Ela is a partner with JSA’s competition law practice with 10 years of experience. She represents and advises clients across different sectors on enforcement and merger control matters before the Competition Commission of India (CCI), National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Delhi and Bombay High Court, and the Supreme Court of India (SC).
On the enforcement side, she handles matters ranging from cartel, leniency, dawn raids, abuse of dominance, and competition issues in commercial agreements and conducts competition compliance law training for various companies.
She has successfully defended global auto-component manufacturers and a leading paper manufacturer in an alleged price-fixing cartel before the CCI. Presently, she is advising a global seeds company, cement manufacturer, conveyor belt manufacturer and leading debenture trustees in cases involving price-fixing cartels and imposition of vertical restraints, before the CCI. She also advised Nuziveedu Seeds in a case filed by it against Monsanto for abusing its dominant position before CCI. Before the NCLAT, she is representing FabHotels in an appeal filed by MakeMyTrip and OYO and Hyundai Motors India Limited, respectively.
On the merger control side, she advises clients on filing requirements for M&A transactions to the CCI and other competition law concerns emanating from the same. She has obtained CCI’s approval for complex transactions in both short form and long form formats. She advised ChemChina Corporation in its global acquisition of Syngenta AG in a 44-billion-dollar deal and one of the biggest deals in the agro-chemical sector in India, which was granted a Phase I approval subject to certain modifications. Recently, she acted for Temasek Holdings in seeking CCI approval for its acquisition of majority stake in Manipal Hospitals in one of the largest private equity deals in the healthcare sector in India – the matter was named the 2023 M&A Deal of the Year by India Business Law Journal.
She was recognized as a ‘Next Generation Partner’ in anti-trust and competition law by The Legal 500 in their Asia-pacific rankings for 2023 and is a regular speaker at conferences and workshops on competition law.
Publications
- Lexology In-Depth: Cartels and Leniency – Edition 12 (2024 and 2023)
- Chambers & Partners, Merger Control, India: Trends & Developments (2023)
- Embracing Openness Over Preconceptions In The Face Of Digital Competition Law: Assessing The Need Of An Ex-Ante Based Framework – BW Legal World (2023)
- Unscrambling The Interlocks: A Competition Law Perspective – Mondaq (2021)
- Scope Of Powers Of The Director General Under The Indian Competition Law – Published by Centre for Competition Law and Policy (2021)
- Collaborating With Competitors During Covid-19: Guiding Principles – Sify.com (2020)
Education
- LL.B., Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi
- B. Com (Hons.), University of Delhi
- Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram
Course
The Role of Economics in Competition Law and Practice – Competition and Regulation European Summer School and Conference (2018)
Memberships
Bar Council of Delhi
Languages
- English
- Hindi
