Lupin Limited head legal Dr Vivek Mittal has joined Danaher Corporation Diagnostics Platform as its regional counsel for the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and India, effective 22 September.

A 1999 law graduate and 2002-qualified company secretary Mittal has more than 17 years of experience working in-house in the legal departments of various companies across sectors such as pharmaceuticals, retail, liquor, NBFC and manufacturing.

He had previously worked at Mount Shivalik Industries, Caparo India Operations, Indiabulls, Radico Khaitan and Reliance before joining Mumbai-based transational pharmaceutical company Lupin in 2009.

He commented: “I have been at Lupin for the last 8 years. After 8 years things go into autopilot mode so this is like starting from scratch again. There are new challenges, and entirely different business model, a new company.

“I thought it will be a good challenge. Also, multinational companies and how they work - will be a new learning experience. At Lupin after a certain point of time one got to see only new issues but a not a new style of working.”

The Danaher Corporation is a US science and technology innovator with its headquarters in Washington DC. Its products are concentrated in the fields of design, manufacturing, and marketing of industrial and consumer products. It operates in four segments: test & measurement, dental, environmental, and life science & diagnostics.

Mittal said that he would be based in Mumbai and would be responsible for providing leadership, guidance, direction and assistance on various legal, regulatory, compliance and business matters in the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and India for the Danaher Diagnostics Platform (DDP).

As of now, the Danaher Diagnostics Platform consists of five companies: Beckman Coulter, Cepheid, Leica Biosystems, Hemocue and Radiometer Medical, he added.

Mittal currently has the support of one other lawyer in the legal division under him, but said his mandate was to grow the legal team as the business grows.

He will be replacing Danaher’s Switzerland-based regional counsel Hazel Polka.

The three divisions of Danaher other than the diagnostics platform are looked after in India and South East Asia by its general counsel (GC) - ILS Pune 2001 alumnus Sachin Kulkarni - who joined the company in March. Kulkarni was previously head legal for the middle east divisions of Novartis company Alcon, before Danaher.

Danaher India’s last reported revenue stood at $460m, and the company had set a target of $1bn by 2017 when it completes a decade of operations in India.