- Asia
- Lateral moves
- Bengaluru, Delhi
- M&A, Disputes
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas has hired four General Corporate partners from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Ravindra Bandhakavi, Amarta Roy, Srabanee Ghosh and Poornima Singh are joining with a team of eight lawyers, Bar & Bench reported. Bandhakavi and Singh will be based in Bengaluru, while Roy and Ghosh will be in Delhi.
Bandhakavi has more than 25 years of experience in M&A and private equity. He advises funds and multilateral institutions on renewables, infrastructure, financial services, e-commerce, real estate and manufacturing. He graduated from NLSIU Bengaluru in 1999 and worked at Trilegal and the erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas before joining Cyril Amarchand. Roy works on private equity, joint ventures, financings, exits, demergers and alternative investment funds. Ghosh focuses on pharmaceutical-sector investments and exits. Singh advises on renewables, infrastructure and financial-services transactions.
Second Cyril Amarchand corporate departure to Shardul Amarchand in 2026 after Garima Shahani
The exit was first reported in July. Cyril Amarchand Managing Partner Cyril Shroff called it a friendly departure that "was in the works for a while." The partners will serve notice until November 2026.
This is the second corporate move from Cyril Amarchand to Shardul Amarchand this year. In February, the firm hired dual India/New York-qualified debt finance partner Garima Shahani in New Delhi. The two firms were created on 11 May 2015 after the court-ordered split of Amarchand Mangaldas between brothers Shardul and Cyril Shroff, according to Wikipedia. Partner moves between the firms have remained common in the market.
Cyril Amarchand lost seven partners in 2026, five to AZB & Partners
Cyril Amarchand lost seven partners over 2026. Five, including Delhi and Northern Region Head Ajay Sawhney and project and energy partners, left for AZB & Partners in April. Real estate partner Abhilash Pillai joined Trilegal, while international arbitration head Shaneen Parikh also left that year.
Shardul Amarchand has also added partners through lateral hires and promotions. It expanded its General Corporate Practice in Mumbai in April with Namrata Bhagwatula and Aneesh Gupte. It also promoted 19 lawyers to partner and counsel for FY 2026-27. It is one of India's largest full-service firms, with more than 900 lawyers and roughly 187 to 189 partners across seven offices, according to Chambers and Partners.
India M&A up 12% to US$115 billion in 2025, private equity to US$60.7 billion
The hiring comes as India's deal market recovers. India's M&A value rose 12% to roughly US$115 billion in 2025, while private equity investment rose 8% to US$60.7 billion across 1,475 deals, according to EY. Grant Thornton Bharat recorded 710 deals worth US$20 billion in the first quarter of 2026. Private equity accounted for 415 transactions worth US$9.1 billion. The firm attributed the pipeline to corporate carve-outs, Global Capability Centres and private credit structures.
Those are the types of transactions the incoming team handles. General Corporate and private equity teams are taking on much of this work, putting their partners in direct competition for senior hires among the larger firms. Bandhakavi and Singh's Bengaluru postings give Shardul Amarchand more senior corporate capacity in southern India's technology, renewables and private equity corridor, where Shardul Amarchand, AZB and Trilegal all operate.
Partner movement between the Shroff firms and toward AZB and Trilegal
In 2026, senior corporate and finance partners have moved out of Cyril Amarchand toward Shardul Amarchand, AZB & Partners and Trilegal. The moves have come as the deal market grew in 2025 and remained active into early 2026. The four-partner General Corporate team and eight lawyers, following the February debt-finance hire, extend the movement between the two Shroff firms in practices handling much of the transactional work.
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