At SNG Mumbai he was co-heading the corporate banking vertical. SNG managing partner Rajesh Narain Gupta commented that Babu had been looking to move his base to Chennai for a while but that SNG did not have any “immediate plans to open in South India”.

“It was a very peaceful, friendly thing,” he said about the move. “We of course wish him well, and he’s going to be an exceptionally good resource to ELP as well.”

The Madras University graduate had joined Bank of Baroda in 1996 as a legal officer, moved to Standard Chartered Bank in 2001, followed by a stint at Axis Bank in 2004 before co-founding the Mumbai branch of SNG & Partners.

ELP managing partner Rohan Shah commented in a press release that he would “play an important role in growing ELP’s banking and finance practice in Mumbai as well as Chennai”.

He told Legally India that ELP has had a banking practice for around three years now, headed by Jeet Sengupta who had joined from Amarchand, and Deep Roy from ICICI, and that Babu would help consolidate the team with his “leadership well recognised by the domestic banks”.

Today Bharti Airtel GC Jyoti Pawar is also joining ELP to head its technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) practice, as first reported in March.

Shah commented that Pawar would be a fillip to the TMT practice, but also become “senior leadership for the Delhi office”.