Khaitan boosts indi tax with Advaita partner Sudipta Bhattacharjee + team (NUJS ‘05)

Sudipta Bhattacharjee joins Khaitan from Advaita
Sudipta Bhattacharjee joins Khaitan from Advaita

Khaitan & Co has hired Sudipta Bhattacharjee as an equity partner with his team of three lawyers in its indirect tax practice, to be based in Delhi.

He was a partner at Advaita Legal, best friend firm of Big 4 consultancy KPMG. He is specialising in GST, customs, state excise and indirect taxes.

We understand that his Advaita team that will be joining includes one lawyer with around 10 years of post-qualification experience (PQE) and two others with between four and six years of PQE.

Khaitan executive director Amar Sinhji commented: “We are very pleased to welcome Sudipta Bhattacharjee and his indirect tax team (from Advaita) to our firm.

“The strengthening & geographical expansion of our indirect tax practice has been a key component of our strategic expansion plans. The addition of Sudipta & his team will give a major fillip to growing our already well established indirect tax practice in India, especially in the North.”

Bhattacharjee is a 2005 NUJS Kolkata graduate who had begun his career at Reliance Communications in-house, before moving to BMR & Associates, then BMR Legal and its successor firm Advaita.

Advaita had seen a string of departures post the leaving of co-founding partner Sujit Ghosh in 2018 to become arguing counsel:

The partners remaining at Advaita are Shailendra Singh and Monali Dutta.

We have reached out to Singh for comment.

Sudipta Bhattacharjee Work history From: Oct 2016 : Partner , Advaita Legal ( New Delhi Area ) Dec 2013 - Sep 2016 : Principal , Advaita Legal ( New Delhi Area ) Apr 2012 - Dec 2013 : Associate Director, Indirect Taxes , BMR Legal ( Delhi NCR ) Apr 2010 - Mar 2012 : Manager , BMR Legal Aug 2006 - Mar 2010 : Associate to Assistant Manager , BMR & Associates ( New Delhi Area ) Apr 2005 - Jul 2006 : Legal Executive , Reliance Communications Education 2000 - 2005 : National University of Juridical Sciences , BA LLB , Law

Comments

In house guys 10 Dec 2020, 13:16
+17 -1
Great move by KCO. They needed an indieect tax team in Delhi and this was possibly the best hire possible. Sudipta is a fantastic tax lawyer and will surely bring the much needed expertise to KCO.

As an aside, @Kian: indi tax?? Really?? Doesn't even sound cool.
Lexpert 10 Dec 2020, 13:56
+1 -1
Best wishes, SB!
Guest 10 Dec 2020, 14:01
+2 -1
Sudipto is a star, god bless him...
KCO 10 Dec 2020, 14:23
+1 -0
Good addition to KCO. Will give a face to the IDT team.
Indi Tax 10 Dec 2020, 18:31
+8 -0
Who calls it 'indi' tax lol
Devil 10 Dec 2020, 18:37
+0 -0
Truly a gentleman! Well deserved. All the best
Indi Guy 12 Dec 2020, 20:36
+1 -0
Yes, it is true. KPMG decided to merge all the Advaita Tax lawyers to its own payroll under employment contract. Advaita is KPMG entity itself.
Crazy Corona 11 Dec 2020, 03:21
+6 -0
Heard that Advaita wanted to merge the entire 'indi' tax team into KPMG, make retainers employees of KPMG and end 'indi' tax lit practice completely. That's why so many unpleasant departures. Btw this is just hearsay. Need some insiders to confirm.
Confirmation 11 Dec 2020, 05:47
+1 -0
Advaita didn't want...KPMG did. Ofcourse, doesn't make sense for the lawyers to go there and not be able to practice law.
Indi Guy 12 Dec 2020, 20:40
+0 -0
Internal politics.
Question 11 Dec 2020, 08:49
+1 -0
Now what happens to the guys in indirect tax litigation? Surprised that entire indirect tax didn't move. Anyone knows why?

Also, what about non indirect tax practice?
Still question 14 Dec 2020, 08:09
+0 -0
Any idea on the above?
Curiouslawstudent 11 Dec 2020, 04:07
+5 -2
What's the pay structure like for A0s at tax practices? Do tax guys get paid more at Advaita and Khaitan?
ex kco 11 Dec 2020, 07:36
+0 -0
how is kco hiring so much? where is bijiness?
Arre 11 Dec 2020, 19:49
+3 -0
Arre they are hiring him to get bijiness, na?
Lexpert 15 Dec 2020, 05:58
+3 -0
I wonder how his team will interface with the already top-heavy KCO indirect tax team, consisting of Kabir Bogra, Abhishek A Rastogi, Arvind Baheti and Dinesh Agrawal.. I am not even counting junior/ salaried partners, such as Ayush Mehrotra etc. I hope he & his team will get some traction with the Big Four clientele, which has so far eluded KCO.. Best wishes!