Ela is a partner with JSA’s competition law practice with more than 8 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.
On the merger control side, she advises clients on filing requirements for merger and acquisition transactions to the CCI and other competition law concerns emanating from M&A transactions. 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.
Other transactions she has been involved in include: LIC Mutual Fund/IDBI Mutual Fund, Paramount/Reliance Jio, M&G Plc/ Udaan, IBM/ Kyndryl Holdings, Multiples Private Equity/ Acko, TVS Group restructuring, Ford Motor Company/ Mahindra & Mahindra, Goldman Sachs/ ReNew Power (SPAC), Teleperformance/ Intelenet.
Ela is a regular speaker at conferences and workshops on competition law and was recognized as a ‘Rising Star’ in anti-trust and competition law by The Legal 500 in their Asia-pacific rankings consecutively for 2021 and 2022.
Memberships
Bar Council of Delhi
Publications
- Unscrambling The Interlocks: A Competition Law Perspective
- Scope Of Powers Of The Director General Under The Indian Competition Law
- Collaborating With Competitors During Covid-19: Guiding Principles
- The Law Review – Merger Control – India Chapter
- Chambers Legal Practices Guide – Cartels – India Chapter
- The Cartels and Leniency Review – India Chapter
- Global Legal Insights – Verticals Agreements – India Chapter
- Global Legal Insights – Merger Control – India Chapter
Education
- LL.B., Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi (2014)
- B. Com (Hons.), Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi
- Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram
Languages
- English
- Hindi
