Neelambera Sandeepan

She has extensive experience advising Indian and multinational companies on the full spectrum of competition law matters, including advisory work and proceedings before the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), various High Courts, and the Supreme Court of India. Her experience spans a broad range of sectors including aviation, real estate, natural resources (oil, coal and gas), pharmaceuticals, digital markets, paper, cement, chemicals, automobiles and auto-components, railways, heavy engineering, banking and financial services, among others.

Neelambera has represented clients in several high-profile, precedent-setting behavioural case, such as Ambuja Cements in the Cement Cartel case in which, the CCI penalised the cement companies approximately USD 1.4 billion. She has successfully defended several international and domestic companies in unilateral conduct and cartel investigations.

She currently represents and advises clients across sectors such as automobiles, digital markets, paper, specialty chemicals, consumer goods and electronics.

Neelambera has secured a significant number of merger control clearances in India and has advised on several complex merger control matters, including Phase II investigations involving structural and behavioural remedies.

In the data privacy and digital regulatory space, Neelambera specialises in data governance and privacy compliance, with a particular focus on issues arising at the intersection of competition law, digital markets and technology regulation. Her scope of advisory spans implications of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, data-sharing arrangements, platform governance, cross-border data flows, and competition law considerations in the use and commercialization of data. She also advises on regulatory investigations and evolving legal frameworks governing digital businesses, online platforms and emerging technologies.

Prior to joining the Firm, Neelambera worked in the competition law practice of a leading Indian law firm, at the World Trade Organization in Geneva, and served as a Law Clerk-cum-Research Associate to a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court of India.