Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi-based partner Sumeet Singh will be joining BharatPe as its new general counsel (GC), according to a press release from the company.

The 2009 SLS Pune graduate had become partner at SAM in April 2019.

We understand that he’s joining the electronic payments company in a role that is both legal and strategic, with a legal team of three, and he would be working closely with co-founder and CEO Ashneer Grover.

Singh explained that he was planning to hire another three to four in-housers soon, looking at adding a total of up to seven into the legal department over the next six to nine months. The hires would primarily be of lawyers active in the fintech space and debt and equity fundraising.

“We are focussed on getting best talent from the industry and building a solid team,” he said. “As the company is growing at a very fast pace, there will be several opportunities on fund raising/debt and strategic acquisitions where depending on the requirement we will involve external firms.

“Preference will be to do as much in house and that’s why the idea is get good talent who have relevant experience also,” he added.

In its April 2020 Series C fundraising round and its August 2019 Series B, BharatPe had instructed Antares Legal.

Singh had recently acted for the Reliance Group and Norwest Venture Partners on $3.4bn and $110m deals respectively, according to our league table database.

Regarding his exit from SAM, Singh praised the firm: “I am grateful to Shardul Sir and Pallavi Ma’am for helping me having a very good career at SAM and always being there to guide and mentor someone like me. I consider myself a home-grown SAM lawyer having joined the Firm as an associate in 2013.

“No other firm rewards merit and talent in a more fair way than SAM and if you are good at what you do, there is no limit. However, wherever I am in my career, lot of credit goes to my senior partner, Ms Puja Sondhi who has been the best senior colleague and mentor one could have asked for.”

SAM Delhi managing partner Pallavi Shroff commented: “I wish him all the very best.”