The Mahindra Group’s real estate and infrastructure development arm, Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Limited, has hired Parveen Mahtani as its chief legal officer, based in Mumbai.

Since 2017 she had been at Tata Housing Development Company and Tata Realty and Infastructure, where she was head legal and compliance when she left last month.

She takes over the legal portfolio at the company from Suhas Kulkarni, who had been heading the legal and secretarial functions for more than 16 years, and who will now continue as general counsel (GC) and company secretary from 1 July.

Mahindra Lifespaces chief people officer (CPO) Krity Sharma commented that the company’s legal team was “lean and efficient”, with an “average associate tenure of 8+ years”.

The team is structured across the company’s three business verticals, which are premium residential, affordable housing and integrated cities & industrial clusters.

Mahtani’s legal work at Mahindra Lifespaces includes regulatory issues, as well as dealing in due diligence, contract management, M&A, intellectual property rights and financial transactions.

In his previous role, Kulkarni had been responsible for work such as land acquisition, dispute resolution, capital raising and compliance.

Mahtani commented in a press release: “I’m excited to join the Mahindra Lifespaces team and be part of a visionary organization that is shaping the future of real estate in India. I look forward to working with a team of talented legal professionals in further extending the company’s commitment to delivering Joyful Homecomings and enabling the growth aspirations of Indian and global businesses.”

Mahtani, a GLC Mumbai graduate, had previously worked at Desai & Diwanji and Nishith Desai Associates, before heading in-house to IL&FS, Lodha Developers, the Wadia group and then the Tatas (see below).

Mahindra Lifespaces has a total of 25.3 million square feet of “completed, ongoing and forthcoming residential projects across seven Indian cities”, with more than 5,000 acres of ongoing and forthcoming projects under current development or management, according to a company statement.