Q: what is your background?
A: I was a litigation lawyer practising civil and criminal law, and then moved to a corporate law firm, before joining Reliance, currently India’s fourth biggest telecoms operator, as senior legal counsel. That was an interesting time as it was then the first CDMA mobile player in India and was buying a lot of telecoms equipment amid a global meltdown in the market – everyone was knocking on our door. I then moved to be head of legal at eBay where I also did some advocacy on the regulatory side for Paypal and Skype, which eBay acquired before it went to Microsoft. As an over the top (OTT) service, Skype’s status still isn’t resolved in India, although there is currently a new consultation paper on OTT. I then went to Star in 2008.
Q: why the move to star?
A: I thought it was natural progression given the blurring of lines between the telecoms, IT and commerce, and the content and entertainment sectors. I thought it was all going to converge at some point. I came in as head of legal, was promoted to general counsel two years later, and I’m also now looking after regulatory and government relations. I have about 60 lawyers in my team.
President and General Counsel, Star TV group in India
- Intermedia Issue:
- Vol 43, Issue 3
- Issue Date:
- September 2015
