Indian law firm Desai & Diwanji has added two partners to its fast-growing western city of Pune. Jaya Devashish (L) was head of legal at two-wheeler giant Kinetic’s EV arm, while Prasad Gangadharan was a senior legal counsel at tech solution provider Malomatia.
The hire comes a month after the firm added Pune-based CAM attorney Pooja Sable as a partner in Mumbai. `
Devashish has over two decades of experience in the corporate sector, having worked with firms, including Dua Associates and AZB & Partners, before setting up her own corporate boutique, Lexcelon Advisors, in Pune in 2019. She moved in-house to Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions in 2022.
Gangadharan has over 20 years of experience, primarily in tech-focused in-house roles, including with PayTabs, Tech Mahindra, CMS Computers and BlueDart Express. He joined Malomatia in 2019 as senior legal counsel.
Devashish and Gangadharan will join Alpana Srivastava, who heads Desai & Diwanji’s Pune office. Srivastava, who also moved to Desai from an in-house role in 2022, runs the Pune office, which focused on transactional work – M&A, PE/VC and early-stage investments.
Devashish’s EV background will be strategically important to growth in Pune, India’s automobile manufacturing hub and home to many domestic and international companies in the sector, the firm said.
