Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today?
I graduated with a law degree from the Government Law College in Mumbai, India. I completed my CFA after my legal training. As a British Chevening scholar, I gained experience in English and European Community laws and regulations by undergoing training at the College of Law at York. I also worked briefly with a London based solicitors firm in their corporate finance department. Then I returned to India and joined law firm Udwadia, Udeshi & Berjis. As a partner at the law firm, I worked on a broad array of matters including derivatives, mergers and acquisitions and structured finance. I founded Juris Corp in October 2000 as a boutique financial services firm.
Juris Corp was conceptualized as a boutique law firm to cater to the financial services sector in India. It has grown into a full services law firm with financial services being the core with diverse local and foreign clientele.
What does your role involve?
Providing guidance on targets and goals to be achieved; budgetary allocations; formulating and executing policy decisions; and strategizing.
In Islamic finance, it includes identifying broad opportunities and targeting clients; analyzing latest regulatory developments (in India and key global markets) and their impact on Islamic finance; and guiding colleagues on how to adapt conventional structures in order to become Shariah compliant. It also includes adopting a bottom-up approach, in studying the jurisprudence behind many of the transactions undertaken globally and interpret the same in the context of the local laws and customs prevalent in India. We are one of the few to have a dedicated Islamic finance setup.
What is your greatest achievement to date?
To have achieved leadership status in India in structured products, derivatives and financial litigation and be among the pre-eminent firms in structured finance.
Which of your products / services deliver the best results?
Broadly such services comprise of different segments of banking and finance, including dispute resolution related to these areas. We have leveraged our experience in finance, to render cutting-edge advice to clients on Islamic finance. Since we understand commercials better than most, our advice encompasses practical issues that business face while structuring deals
What are the strengths of your business?
Delivering value addition and identifying not only legal but also commercial issues for clients. As we have good financial lawyers with a strong focus on understanding commercials, we are able to understand (in addition to the Shariah laws underpinning such structures), the commercial intent behind the structures and advise accordingly.
What are the factors contributing to the success of your company?
The firm does not believe in following the beaten path. We have advised on complex financial structures that require “out-of-the-box” thinking, and an analytical approach. Given our extensive experience in advising on Indian regulatory issues to a large number of banks both domestic and foreign in India, we pride on our ability to “think like the regulator” as to what may pass muster and what may not.
What are the obstacles faced in running your business today?
The obstacles are limited talent pool with sufficient knowledge of the financial services sector and lawyers who are able to think commercially.
Where do you see the Islamic finance industry in, say, the next five years or so?
Firstly, more emphasis will be placed on developing products and solutions that comply in spirit with the requirements of Shariah and not merely seeking to adapt conventional products to the latter. I am already seeing the groundswell of support from consumers towards Shariah compliant institutions that are differentiating themselves through products and solutions that meet their requirements and are Shariah compliant.
These institutions do not seek to model on conventional instruments and are therefore ‘independent’. With the increasing influence of such institutions, the current dominance of western banks will be challenged — Qatar being a case in point. I also see Islamic finance increasing its influence in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, China, key African countries and Australia.
Name one thing you would like to see change in the world of Islamic finance.
The thinking that Islamic finance is like accounting norms with set standards. I am strongly of the view that differences in opinion among scholars should be encouraged, as it allows Islamic finance to evolve as per local requirements.
It also acts as a natural counter balance, as any adverse ruling or decision by one particular scholar or board can be logically debated and even questioned by the others in the field, thereby enabling a ‘middle path’ approach.