Record-breaking deals were inked this week to much merriment from law firms.

Wadia Ghandy will have been cheering for its client, which won the race in what is apparently the largest cash asset acquisition in Indian corporate history: Wadia’s client GTL is buying network operator Aircel’s tower business for almost $2bn. Amarchand Mangaldas is the happy advisor to Aircel but the suitor mandate could have gone to any of a number of firms, with a who’s who of telecoms majors competing for the same assets. Not bad for early January.

(A second, unrelated reason to cheer at Wadia Ghandy: the firm won the ELP Cricket Masters Cup last weekend, persevering over tournament organiser and defending champions Economic Laws Practice in a dramatic final.)

Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co and Jones Day have advised on India’s largest initial public offer (IPO) in 18 months for Adani Power’s issue, which has so far seen four-fold oversubscription and is hoped to raise between Rs 2,700 and 3,000 crore ($558m to $620m).

Clifford Chance’s lateral Amarchand Mangaldas hire has reaped rewards, as Rahul Guptan brought the firm the third Indiabulls Group mandate this year, acting for its underwriting bank.

Luthra & Luthra, India Law Services and Amarchand Mangaldas have leapfrogged to the top of global project finance deal rankings over the last six months, benefiting from Indian project finance deals rising by 158 per cent against the same period last year to almost $32bn (Rs 154,000 crore).

Kanga & Co Mumbai partner Dhaval Vussonji is leading the team for the original bidder Bharati Shipyard, which already owns a 19.5 per cent stake in Great Offshore.

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The 2009-10 Union Budget received a frosty reaction from the business community this week: investors reacted by selling and lawyers reacted by doing what they do best: threatening to file law suits and, err, going on strike.

Despite meagre pickings, Desai & Diwanji, Khaitan & Co, AZB & Partners and Amarchand Mangaldas have topped an M&A league table, together advising on 30 Indian deals worth a total of $9.4bn in the last six months.

Platinum Partners has joined the team of legal advisers on the MTN – Bharti Airtel merger talks alongside four other firms on what could be India’s largest cross-border deal to date with a value of around $23bn (Rs 110,000 crore).

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lex Counsel and Platinum Partners have advised on a $17.5m (Rs 85 crore) joint venture (JV) deal between the UK’s Pearson Group and Delhi-based education company Educomp Solutions.

J Sagar and Associates (JSA) and Luthra & Luthra have completed the Rs 1,750 crore ($368m) takeover of mining company Dempo Group by London-listed Vedanta Resources subsidiary Sesa Goa.

Vaish Associates Mumbai office is hammering out a health insurance JV between its close client Religare Enterprises and global insurance company Swiss Re.

The Vaish team is being led by partner Bomi Daruwala, assisted by associates Amitjivan Joshi and Arti Narsana.

Swiss Re is understood to be represented by its global in-house team but is due to pick its domestic Indian legal representation soon.

AZB & Partners has bagged the biggest ever Indian cross-border merger mandate, advising Bharti Airtel on its revived $23bn bid to take over South African telecoms major MTN.

London international Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will be advising long-standing client MTN but the company’s Indian counsel has not yet been chosen.

AZB Delhi partners Ajay Bahl (pictured) and Gautam Saha are understood to be leading the legal team for Bharti, having won the instruction off the back of previous work done by the firm for the company.