Trending Opportunities in India

[Music] hi our our mics are on that's great um welcome it's good to see everybody here you'll have to bear with me somewhere between New York Bangalore Doha and Abu Dhabi I lost my voice so you know um but uh I'm sure we'll be fine Mr shof it's a pleasure to have you here in Abu Dhabi thank you welcome to Abu welcome to adgm congratulations on setting up the firm here to my knowledge and my knowledge of this place is fairly extensive you're the first Indian Law Firm to open in Abu Dhabi in adgm um you know I know your esteemed background the firm's history maybe you could give us a little bit about the firm what made you open an office in the Middle East um y8m and I know that your first office outside of India was in Singapore so it'd be interesting to hear the comparison between Abu Dhabi or adgm and Singapore so thank you very much uh the pleasure to be here uh we are absolutely delighted to be part of the uh Abu Dhabi community and uh adgm specifically uh so it was um an very interesting decision to come here and participate in the phenomenal growth that's uh going on in this region uh the capital of capital capital and related themes uh pertaining to that was what attracted us there's also very strong India UAE connection as well which drove uh some of our decision and uh you know adjm was very welcoming and sort of really uh you know recognize the strength of the India UA relationship and you know made things easy for us uh we been here about 9 months now and um everything is looking great uh we here for the long run because I think one of the certainly one of the aspects of you know succeeding here is that we need long-term commitment so we are here for the long term just a quick history of the firm goes back 108 years uh was founded in 197 we would be the largest firm in India about 1100 lawyers 200 plus uh partners and we literally like you would expect a full service Law Firm practicing across uh different topics and and uh we've had a little bit of a adventure Spirit as well which is why we open an office in Singapore and now uh here as well uh Singapore is about 2 years old and U it's doing well so I think we are kind of um uh witnessing the uh globalization if I can call it that of Indian law firms that's great and I think look you're part of the India Inc story as it extends across the globe on that note you know given the recent geopolitical events the new Trump Administration that's coming in how do you think this will affect India going forward what should investors be mindful of and how would you compare India to other Asian countries right now so I think the world is in the middle of a geopolitical storm effectively with uh and within that I think India continues to be a relative osis of calmness but let's just sort of do a quick World Tour uh I think the US with the new Trump Administration Round the Corner uh and you know it's as the global policemen looking at everything that's happening across the globe in in Europe and West Asia uh what we're looking and seeing in Europe as well is following the developments in France and uh Germany and Italy is it's again a uh very unstable environment uh looking at South Asia I mean India is in the middle of a ring of fire we have Pakistan on one side China on the North Bangladesh which we all kind of know of and Sri Lanka so it's a it's a complicated situation where we are in uh South Korea uh we just sort of saw last week what happened so I think geopolitics is very much on the mind of not only governments but businesses uh all over as well and within that I think we are facing a 2025 2026 I think geopolitics is going to be a very major boardroom theme in terms of how business uh is going to do and what should be the priorities so uh within that I think for India uh India the multiple cuts to this uh I think the first one is uh just the Indian opportunity as well so we finally got our act together on a number of things we have political stability rule of law uh you know uh a functioning democracy uh and lots of economic themes for example are you know we're the most populous nation on Earth which also uh sort of goes along with creating demand uh we have the largest data pool in the world as well and in a world where technology is so uh important and and a digital assets are extremely critical uh you know I think we have all the Tailwinds that are required for uh making the Indian economy go from strength to strength so uh so in the larger geopolitical background I think India is well positioned it will have to very carefully navigate uh the pulls and tugs of different forces for example between us and Russia between us and China but so far we've done a good job great thank you you know everyone looks at India as the growth Story the India growth story so Venture Capital private Equity get involved in these early stage businesses maturing businesses but this is really a room for turn around restructuring professionals how should we look at India from that angle meaning in terms of legal regulatory changes on the ground that would create opportunities here I know that you've been very involved with some of the investment from the Abu Dhabi entities into India so it'd be also interesting to hear what their experience has been and then I ask you a couple of follow on on on that one as well sure uh so I don't think you can look at the India uh restructuring story independently of the India growth story so a lot has been said about the India growth story India century and you know everybody has been raving about the growth opportunities for all the reasons that we discussed so any conversation about India must first be seen in that background coming to the restructuring topic as well I think we India began their journey in a very formal sort of way about 8 nine years ago when we enacted the new law of you know insolvency and bankruptcy resolution the IBC as is called and it's been a success and why do I say that at the time when the law was enacted and you know there about the uh non-performing assets were about uh almost close to 16% of the S of the of the banking system today they're less than two and a half uh and and it seems as if for various reasons including growth and all the measures that were taken that phase is kind of behind us that being being said uh I think there is an opportunity for sort of intelligent and uh creative restructuring uh take place in large businesses that do come up from from time to time for example we recently had the go a bankrupcy as well uh and so those opportunistic situations do come up but I think it continues to remain uh a very hot topic uh the uh uh the despondency of 2016 is not there I mean the banking system is healthy today but at the same time I think it continues to need to keep uh a watchful eye on growing NPA it's a cycle as you know maybe there's a pipeline of future NPA being built up somewhere in the system in terms of Cycles too I mean last quarter's GDP figures weren't that great so um does that present an opportunity for those of us in the turn I think it's certainly a bit of a wakeup call but I mean we for anybody you ask any Economist or any agency the uh estimates for GDP growth has been between you know 7 7 and a half and which was the reason for the optimism for uh you know India's uh India's rise through the sort of global ranks I mean we are aiming to be the number three economy by 2030 uh and that's going to be a lot of GDP that's going to be added but to build on what you said the last last quarter and it's just a quarter uh we had the slowest GDP growth in the last 8 to 10 years now there could be a number of reasons for that it's just coming off the post elction period the we had a big general election uh in in the earlier part of this year and typically it is known that just following that in one or two cycles things can be a bit slow so our finance minister also commented on it uh because she was asked this question and she doesn't think that is anything structural and we are hoping to bounce back uh in the next quarter so the the India story hasn't fundamentally changed Still Remains intact promising and energizing uh but maybe a combination of global factors and just this election cycle could be a factor I mean one of the issues for foreign direct investment and investors has always been how do I get my money in in and out of India many roots have existed Singapore maius um as of late you know GI city has emerged yeah could you talk about gift City and is that now so I'll separate gift City and just let me deal with the first part of what you said you know the thing about India is uh and this is a bit of tongue and cheek that India has been a hard place procedurally and from a policy point of view to get your money in but it's never been a problem getting your money out uh which could be a little different in certain neighboring countries where it's uh it's easy to get it in but harder to sort of get it out so that's always been the fundamental proposition for India and massive Investments and investors have succeeded in both s of the in andout Journey so you know repatriation so long as you pay your Indian taxes has never been a problem uh but nonetheless we've always carried a bit of this reputation of being a very hard place to make investments in FDI complicated the rules are too difficult hard to enforce contracts etc etc it's all getting better uh gift City now what is gift City GI city is the sort of Indian equivalent of adgm and DFC in India uh GI city is a sort of a physical territory situate on the outskirts of Ahmedabad which is the capital of Gujarat it's uh the dream of Prime Minister Modi and which has also been you know supported by a number of policy relaxations that have been made both from a investment point of view from a corporate point of view as well as from a taxation point of view so GI city is setting itself up as an International Financial Center attracting foreign Capital uh Adia has recently set up uh a vehicle in India uh I think TI Blossom or something like that as to create effectively a fund in India as well and there are large number of international financial institutions uh who are doing that now is it anywhere close to uh the Financial Centers in uh in UAE a long way to go uh but it's about 10 years now since the GI city was set up and it's growing from strength to strength it is a kind of an oasis of modernity when you physically visit it we have an office there uh and it's uh it certainly uh holds a lot of promise what it does help in terms of this conversation is the ease of doing uh ease of investing in India family offices portfolio investment FD complicated Financial products uh all of that is in the realm of possibility because like any other Financial Center the normal rules of the country have been disapplied the complicated foreign exchange regulation uh all of that stuff which adds to the complexity of uh the sort of the India myth uh have been disapplied and simplified over there so GI city is a good option good but I would uh just go through you approach it cautiously step by step I'm going to try to sneak in one last question as India grows we're seeing a lot of outflows from India not just corporate but Indian families as well yes you've been involved with some of the Indian families that are setting up here in adgm why would they be looking at Abu Dhabi that's a great theme I think they are both Financial as well as kind of cultural reasons why this is happening I think the estimates are that between four or 5,000 billionaires leave the country every year uh and where are they relocating I think they're reloc loating a large number of them are relocating here in the region uh many of them are uh also relocating to London and other uh locations as well two reasons I think uh lifestyle is one reason secondly the ability to structure Global Investments is much easier uh from a tax as well as procedure point of view outside India for example and and other countries sometimes make it difficult all the non-dom stuff that's going on in UK has not helped them and is one of the reasons why families Rich families are leaving the UK and they're finding and Indian families they are finding uh options uh in this region which are which are attractive so this is a big theme I think in terms of family Investments uh and family offices there is undoubtedly a trend of uh moving out from either India or from other parts of the world and this is a very attractive destination good well our time is up um Mr shof will be here today he is a Titan of the Indian economy and the legal system so feel free to follow up with him [Music]