Khaitan & Co overtook Amarchand Mangaldas in data provider mergermarket’s half-yearly (H1) M&A charts by value, with the first quarter of Amarchand functioning as the split firms of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM). AZB & Partners maintained its deal volume lead which it has claimed for two consecutive years.

AZB & Partners and Amarchand Mangaldas have advised on a majority of M&A mandates out of 26India-related transactions in November, according to data aggregated by mergermarket.

“It looks fishy, it smells fishy,” host Menaka Doshi declared, opening this week’s episode of The Firm with a scorching observation. The burning question on the minds of panellists BMR Advisors partner Gokul Chaudhri, and FinSec Law Advisors founder Sandeep Parekh: can Sebi interfere with Vedanta’s Rs 50 per share non-compete fee paid to Cairn PLC as part of the acquisition of Cairn India?

AZB & Partners advised Japanese steel giant JFE that bought 14.9 per cent for $1.02bn in India’s third largest steel maker JSW, which was advised by Amarchand Mangaldas.

SN Gupta & Co has started up an M&A practice in Mumbai by hiring a Khaitan & Co senior associate as a partner and an associate from Hemant Sahai Associates.

The firm has also taken on new office space in Mumbai and plans to build a litigation team.

Khaitan & Co has advised on the purchase of Sri Lankan joint-venture (JV) assets, working with two of Sri Lanka’s oldest law firms.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has worked with J Sagar Associates (JSA) as counsel to energy major BP selling around Rs 460 crore ($95m) of Indian windfarms to private equity-backed Green Infra, which was advised by Luthra & Luthra.

Luthra & Luthra is advising ArcelorMittal on its Rs 500 crore ($103m) stake acquisition in Mumbai-based Steel company Uttam Galva Steels.

Desai & Diwanji and J Sagar Associates (JSA) have sealed Essar Steel’s Rs 650 crore ($135m) purchase of Shree Precoated Steels, with JSA facing the “challenging” task of acting as joint counsel to both seller and buyer.

Amarchand Mangaldas and Platinum Partners in Mumbai are advising on the Rs 308 crore ($64m) acquisition of a 35 per cent stake in Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC) asset management arm by Nomura, which marks Platinum’s first instruction for the Japanese bank.

Kanga & Co Mumbai partner Dhaval Vussonji is leading the team for the original bidder Bharati Shipyard, which already owns a 19.5 per cent stake in Great Offshore.

Despite meagre pickings, Desai & Diwanji, Khaitan & Co, AZB & Partners and Amarchand Mangaldas have topped an M&A league table, together advising on 30 Indian deals worth a total of $9.4bn in the last six months.

Platinum Partners has joined the team of legal advisers on the MTN – Bharti Airtel merger talks alongside four other firms on what could be India’s largest cross-border deal to date with a value of around $23bn (Rs 110,000 crore).

In our second newsletter we summarised the top events of the week, which saw IPOs, M&A, politics and family-ties. Click below to read on and enter your details here to get the next one straight to your inbox:

12 June 2009 - Mumbai monsoon has been postponed by a week, said the Met Office…

J Sagar and Associates (JSA) and Luthra & Luthra have completed the Rs 1,750 crore ($368m) takeover of mining company Dempo Group by London-listed Vedanta Resources subsidiary Sesa Goa.

India’s new government could be the springboard for the country’s legal system to scale new heights.

The recent Indian elections saw a decisive win for the Congress Party, the stock markets rally, the various economic growth forecasts adjusted and the ­rating agencies ditching their gloomy ­outlook for the country (see ‘Elections’ box).

The optimism within the business ­community here is so heartfelt and the belief in the new government so strong, it is ­reminiscent of the first month or so after Barack Obama’s election victory in the US.

Nevertheless, the data for the start of the year makes for depressing reading. India, much like the rest of the world, has suffered in every major sector (see ‘Figures’ box). The country, as ever, faces incredible challenges.

But amid those challenges, even though they come with a long wish list of demands from their old but newly emboldened government, Indian lawyers are also seeing great opportunities. In India, it is business time.

AZB & Partners has bagged the biggest ever Indian cross-border merger mandate, advising Bharti Airtel on its revived $23bn bid to take over South African telecoms major MTN.

London international Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will be advising long-standing client MTN but the company’s Indian counsel has not yet been chosen.

AZB Delhi partners Ajay Bahl (pictured) and Gautam Saha are understood to be leading the legal team for Bharti, having won the instruction off the back of previous work done by the firm for the company.