisitions in India as well as intra-India mergers; foreign investment into India, regulatory approvals for such investment, drafting of related documentation, including joint venture and shareholders contracts, technology and trade mark agreements, supply contracts, marketing contracts; corporate and foreign exchange related advice, regulatory compliances and stamp duty issues; set up Indian liaison/branch offices of foreign companies and handled regulatory filings; foreign investment opportunities in India; handled issues under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 and Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999; represented and advised private parties in the Government of India's disinvestment process; issues relating to the Companies Act, 1956 and other related statutes, extensive experience in due diligence, drafting and negotiations); Project and Other Financing (advised on various infrastructure projects in India in the power, oil & natural gas, telecommunications, mining and port sectors; drafting and negotiation of project documents); Venture Capital/Private Equity Funds (advised and negotiated transactions for various venture capital funds and investor companies).

Bahram is a member of the core group established by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and the Securities Exchange Board of India for the project titled "Financial Institutions Reforms and Expansion" to develop the bar for securities laws in India.

Bahram is admitted to practice in India and in the State of New York and is resident in Mumbai.

Ajay Bahl, Founder Director

Ajay Bahl is one of India's leading lawyers. His international practice spans litigation, taxation and corporate law. The AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers survey has identified Ajay as one of Asia's leading business lawyers in the fields of mergers & acquisitions and project finance. The Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Chambers have singled him out as a leading attorney in the fields of taxation and mergers & acquisitions.

Ajay received his legal education from the University of Delhi. He is qualified as a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Ajay's extensive legal experience encompasses the following practice areas: Litigation and Arbitration (extensive experience in international and domestic commercial arbitration and litigation, including recent commercial arbitration between a large multinational and an Indian industrial house under the Rules of the London Court of International Arbitration; co-counsel with leading US law firm in commercial arbitration in New York between two large US companies involving complex matters of Indian law and policy; co-counsel with leading US law firms in litigations for multinational defendants in state and federal courts); Taxation (advised Indian and international clients on tax planning, tax structuring and the use of the double tax treaties; advised on international tax issues pertaining to strategic foreign investment in India, outbound investments from India and international tax treaties; audited accounts of Indian companies and supervised the preparation of financial statements; represented clients before various income tax authorities and other tax forums; represented clients before an investigative arm of the Revenue Authorities in the United Kingdom; appeared as an Expert on Accounts in an international arbitration at the Hague); Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Restructuring of Companies, Foreign Inward Investment Related Practice and Corporate Law (advice regarding foreign investment into India, regulatory approvals for such investment, drafting of relevant documentation; corporate and foreign exchange related advice, regulatory compliances and stamp duty issues; set up Indian liaison/branch offices of foreign companies; advised on foreign investment opportunities in India; issues under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 and Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999; major corporate acquisitions in India and resultant restructuring exercises for several multinationals; issues relating to the Companies Act, 1956 and other related statutes; extensive experience in financial and legal due diligence, drafting and negotiations); Project and Other Financing (advice on power projects, telecommunication projects and other lender financing matters; represented clients in the power sector on Power Purchase Arrangements and telecommunications and other related regulatory issues).

Ajay's multi-faceted practice encompasses the following industries and business sectors: media and broadcasting; infrastructure (power, telecom, mining, construction, oil & gas); financial services (banks, investment funds, institutions and international insurance companies); hospitality (hotel & restaurant chains); food and beverages; insurance; and automotive components and industrial products.

Arihant Patni, Chief Executive Officer

See the Management Team.

Apoorva Patni

Apoorva graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with dual major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a joint degree in Marketing. He spent his initial career with the chip manufacturer AMD in California before returning to PCS Technology, where he had earlier trained, to head initiatives in new technology ventures. Apoorva's initial training at PCS exposed him to marketing, manufacturing and high resilience network design. He is currently involved with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and remote technology support services.