Khare Legal Chambers partner Abir Roy joined Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan as a joint partner in its Delhi competition practice on 2 January.

Amarchand Mangaldas has hired the head of Irish firm William Fry’s competition law department, John Handoll, as a senior adviser in European and competition law.

Exclusive: Former Competition Commission of India (CCI) director general KK Sharma has started up a competition law boutique firm headquartered in Delhi, aiming to counsel law firms and companies in competition law.

Exclusive: As former director general of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the architect of the now established merger control department, Kaushal Kumar Sharma who left the regulator last month tells Legally India about wannabe competition lawyers, firmness, Bollywood, the CCI’s historical and future challenges and his plans as a free agent.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) associate Leena Levakumar offers a jurisprudential history of competition law.

Exclusive: Economic Laws Practice (ELP) has been called in to draft Afghanistan’s new competition law regime together with the UK think tank Adam Smith Institute in a project funded by the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Exclusive: Trilegal has created a pure-play competition law practice after hiring former NLSIU Bangalore professor Rahul Singh and the six-month secondment of counsel Sakya Chaudhry in the competition practice of the firm’s best friend Allen & Overy (A&O).

J Sagar Associates (JSA) has engaged former Income Tax Commissioner and the first Director General Competition Commission of India (CCI) Amitabh Kumar as a senior advisor to augment its competition and direct tax law practices in Delhi office.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) draft guidelines on approving M&A deals will be published in the coming days, revealed chairman Dhanendra Kumar yesterday (23 February) at a panel discussion during the two-day International Bar Association (IBA) Mumbai M&A conference.

Delhi based boutique competition practice firm Dhall Law Chambers has hired two Indian qualified LLM degree holders from King’s College London.

Khaitan & Co is the latest firm in Delhi to start a competition law practice with the hire of J Sagar Associates (JSA) competition law and policy head Manas Chaudhuri as a partner, who was previously also additional registrar of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

This week a cyclone was forecast to ravage Mumbai. Government offices closed at 3pm, slums were evacuated and several law firms shut their doors and sent staff home as a precaution.

However, the cyclone fizzled out and Khaitan & Co managed to go ahead with its new Mumbai office housewarming party, the paint barely dry on the walls.

In Delhi meanwhile, an overheating lamp caused a small fire in Phoenix Legal’s office. Just like in Mumbai’s supposed cyclone, fortunately no one was hurt and the tiny inferno was brought quickly under control by firefighting lawyers.

But not just forces of nature caused excitement this week.

The Lawyer magazine first reported on Monday that Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi has hired a non Indian-qualified competition law expert from Ireland.

Several law firms have reason to be happy (no, the Advocates Act’s restriction on foreign lawyers practising has not been repealed).

Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi has hired a non-Indian qualified competition law specialist as a director in its competition law practice, reports The Lawyer magazine.

Vaish Associates has started a competition law practice with the hire of former Jindal Steel in-houser and Competition Commission of India (CCI) registrar M M Sharma.

Who will the Indian Competition Commission hit first? Judging by what the Europeans have been doing, it may very well be the pharmaceutical sector, argue Warsha Kalé and Marcus Pearl.

With a net worth of approximately $8bn the Indian pharmaceutical industry is big business locally and globally - India is the fourth largest pharmaceutical producer in the world, exporting its drugs to 212 countries globally.

India’s new government could be the springboard for the country’s legal system to scale new heights.

The recent Indian elections saw a decisive win for the Congress Party, the stock markets rally, the various economic growth forecasts adjusted and the ­rating agencies ditching their gloomy ­outlook for the country (see ‘Elections’ box).

The optimism within the business ­community here is so heartfelt and the belief in the new government so strong, it is ­reminiscent of the first month or so after Barack Obama’s election victory in the US.

Nevertheless, the data for the start of the year makes for depressing reading. India, much like the rest of the world, has suffered in every major sector (see ‘Figures’ box). The country, as ever, faces incredible challenges.

But amid those challenges, even though they come with a long wish list of demands from their old but newly emboldened government, Indian lawyers are also seeing great opportunities. In India, it is business time.

Lawyers are adopting a wait-and-see approach to India’s newly-established Competition Commission, which was given its executive powers today.

Question marks remain over how the new body will exercise its powers and whether it will be able to do so free from government interference.

Brussels competition partner Jonas Koponen of international firm Linklaters said: “It will be interesting to see what position and approach the Indian Commission will take. One can only hope that it is purely competition-based interests they will look after.”