Areas of Service

Our Information Technology & BPO Practice Expertise

Information Technology Services (“ITS”) and Business Process Outsourcing (“BPO”) are here to stay and are an integral part of today’s globalized world. India has rapidly emerged as a preferred destination for global corporations seeking to outsource their business processes. ITS and BPO in a global economy presents unique challenges such as issues relating to permanent establishment, transfer pricing, intellectual property, privacy, data protection, security along with the incorporation of the same into various contracts and agreements. We, at Nishith Desai Associates, have developed an expertise and niche in this area and have advised and assisted several global companies on legal, regulatory, tax and matters in relation to protection of intellectual property.

NDA has cultivated the ability to provide creative and workable solutions to clients by consciously combining industry knowledge, practical experience and intensive legal research. We have a dedicated Information Technology, Communication and Entertainment Laws Practice Group, which focuses on the legal and regulatory issues that arise in ITS and BPO sector.

The Corporate and Securities Law team and the International Taxation team at NDA advises clients on the structuring of their operations in a tax efficient manner while the Technology Law team focuses on formulating comprehensive strategies to help clients leverage their intellectual property, and unlock the value of their intellectual property assets in the current competitive market place. We have a unique expertise in drafting, reviewing and negotiating a diverse range of Intellectual Property and Information Technology agreements.

Our report entitled “Business Process Outsourcing Legal & Tax Issues” that analyzes the offshore BPO market and examines India's competitive advantages vis-à-vis other countries, and is regarded as a virtual ready reckoner from a legal and a tax perspective.

NDA has been ranked as one of the leading law firms in India by the Practical Law Company in the area of Telecommunications and Information Technology. It has also been rated as the number one law firm in India in the area of Telecommunications, Media and Technology by the Asia Pacific Legal 500.

• Nishith Desai Associates has been declared as the Most Innovative Indian Law Firm (2014/2015) at the Innovative Lawyers Asia-Pacific Awards by the Financial Times - RSG Consulting.
• Nishith Desai Associates has been declared as the Second Most Innovative Asia - Pacific Law Firm (2014) at the Innovative Lawyers Asia-Pacific Awards by the Financial Times - RSG Consulting.
• Chambers & Partners has ranked us # 1 for TMT for the year 2015.
• Awarded by IDEX Legal Awards 2015: “Best Use of Innovation and Technology in a Law Firm”.
• Legal 500 (2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014): No. 1 for International Tax, Investment Funds and TMT
• Ranked No. 1 by Asia Pacific Legal 500 in, Technology Law, Media Law and Telecom Law 2014
• Won the 'Best Tax Law Firm of the Year' by the Legal Era Awards 2013, India's legal awards celebrating excellence among the legal fraternity
• Recognized by Legal Era Awards 2013, the second edition of India's first legal awards, Nishith Desai Associates won for the 'Firm with Best Use of Technology'.
• IFLR: Winner of Indian Law Firm of the Year 2012 for Technology-Media-Telecom (TMT).
• Ranked highest on ‘Quality’ in a recent Financial Times-RSG Consulting survey of Indian law firms (2011)
• Nishith Desai, Founder of Nishith Desai Associates, voted ‘External Counsel of the Year 2009’ by Asian-Counsel and Pacific Business Press.
• Awarded by Indian Business Law Journal - India Law Firm Award 2009 for Telecom-Media-Technology practice.
• Listed in Practical Law Company’s (PLC) Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2009 as the leading firm in Taxation, and IT & e-Commerce. 
• Listed in the Asian Legal Business Watch list of ‘Top 10 Firms to Watch in 2009’.
• Recognized by Chambers and Partners as the ‘Most In-Demand Practitioners’.

Scope of Services

NDA's Information Technology and BPO Practice Group focuses on:

• Internet of Things: Advising on complex legal and tax issues arising from computing and convergence of the Internet of Things. Also, advising on legal risks arising from the use of of wearables.
• E-commerce: Creating innovative structures for cross border investments into the Indian e-commerce space. Also, providing business models to mitigate legal / regulatory risks for undertaking business in this sector.
• Structuring of investments into India: Advising clients on various structuring issues involved in investing into India, including determining a tax favorable jurisdiction for investment, permanent establishment, and transfer pricing instruments.
• Data protection: Advising on data protection laws and its implications on multinationals / BPOs / captives based on the business model and the nature of information processed / stored / collected. Also, advising companies handling sensitive personal information in the virtual world including cloud service providers.
• Regulatory approvals: Obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals for setting up and carrying on operations in India.
• Advising on laws: Advising clients on the protection of intellectual property, information technology, confidentiality, enforcement of foreign awards / judgments, etc.
• Employment Laws: Advising clients on employment laws including compliance with labour laws, drafting policies and procedures, employment agreements, etc in relation to the IT and BPO sector.
• Documentation: Drafting and negotiating term sheets, shareholders, share purchase, joint venture and other corporate Agreements. The group is also involved in drafting and negotiating master service agreements, service level agreements, build operate- Transfer agreements, software license and distribution agreements such as shrink-warp and click-wrap agreements, end-user license agreements, reseller agreements, software development agreements, software escrow agreements, software assignment agreements, call center agreements, tele-marketing agreements, technology transfer agreements and other outsourcing agreements. Further, assisting in drafting privacy policies, disclaimers and website terms so as to ensure compliances under Indian laws.
• Due-Diligence: We also undertake legal due diligence on companies carrying out BPO and ITS, in which our clients are proposing to invest. Our specialized knowledge of this sector helps us in identifying critical issues that a financial or strategic investor in a company engaged in a BPO and ITS space should carefully understand and address. We have carried out legal due diligences of reputed companies on behalf of large international private equity players.

Representative Clients

• Integreon
• Imergent Inc.
• Impetus
• Kotak Bank
• Larsen & Toubro
• Linkedin
• MasterCard
• Miles Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd
• Mellon Financial Bank
• MphasiS, a Hewlett Packard Company
• Netlogic
• Nvidia
• Oak Hill Capital Partners (for investment in EXL)
• Oracle India
• PeopleSoft
• Principal Global Services
• Prudential
• Qualcomm
• Rovi
• Stock Holding Corporation of India
• Tata Sky
• Times of India Group
• Times Internet Limited
• Travelocity
• Telcordia
• Vaakya Technologies Pvt. Ltd
• Verifone
• Verizon
• Visa
• Zensar
• World Vision International