The ITechLaw CyberSpaceCamp® Program is a platform for experienced lawyers from across the world to interact with young lawyers and professionals and share their insight and in-depth view on the implications of technology law and practice as it has developed in their respective jurisdictions. The program has been tailor-made to address current issues facing technology law practitioners as well as make the event an interactive discussion. The programs are conducted classroom style, with faculty encouraging active interaction from the participants. 

This year, the ITechLaw CyberSpaceCamp® Program is being conducted by Nishith Desai Associates at its office in Bengaluru, on Wednesday, 18 January 2023 from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm IST. The CyberSpaceCamp® Program is intended to benefit young lawyers with 0-3 years of experience. All participants are invited to attend the ITechLaw Substantive Legal Conversations from 2:30 pm - 6:00 pm IST and the Welcome Reception from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm IST, held at The Taj West End following the CyberSpaceCamp® Program.

Register to attend and select one of the following categories: Local Delegate - Member, Local Delegate - Nonmember, or Student.

Date: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
CyberSpaceCamp Location: Nishith Desai Associates, Prestige Loka, G01, 7/1, Brunton Rd, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560025
Registration Cost: 7,500 INR

Schedule

Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship

Rajeev Chandrasekhar is a member of the Union Council of Ministers of Narendra Modi Govt. in India. Rajeev holds twin responsibilities as Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in the country. He is focused on implementing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India by expanding and deepening India’s Tech and Innovation Economy, developing India as a global talent and Entrepreneurship Hub. In this regard, he is leading several initiatives such as the semi-conductor mission for India, electronics system design and manufacturing, deep tech investment promotion, Startup India and technology policy development.

A tech native, Rajeev has a bachelors in electrical engineering with a MS in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He started his engineering career in the United States working on microprocessors, compilers and Unix operating systems at Intel. In the early 1990s, he returned to India to begin his entrepreneurial journey, setting up one of India’s earliest mobile cellular network – BPL Mobile which he successfully exited to Hutchinson, now Vodafone, in 2005.
In 2006, Rajeev committed himself to long term public service. A three-term parliamentarian, he started his political career as Member of parliament in 2006 campaigning for a variety of public interest and economic growth issues, including exposing the 2G spectrum allocation scam in the telecom sector as an opposition MP, advocating for a rules based open internet, data privacy and interoperability.

Since 2014, prior to becoming a Minister, Rajeev was a member of many important Parliamentary committees including Finance and Technology amongst others. Currently he is executing the Indian Govt’s mission for building a trillion-dollar tech economy in India by 2025-26 and also working towards making India a Global Skills Hub.

The Keynote will include a Q&A Session. 

The impact of India’s “digital stack” in enabling financial inclusion, innovation, and disruption, has only emphasized the importance of replicating this model for other key sectors like e-commerce and healthcare. This Panel will examine the key regulatory challenges associated with key emerging digital public infrastructures like ONDC and the Health Stack along with the potentially transformative benefits of solving them.

Speakers:

Rahul Matthan, Trilegal, India - Moderator

Rahul Matthan is a technology lawyer and heads the TMT practice of Trilegal. In addition to advising clients on issues as diverse as cryptocurrency, satellite regulations, fintech and social media, he has played an active role in tech policy in the country including in relation to the country's privacy law, its spatial data infrastructure and the Unique ID law. His book - ' Privacy 3.0: Unlocking Our Data-Driven Future' - describes the evolution of privacy in India and the world and the impact that technology has had on the evolution of this fundamental human right. He is a published author and a regular speaker across the world on matter relating to emerging technologies and the law and he writes a weekly column on the interface of law and technology entitled Ex Machina in mint, a leading national business daily. He also hosts a podcast series with the same name which picks up on many of the themes discussed in his articles and dives into them in much more detail. Rahul now serves on the Board of Trilegal after having served for many years on the Firm’s Management Committee.

Tanuj Bhojwani, DPG Alliance, India

Tanuj is a founding and current Board Member of the DPGA. As a former Fellow at iSPIRT Foundation, Tanuj worked on policy issues related to digital identity, payments, data protection and drones with the goal of achieving a Digital India, and most recently co-authored a book with Nandan Nilekani called the Art of Bitfulness, a compendium of strategies that help readers develop a healthier relationship with technology.

T Koshy, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), India

Mr Koshy is the MD & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a first-of-its-kind initiative globally to democratize e-commerce in India. As an IIM Bangalore alumnus, he was part of the founding team of National Security Depository Limited (NSDL) and served as an Executive Director. He has also marked a remarkable stint in Ernst & Young leading key digital transformation initiatives. Mr Koshy has been a pioneer in Digital ID and social protection initiatives and has played a leadership role in many implementations and consulting projects globally including the UID project of India, the largest ID program in the world, along with many other Digital ID initiatives globally. Mr Koshy played a key role in the many digital transformation projects in India, including the transformation of Pension Systems in India, the development of the Tax Information Network and the formulation of IT strategy and IT architecture for the implementation of Goods & Service Tax in India. Mr Koshy has also assisted the World Bank with pension transformation projects and has been to China as a member of a pension reform mission. Mr Koshy has also served as a member of SEBI committees pertaining to the adoption of dematerialized settlement of securities and mutual funds as well as committees constituted by the RBI with reference to the Online Tax Accounting System for Direct and Indirect Tax. He has also been a member of the Sub Group on Technology of the Tax Administration Reform Commission of the Government of India constituted to recommend measures for reforms required in Tax Administration to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency for both Direct as well as Indirect tax. Mr Koshy played a significant role in several e-Government initiatives, including the Unique ID project, the Expenditure Information Network, the Project PLATINUM for the development of a legal and IT framework for the Ministry of Urban Development's guaranteed land title, the Common Data Repository for the Insurance Sector, the E-Stamping initiative, and the automation of VAT functions in a few Indian states.

Kamya Chandra, India

Kameshwari (Kamya) Chandra specializes in the design and implementation of digital public infrastructure to power financial inclusion and economic growth via identity, payments, data sharing, and access to credit. She advises the Indian Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India on the rollout of the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) which has enabled consented data sharing via shared digital infrastructure for over 1.1 Billion bank accounts in India’s financial sector. She worked previously at the tech-policy think tank iSPIRT Foundation based in Bangalore, at the World Bank’s Digital Identification for Development initiative, and at the Boston Consulting Group in London. She holds an MPA in International Development from the London School of Economics, an Executive Certificate in Leading Economic Growth from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a BA in Economics and Political Science."

Join us in congratulating the Honorable Justice Bellur Narayanaswamy Srikrishna as the recipient of the ITechLaw 50th Anniversary India Award for his global impact and his outstanding contribution to the field of technology and law.

Justice Srikrishna is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India and has had a distinguished career deciding on matters relating to human lives and commerce. Post-retirement, Justice Srikrishna has headed commissions such as the 6th Pay Commission, the Committee for Consultations on the Situation in Andhra Pradesh (CCSAP), Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC), the committee on arbitration law in India, and the committee to draft a data protection framework.

Thursday AM Coffee/Tea Break Sponsor:

Balancing Web 3.0’s core precepts of decentralization, openness, and user empowerment with robust and effective regulation has proved tricky. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the Indian regulatory environment surrounding digital collectibles and tokens. This Panel will examine the state of Web 3.0 regulation in India today, how it has impacted industry, and , posit a roadmap for regulation ahead.

Speakers:

Abhishek Malhotra, TMT Law Practice, India - Moderator

Abhishek Malhotra, Founding Partner, TMT Law Practice and a member of the Bar Councils of Delhi and California, has two and a half decades of experience in the primary areas of expertise, including intellectual property, commercial dispute resolution, technology, media and telecommunications. He has advised clients in minimizing legal risks and devising strategies for safeguarding against civil and criminal liability. Mr. Malhotra’s expertise in the media sector has resulted in a close alliance with production houses, broadcasters, and artists across the industry, and he is recognized as the “go-to” professional for issues across broadcasting, music and sports. He has contributed to the policy realm by providing inputs to the Governments and think tanks on copyright issues, sports and fantasy gaming, Digital Health; and as a Principal Advisor to the Broadband India Forum on issues relating, inter alia, to satellite communication and data protection. Mr Malhotra is a guest lecturer at Indian Institute of Information Technology, the National Law School of India University, NUJS, Kolkata. He regularly speaks at conferences and forums of repute, including the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal, US India Business Council, Indo-American Chambers of Commerce, World Intellectual Property Office, The Observer Research Foundation, MediaNama, FICCI and CII.

Jyotsna Sharma, Rario, India

Jyotsna is the General Counsel at Rario where she is working on law, strategy, web3 and policy. Rario is a platform for cricket fans powered by NFTs. Rario enables cricket fans to engage as a community, providing them with an opportunity to own digital collectibles such as officially licensed cricketing moments and player cards of their favourite players, teams, and leagues on the blockchain. Jyotsna is a lawyer qualified in India, with experience across industries and global businesses in various stages of growth and restructuring. She has been advising corporate senior leadership for more than a decade. She has comprehensive experience in - corporate and commercial laws including cross-border transactions; private equity; M&A; litigation and intellectual property management. Prior to Rario, she was global head of legal and compliance at Xceedance Inc., she has also worked at Centrient Pharmaceuticals (a Bain Capital portfolio), Educomp and Trilegal.

Manish Agarwal, IndiGG, India

Manish Agarwal is IIM-Ahmedabad & NIT W alum and he became part of India's nascent gaming ecosystem 13 years back post successful tints with Hindustan Unilever, Microsft, etc. since then has worked relentlessly to develop a local gaming ecosystem as CEO of Nazara, he was the driving force behind Nazara becoming India's first & only public listed gaming company in India 18 months back. Manish loves shaping consumer behaviors and solving multi-dimensional problem statements to grow a category in India and has deep & strong convictions that India and Indian gaming companies will be leading the global gaming order in the next 10 years.

Ashish Chandra, CoinSwitch, India

Ashish has over 22 years of experience with various large and start-up internet and emerging technologies companies such as CoinSwitch (current employer), WhatsApp, Netflix, eBay, Reliance Jio and Snapdeal. Ashish has witnessed the growth of internet and related businesses from web2.0 to web3.0 and the evolving business, legal and regulatory landscape over last two decades. Ashish also led some of the major internet industry related regulations and litigations over this period. He is currently the General Counsel of CoinSwitch, India’s largest crypto exchange. Before CoinSwitch, he acted as the Associated General Counsel for WhatsApp in India and led its corporate, regulatory and litigation affairs including Facebook’s $5.6 billion investment in Jio Platforms, launch of WhatsApp payments, building for social and conversational commerce and payments platforms for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and defending end to end encryption, user data privacy, intermediary-content issues before various High Courts and the Supreme Court of India.

The effectiveness of much of India’s emerging regulatory architecture, including Intermediary norms, privacy legislation, and industry-specific telecom and e-commerce regulations is heavily reliant on effective grievance redressal and dispute resolution. Solving the problem of creating efficient, affordable, and quick online dispute resolution is the need of the hour. The Panel will examine how existing systems deal with technology disputes, and what a new mechanism for their resolution may look like.

Speakers:

Madhukeshwar Desai, Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA), India

Madhukeshwar Desai is an Indian lawyer, he founded the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA) in 2016 and currently serves as its CEO. Madhukeshwar is the National Vice President of the BJP youth wing. Madhukeshwar is the vice president of the Maharashtra Basketball Association and Director of the Dravid Padukone Centre for Sports Excellence. He was named one of the 50 most influential young Indians for the year 2017 by GQ Magazine.

Sachin Malhan, Agami, India

Sachin Malhan is the co-founder of Agami, an organization catalyzing innovation towards new and improved systems of law and justice. Agami’s critical role on advancing Online Dispute Resolution and Digital Courts in India is well recognized. Before Agami, Sachin was an Executive Director at the leading global non-profit Ashoka. Sachin has previously co-founded three ventures – test prep pioneer Law School Tutorials (LST, now called CL LST), Rainmaker, a learning and talent platform that ultimately spun off Vahura and mylaw.net, and Inclusive Planet, venture focused on greater literary access for the visually impaired. For his work in technology, social impact and education, Sachin became an INK Fellow in 2010. Sachin is a graduate of NLSIU, Bengaluru.

Akshetha Ashok, Sama, India

Akshetha is the co-founder of SAMA, an enterprise that is resolving disputes in a totally new way: fully online, in a fast and cost effective manner. She is also the Chief Coordinator of Indian Mediation Week. Over the last few years, SAMA has enabled hundreds of young citizens, particularly students, to be case managers and embody new roles in this new way of resolving disputes. Akshetha Ashok_Everyone Making Justice: Why only population-scale citizen agency can close the justice gap in India.

Vikas Mahendra, Keystone Partners/ Centre for Online Resolution of Disputes (CORD), India

Vikas Mahendra is a Partner at Keystone Partners and the Co-Founder of Centre for Online Resolution of Disputes (CORD) and TERES (Technology Enabled Resolution). He is a specialist arbitration practitioner with experience acting as arbitrator and counsel in arbitrations across India, South-East Asia, Middle-East, Central America, Africa and Europe. He previously worked in Herbert Smith Freehills’ London, Paris and Singapore offices. At CORD, he focusses on providing affordable resolution mechanisms for low value disputes. At TERES, he focusses on providing ecologically sustainable, efficient and cost-effective technology-based solutions for high value disputes.

The year 2022 has seen financial regulations cover software applications and technology-driven products and services to an unprecedented extent. The creation of dedicated regulatory teams focussed on Fin-Tech and the increasing focus on the space only portends that this trend will grow. The Panel will examine how regulation has accepted the sector and what the likely rules of the road will be in this regulatory hotspot.

Speakers:

Hardeep Singh, CRED, India - Moderator

With ~10 years of experience, I have worked as an independent practitioner, then working in different capacities at Uber and finally moving to an Indian fintech, CRED.

Bhawna Sangwan, slice, India

Bhawna is slice's Chief Legal and Strategy Officer and has over 17 years of expertise in fintech, governance, and privacy. Prior to joining Slice, she was the legal, regulatory, and governance lead for Amazon's fintech business in India for over 8 years. She has extensive experience with a wide range of fintech legal and regulatory, including digital payments, lending, and policies on emerging businesses. She was leading Privacy and Data Compliance for all Amazon operations in India. She is well-known for her ability to identify and unlock new growth levers for the company.

Anu Tiwari, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, India

Anu has represented many Indian and multinational banking, broker-dealer, exchange, asset management, specialty finance, information/emerging technology, and fintech companies on transactional, enforcement, and regulatory matters His transactional practice focus is on public & private M&A, capital raising, commercial agreements, and activism matters. Anu advises financial services clients on matters before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Ministry of Finance, Enforcement Directorates, Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), and appellate tribunals. He is a visiting faculty at SP Jain School of Global Management, Government Law College Mumbai, W.B. N.U.J.S. Kolkata, and NMIMS School of Law Bangalore.

Saranya Gopinath, Razorpay, India

Saranya Gopinath is the Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy at Razorpay. In previous roles, she led policy for Google Pay and fintech for Google in India and was the co-founder of DICE, an industry body focused on Digital Payments. A lawyer by education, she has spent more than a decade in fintech and has worn different hats as legal counsel, policy lead and product lead & evangelist.

The evolution of platforms and new forms of monetization call for a “new normal” on how intellectual property is acquired, licensed, distributed and protected. The panel will examine the current state of the Art in this space, key emerging trends which may impact it.

Speakers:

Diva Arora, Fidus Law Chambers, India - Moderator

Represented clients in diverse civil and commercial litigations, commercial arbitrations, contract and property claims as also intellectual property disputes, and has appeared before a variety of judicial and administrative forums in India. I have advised clients on complex issues of protection and enforcement with respect to breach of confidential information and trade secrets. I have also assisted in setting up joint venture companies and has drafted and vetted business purchase agreements, software development and other service agreements and assignment/ license agreements for acquisition/ exploitation of intellectual property, non-disclosure agreements and MoUs.

Prashant Phillips, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, India

Prashant Phillips is extensively involved in the design, patent prosecution, and patent litigation and related support practices at L&S. He is involved in drafting and prosecuting of design and patent applications. He has expertise in inventions related to software, telecommunication, electronics and electrical engineering, and wind energy. Prashant appears regularly for Hearings before the Indian Patent Office for both Patent and Design matters. Prashant Phillips advises clients on cyber law with focus on data protection and data privacy. His experience also includes patent preparation, patent prosecution, patent litigation and industrial designs practice at L&S. His technical expertise enables him to fully understand the nuances of an IT system and ascertain the key issues that may give rise to obligations under the various laws. His advisory has been focused on taking pre-emptive measures to mitigate any exposure from the existing laws. He regularly assists clients with patent related strategies and provides advisory as to how to handle portfolios relating to different technologies. This has aided the IP holders identify valuable IP within their existing portfolio so as to minimize IP related costs in maintaining IP that would be required for achieving the desired business objectives. He has delivered lectures on various topics relating to IP.

Dibyojyoti Mainak, Mobile Premier League (MPL), India

Dibyojyoti Mainak is Senior Vice President, Policy and Legal, at Mobile Premier League (MPL). In this role, Dibyojyoti has oversight on the company’s policy, industry communications and legal functions. An alumnus of National Law School of India University, Bangalore, Dibyojyoti has worked with Luthra and Luthra, and as General Counsel at Inshorts news app prior to his role at MPL. His areas of interest and expertise include fundraising, M&A, IP Law, among others.

Vijayalakshmi Natarajan, Harman India (Samsung Company), India

I have wide ranging experience of working with varied organisations such as consumer electronics, e-commerce, manufacturing, technology , telecom, and IT.  As a regional general counsel, highly focused on leveraging legal & regulatory knowledge and business acumen to drive growth strategy, protect intellectual property, manage litigation, and bring in a culture of compliance. My Specialization includes M&A, corporate and regulatory affairs, IPR, commercial contracts, employment laws, technology laws and Compliance. Previously worked with Microsoft, Fidelity, HCL Tech and Tata Teleservices.

Competition law, and by extension the CCI, have had an increasing impact on the operation of technology enterprises and platforms in India. From bundling and tagging to various forms of data sharing and monetization arrangements, this Panel will examine the impact of competition law on technology enterprises and how various recent findings of the CCI may impact their operation in India.

Speakers:

Priti Suri, PSA, India - Moderator

Priti Suri is the founder and managing partner of PSA, a business law firm in India. A current Board member of ITechLaw, she is a seasoned lawyer with over 36 years’ experience spread across three continents. She developed the firm and represents its international and domestic clients on a wide range of transactional matters spread across different industries, including full range of cross-border M&A, technology transfers, strategic investments, corporate, commercial, and competition law. Priti has been consecutively rated as one of India’s top 100 lawyers by IBLJ since 2016 and is the only Asian to receive prestigious “Mayre Rasmussen Award” for Advancement of Women in International Law by ABA.

Geeta Gouri, Competition Commission of India, India

Dr. Geeta Gouri has been Member (Commissioner), Competition Commission of India (2009-2014) prior to which she was Director (Tariffs),Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (1999-2009).Her regulatory experience of 15 years in these two Commissions at their formative stages shaped her perceptive insights into regulatory activities for India’s transition to an open market economy. She is a member of the Governing Council and Management Committee of CIRC. She currently edits the South Asia handle of   Competition Policy International. She has authored and edited several books on wide-ranging subjects: Pricing for Welfare: Petroleum Products in India; Privatisation and Public Enterprises: The Asia-Pacific Experience; Efficiency through Competition in Public Utilities - Policies for Restructuring. Some of her recent papers have appeared in Competition Policy International,2020 Review of Industrial Organization,(June 2018);The Criterion Journal of Innovation, (Vol 2, 2017); Concurrence Review 2015. Dr. Geeta Gouri recent book A Commissioner’s Primer to Economics of Competition Law in India, published by Palgrave Macmillan’s, Springer Nature, Singapore, is to be shortly released.

Samir Gandhi, Axiom5 Law Chambers LLP, India

Samir co-founded Axiom5 Law Chambers after having spent more than two decades at various law firms – most recently as a Senior Partner and the head of the competition law practice at AZB & Partners, where he continues to be a senior advisor. He is visiting faculty at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore where he teaches competition law & policy. He advises his clients on all aspects of competition law and has had a ringside view of the development of this law in India: first as counsel to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in its earliest litigation and then as a practitioner in some leading antitrust cases and merger filings. He has appeared before the CCI and superior courts, including the Supreme Court of India, in complex litigation involving difficult constitutional challenges in sectors as diverse as automobiles, pharmaceuticals, digital markets, and media. Samir has been deeply engaged with the formulation of competition policy in India since its inception – including as a member of the ad hoc group advising the CCI on the formulation of its merger regulations, and later as a special government invitee to the Competition Law Review Committee. More recently, he has appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance to comment on the Competition Amendment Bill, 2022.

Ravisekhar Nair, Economic Laws Practice (ELP), India

Ravisekhar Nair is a Partner at ELP and co-heads the Competition Law & Policy practice of the firm. Ravi has close to two decades of experience and is currently involved in some of the most contentious cases pending before the Competition Commission of India (CCI). He has extensive experience in rendering general competition law advisory, merger control advisory and competition compliance services for clients. Ravi is ranked by Chambers Asia-Pacific, is recognized as a Leading Individual for Antitrust and Competition by Legal500 – Asia-Pacific and by Who’s Who Legal – as Future Leader for Competition. Ravi also features in the Forbes’ list of India’s top 100 lawyers.

The recent allocation of responsibility for online gaming and e-sports to different central ministries foreshadows a new stream of regulation for online gaming which will operate in conjunction with the existing labyrinth of state laws and decisions which govern the space. This panel will examine how gaming regulations at the state and central levels will interact, and their impact on the industry.

Speakers:

Nandan Kamath, LawNK, India - Moderator

Qualified to practice in India and California, Nandan specialises in sports law, technology law, governance and regulation. He is the Founder and Principal Lawyer at LawNK, co-founder and Managing Trustee of GoSports Foundation, a National Award-winning organisation for elite athletes, and co-founder of the Sports and Society Accelerator. Nandan is a frequent columnist and speaker on matters relating to sports, technology and law, and was the Co-Editor of Go! India’s Sports Transformation, Penguin Random House, 2019, and edited and contributed to Law Relating to Computers, Internet and E-Commerce: A Guide to Cyberlaws and the Information Technology Act, 2000 – Universal Law Publishing Co, Delhi.

Roland Landers, All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), India

Roland Landers is the CEO of AIGF, the apex industry body for online gaming representing 100+ members across the online gaming ecosystem.

Joyjyoti Misra, Gameskraft Technologies, India

Joyjyoti is the Group General Counsel of Gameskraft, one of India's leading gaming companies. Prior to joining Gameskraft, Joy headed the legal function for Uber in the South Asia region and had also been a partner with one of India's eminent law firms. Joyjyoti has, during his career, advised on several marquee M&A and private equity transactions, lead policy discussions with regulators across industries and countries and advised on several high value litigations. He is excited about the positive impact that technology can make to the human condition and is a firm believer that striking the right balance between innovation and regulation is key to harnessing the full potential of tech driven industries and creating a more equitable world.

Shivani Jha, eSports Players Welfare Association, India

Shivani is a tech policy lawyer and is the Director at EWA Centre. She has been working with online gamers and leads the Esports Welfare Association.

The year 2023 promises to be the most complex year yet for technology-led, digital-first companies in India with an uncertain and volatile global and Indian economy, an impending rewritten rule book with new privacy, telecom, and data protection legislation on the books, and a dynamic regulatory and enforcement environment. The panel which includes some of India’s leading In-House Counsel will examine the challenges of navigating this difficult landscape.

Speakers:

Nikhil Narendran, Trilegal, India - Moderator

Nikhil Narendran is a Partner in Trilegal’s Bengaluru office and part of the TMT practice of the firm. He is a subject matter expert in the technology, media, and telecom communication space. Nikhil focuses on the interplay of technology, human lives, and commerce. He has substantial experience in advising companies on telecom, media and technology laws in relation to their entry into India, operations, strategy, policy, regulatory issues, disputes, and business models. He advises new-age e-commerce, Fintech and technology companies in India on their business models and regulatory issues, including data protection. Nikhil’s advice in the telecom regulatory sector ranges from mobile telephony, enterprise, Satcom, cloud and call centre related work. In the media sector, Nikhil has advised traditional and new media content delivery services, including triple play, dual play and OTT. Nikhil has also worked extensively with clients in relation to technology policy, including the private sector and the public sector. He is also called upon by his clients to advise on the best practices to follow during the consultation process for technology legislation in other Asian countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He also has negotiated ICT agreements in South-East Asia, Europe and America. Nikhil was the winner of the ITechLaw Travelling Fellowship Award 2011, as a part of which he worked at six European firms specialising in Technology Laws.

Harshitha Thammaiah, Xiaomi India, India

Ms. Harshitha Thammaiah is the Senior Director and General Counsel of Xiaomi India group and is responsible for leading the legal and compliance team in India and international markets of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Harshitha advises the board on all legal, business and strategic decision making. She has been instrumental in corporate structuring, contract structuring and designing policies and procedures on all forms of legal compliance at Xiaomi. Prior to Xiaomi, Harshitha has spent over a decade at top tier law firms advising large multi-nationals and start-ups on general corporate and technology matters including mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital, entry strategy, intellectual property, data protection and viability of new technology business models.

Jagriti Bhattacharyya, Pinelabs, India

As General Counsel at Pinelabs, Jagriti oversees the Legal, Compliance and Corporate Secretarial functions for the organization across geographies. In prior roles as Chief Counsel of Refinitiv and Thomson Reuters, Jagriti had legal oversight of the sales organization as well as the Indian Enterprise Technology and Operation Centers in South Asia. Jagriti has indepth experience advising on complex corporate commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory aspects and strategic and operational matters. In her earlier role at Citibank, South Asia she was part of the General Counsel’s office with purview of the Global Markets/Treasury, which included the Fixed Income, Derivatives, Commodities & Equities businesses, alongside having supervisory oversight of the Global Trade Services legal function. She has also advised the wholesale & private banking businesses, the e-commerce platforms & the trade finance desk of ICICI Bank in a previous role. Jagriti serves on the board of directors, providing key corporate governance advice. She is a keen supporter of CSR and D&I initiatives and has chaired chapters of women's networks in her organization. Jagriti’s contributions in the legal field have been recognized by international organizations such as Chambers & Partners and Legal500.

Rajeev Nair, HP, Inc., India

Rajeev Nair heads the legal team for HP Inc. India Market and has been with the Company for over 10 years. Rajeev has held country and regional roles and has also led a global transformation project in the HP Global Legal Affairs team. Rajeev started his legal career spanning over 27 years as a litigation attorney. He and has worked with the corporate legal departments of Unilever, ING Group and HSBC prior to joining HP.

Lopamudra Rao, Meesho, India

Lopamudra is an alumnus of NALSAR, Hyderabad. She is currently the General Counsel at Meesho. She has over 14 years of work experience gathered across start ups and private practice. She started her career as an M&A lawyer at Trilegal and subsequently, at Luthra & Luthra. Prior to Meesho, Lopamudra was Head-Legal at the Ola Group.

While The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill proposes solutions to many problems, perhaps none is so important as the balance of digital sovereignty with enabling cross-border data flows. This panel will examine the thorny problem of localization, its consequences on privacy and business, and what the right balance may be here.

Speakers:

Sreenidhi Srinivasan, Ikigai Law, India - Moderator

Sreenidhi Srinivasan is a partner at Ikigai law and leads the firm’s data practice. She advises the world’s leading technology companies, startups, premier industry bodies, VC funds and several others, on data governance. She is recognised as a go-to lawyer for data protection by The Legal 500 and was a finalist for the ALB India Law Award 2022 for India’s best data protection lawyer. She speaks regularly at panels and to the media, and has published widely in leading publications like TOI and Quartz, and academic journals.

Ashwathy Basu Pillai, Microsoft Corporation, India

I am currently the Commercial Legal Lead and a senior corporate counsel with Microsoft India managing end-to-end corporate transactions for business segments and have corporate legal experience spanning more than 16 years. I specialize in transactional work, data privacy & AI & ML technology-related work. Prior to my Microsoft role, I was the lead legal counsel for Software, Watson and Channel Partners India/South Asia business unit at IBM India. This included supporting Systems and Technology Group, Software Group, Channels and Partners and Watson in the region. In my career, I have worked extensively on transactions involving information technology contracts like MSAs, RFPs etc software licensing, compliance and enterprise agreements, channel partner transactions and strategic outsourcing deals amongst others. My experience involves negotiation of multi-million dollar Software and Services contracts with clients across the globe. l also provided support for M&A integration teams, Marketing and Advertising teams and hae done strategic work in ensuring that my employer is FCPA compliant along with other related laws. I have experience in cloud computing, analytics, cognitive computing (Watson), SaaS and overall management of complete business linea including litigation, arbitration, procurement, disputes etc. Prior to IBM, I was Head of Legal for the Indecomm Group, an American company with IT/BPO/KPO services and with Technology Services based in India. I was responsible for the entire legal function of the Group’s India operation including strategic initiatives, IP Law, litigation, mergers and acquisitions etc. I started my career with Infosys Technologies as a Commercial Transactions Specialist.

Shyaam Nagarajan, Glance Digital Experience Private Limited, India

Lawyer with over 15 years’ experience - Currently heading the legal in Glance, a unicorn in less than 2 years. The journey in Glance has been a unique and interesting and the direct shift to B2C which is different from its parent group, InMobi. Have also been actively involved in data and privacy matters and working closely with committees and advising teams on criticality of privacy law and its global level implications. Previously worked as in Trilegal (Mumbai and Bangalore) and also worked in the in-house legal team of Reliance Industries Limited, Mumbai. In 2017, got selected in The Legal 500 GC Powerlist India as one of the top in-house legal teams.

Ashish Aggarwal, NASSCOM, India

Ashish leads NASSCOM’s engagement with the industry, regulators, and governments on policy and regulatory reforms since 2018. His key focus is on data, e-commerce, platforms, fintech and regulations impacting emerging technologies and tech led businesses. Earlier at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, a Ministry of Finance think tank, he led the technical assistance to the Indian Ministry of Finance on regulation of financial products, digital payments, and consumer protection.

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The Digital India Act will constitute the core regulatory infrastructure which will govern a vast swathe of subjects ranging from intermediary and platform regulation, openness and artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity and cybercrime. The Panel will examine the likely contours of this new legislation and its impact on India both from a business and policy perspective.

Speakers:

Aditi Agrawal, Newslaundry, India - Moderator

Aditi Agrawal is a technology policy journalist at Newslaundry. She reports on issues related to privacy, surveillance, cybersecurity, intermediary liability, traceability and regulation of Big Tech.

Sumit Ghoshal, AZB and Partners, India

With over 14 years of experience, Sumit Ghoshal specializes in Corporate, E-Commerce & Retail, Data Privacy, Information Technology, and Employment law. He has in- depth experience in advising clients on various legal and regulatory issues pertaining to e-commerce, single and multi-brand product retail trading, food product retail trading, setting up payment systems, online sale of products, online marketing and advertising of products, legal metrology and other commercial issues pertaining to e-commerce. He also has significant experience in Information Technology, Data Privacy, cyber security, intermediary and safe harbor issues, cross-border transfer, data interception etc.

Uthara Ganesh, Snap, Inc., India

Uthara Ganesh is Head of Public Policy, India and South Asia for Snap Inc. She is focused on building Snap's relationship with key government agencies across South Asia, and securing government partnerships focused on Augmented Reality. Prior to this, Uthara led Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) and Amazon's public policy work, supporting advocacy on content regulation, taxation, data governance and competition issues across the Prime Video, Kindle, Alexa and Cloud businesses. She also served as Public Policy Lead to Rajeev Chandrasekhar between 2014-17 and has had stints at the Centre for Policy Research, UNAIDS and GIZ. Uthara served as a LAMP Fellow between 2010-11.

Shahana Chatterji, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, India

Shahana Chatterji is a Partner with the Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs team at the Firm. Shahana has been deeply involved with policy and regulatory issues both in India and in the United States. She has worked with a Representative at the U.S. Congress, Washington D.C., engaging in expansive legislative and policy matters ranging from healthcare and financial reforms. . Before working with the U.S. Congress, she worked extensively on capital markets and corporate finance transactions and advised clients on foreign investment and financial regulatory issues here in India.

Sujith Nair, the CEO of Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy, a not-for-profit organization that is the genesis author and angel donor to an open-source initiative called the Beckn Protocol, explains how Open Networks work. Sujith has been a mentor to various open networks in the country including Open Network for Digital Commerce and Kochi Open Metro Network.

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Speaker:

Sujith Nair, FIDE – Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy, India

Sujith Nair is the CEO and Co-founder of FIDE – Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy,  a not-for-profit organisation that is the genesis author and angel donor to an open-source initiative called the Beckn Protocol. Beckn enables the creation of decentralised digital economy ecosystems.  Co-founded along with Nandan Nilekani and Dr Pramod Varma,  FIDE has been helping Beckn Protocol evolve as an independent and large-scale open-source community effort focusing on its adoption and sustenance as a digital public good. 

Sujith conceptualised and helped set up the world’s first decentralised open mobility network using the Beckn Protocol in Kochi called the Kochi Open Mobility Network (KOMN), which was launched in July 2021. 

Sujith also co-conceptualised the idea of ONDC along with Mr Anil Aggarwal, AS, DPIIT and Ms Anjali Bansal, Co-founder of Avanaa Capital, as part of the pandemic relief effort of the Commerce Ministry in April 2020.  Sujith onboarded the first set of market participants on ONDC, co-authored the ONDC Strategy Paper and was instrumental in the setup of ONDC Ltd in Dec 2021. 

Sujith continues to volunteer for KOMN, ONDC and other such open network initiatives and is a global advocate for interoperable and decentralised digital ecosystems. He’s the Team Lead for eMarketplace specifications under the GovStack Initiative of ITU, Geneva. 

Before FIDE, Sujith headed Management Consulting practices and Internet businesses in the sectors of urban mobility and digital payments.  Sujith has contributed to many key interventions in the Aadhaar program between 2010-2012. Sujith also designed India’s national transit open payments interoperability (One Nation, One Card) in 2014 to integrate ticketing and payments across public transport systems in the country.

The Indian Telecommunications Bill is intended to modernize the basis on which telecommunications services are regulated under a legal framework that dates back to 1885. While proposing a welcome and radical simplification of the ornate (and heavily litigated) existing framework, the Bill also proposed changes which may have far-reaching consequences beyond India’s core telecommunications ecosystem. The Panel will examine the Bill, some of the key concerns surrounding it, and how they may be addressed.

Speakers:

Dr. Mansi Kedia, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), India - Moderator

Mansi is Senior Fellow at ICRIER. She has over 12 years of experience in policy research. She has published papers/ reports on telecom and Internet regulations, the impact of information technology including emerging technologies such as AI in India. She was appointed as a member of the Task Force rewriting the Direct Tax Code for India (2017). She also has a background in consulting and financial services with four years of experience in the private sector. She completed her B.Sc. in Economics from St. Xavier’s, Kolkata, and MBA from ISB, Hyderabad. Her PhD is from IIFT, New Delhi.

Prof. Varadharajan Sridhar, International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, India

Dr. V. Sridhar is Professor at the Centre for IT and Public Policy at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore, India. He is the author of three books: The Telecom Revolution in India: Technology, Regulation and Policy (2012), The Dynamics of Spectrum Management: Legacy, Technology, and Economics (2014), and Emerging ICT Policies and Regulations: Roadmap to Digital Economies (2019). He has also edited four books, and his recently edited book titled Data Centric Living: Algorithms, Digitization and Regulation, has just been published by Routledge. Dr. Sridhar has taught at many Institutions in the USA, Finland, New Zealand and India. He was a visiting Scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California, U.S.A. during May-Jun, 2021 and Apr-May, 2022. He has received funding from different sources, both national and international for his research projects. He has been a member of Government of India committees on Telecom and IT and has published many peer reviewed articles in telecom and information systems journals. He has also written more than 300 article in newspapers and magazines on telecom regulation in India. Dr. Sridhar has a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, U.S.A.

Aditi Shamlal, Zeta, India

With almost 15 years of experience as a legal practioner, Aditya has worked at Amarchand Mangaldas's New Delhi offices, in the high court, supreme court and various other fora within New Delhi as an independent practioner. After stints in a corporate law and litigation, Aditya joined GameChanger Law Advisors and headed up the Delhi office. After 9 years at GLA, Aditya joined Zeta, a long time client, as their head of legal. Aditya's experience ranges from general corporate, litigation, investment transactional and advisory, M&A, telecom, technology contract and advisory, media and entertainment.

Anand Prasad, AP & Partners, India

Anand Prasad is a corporate lawyer with more than 3 decades of experience advising domestic and international clients on their businesses in India. In 2019, along with former colleagues Anand established AP & Partners focusing on assisting clients stuck in special situations and on the sell side in M&A deals. In an earlier life, Anand was one of the co-founders of Trilegal. Anand represents clients in high-value disputes, including in arbitrations, bankruptcy, corporate fraud and corruption proceedings. Anand has been cited in independent legal directories such as Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a market leader for corporate and commercial laws in India for well over a decade and half

Technology has enabled development of solutions that tackle some of the lingering social discrepancies. The true potential of technological transformation can be unlocked when the benefits trickle down to the last mile. From housing, sanitation, education, poverty alleviation, employment to primary healthcare, technology has played a significant role in limiting inequalities and bringing equity across the social fabric. Technology for the community and social impact organizations have a key role to play. Policy initiatives, infrastructure development, realistic regulations and practically scalable models are the need of the hour. The session will focus on the unique policy, legal and funding challenges for the sector and possible way forward that would make technology and its benefits accessible to masses.

This session will be led by the I-WIN (Women’s International Network) Committee.

Speakers:

Arya Tripathy, PSA, India - Moderator

Arya Tripathy is Partner at PSA, a full-service law firm headquartered in New Delhi. She specializes in M&A, general corporate, technology, and data protection laws, and is a qualified CIPP/Asia from IAPP. She is the Co-Chair of the I-WIN Committee of ITechLaw and a member of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. She has a keen interest in technology policy, works with think tanks, conducts guest lectures at law schools, participates in stakeholder discussions, and submits recommendations on draft laws. As part of pro-bono services, she advises social impact and not-profit organization on tech4good strategies and privacy laws. She was recognized as in the list of Rising Star 2022 by Asia Legal Business”. 

Sudha Srinivasan, The/Nudge Institute, India

Sudha is CEO of The/Nudge Centre for Social Innovation, a nonprofit on a mission to nudge and nurture top talent to solve India’s most critical problems. Since its launch in 2017, The/Nudge CSI has incubated 100+ nonprofit startups, including 30 tech startups solving problems of poverty. Its $6Mn accelerator fund works with high potential nonprofits that are ready for growth and scale. The/Nudge Prize and the Indian Administrative Fellowship enable problem solvers from diverse domains to apply their capabilities to solve India’s most pressing developmental problems. Prior to The/Nudge, Sudha worked at Intel, where she spent nearly 13 years in various leadership roles defining and executing large-scale global programs. She has great passion for enabling organizations to ramp in scale and competence, and achieve audacious goals. Sudha is an engineer by training, and holds an MBA from IIM Lucknow.

International businesses are incorporating AI and machine learning into their operations in a big way. We have seen this particularly in the health – tech and fintech sectors, in India, in recent times. While the introduction of AI has its benefits, it also raises questions of bias, negligence, risk and accountability. What is the best way to address this issue? Is Regulation the answer? Join the panel as they debate and discuss these issues.  

Speakers:

Namita Viswanath, IndusLaw, India - Moderator

Namita is a Partner in the Technology Media and Telecom (TMT) practice group at INDUSLAW. Namita is well-regarded for her technology law expertise across all industry sectors. Namita has advised several domestic and international clients from start-ups to mature private and public companies and investors in various technology-driven and technology-consuming industries on issues ranging from setting up an e-commerce business and outsourcing to data governance and cyber security.

Arindrajit Basu, The Centre for Internet & Society, India

Arindrajit Basu is a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the Centre for Internet & Society, India, where he focuses on the geopolitics and constitutionality of emerging technologies. He is a lawyer by training and holds a BA, LLB (Hons) degree from the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, and an LLM in public international law from the University of Cambridge, U.K.

Lahar Appaiah, IBM India, India

Lahar Appaiah is IBM’s lead privacy lawyer for the Asia Pacific region. In 2019, he was one of six Indians selected for the British Government's Chevening Fellowship in Cybersecurity, conducted by Cranfield University at the Defence Academy of the UK. Lahar has advised local governments in South America on data-driven transformations, as a part of IBM’s Corporate Services Corps missions. Lahar graduated from the National Law School of India University, and has several years of experience as a technology lawyer.

Gulzar Azad, Google, India

Gulzar is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Google Research and Health AI, focussed on building an open digital ecosystem for healthcare through a public, private, people partnership initiative and mission for the global south. He is currently the founder of a project that is driving the organization of information and improvement in healthcare outcomes at population scale, which puts mobile-first, AI-accelerated technology in the hands of community health workers and frontline healthcare professionals. In his earlier work at Google, starting 2013, Gulzar founded the initiative for Railways WiFi, an ecosystem building partnership between Google, and the Indian Railways to bring high-speed Internet connectivity to hundreds of millions of people visiting train stations across 400+ cities and towns in India. Gulzar also drove the early technology partnerships and business model for Google’s global connectivity projects creating scale for mobile web technologies and introducing cloud-based Software Defined Networking, network virtualization for telcos. In his life before Google, Gulzar led the engineering and product development for India's first carrier-grade SMS gateway and engineered early innovations in mobile location-based services. Gulzar is a global tech and community motivation speaker, TEDx speaker, and startup advisor & angel investor. Gulzar is a computer applications graduate from the DAVV University in India (1999). He later undertook a one year executive management program from Indian Institute of Management, IIM-Bangalore (2005-06), and completed the Advanced Project Management executive program from Stanford University.