Anirud Sudarsan R

Anirud is a Partner with Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and is a part of the general corporate practice in the Mumbai region.

He joined the firm in the year 2017 after graduating from West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. He advises a diverse range of clients (including sovereign wealth funds, private equity sponsors, global insurers, banks, and listed companies) on mergers & acquisitions and foreign investments in India, spanning the broader financial services sector, with a distinctive and market-recognised specialism in Indian insurance sector.

He has worked on significant transactions in relation to acquisition of private and public companies, business transfers and initial public offerings (including the IPO of Life Insurance Corporation of India). Anirud has also been a part of the team from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas engaged to advise the Regulation Review Committee constituted by the Insurance Councils which resulted in the IRDAI bringing in a new regulatory regime with principle-based regulations and prescriptions in master circulars. He is also advising Bima Sugam India Federation, a Section 8 company developing a digital platform to facilitate sale and solicitation of insurance products for multiple stakeholders, aiming to simplify the insurance purchasing process and increase insurance penetration.

Anirud often advises insurers and insurance intermediaries in relation to, amongst other aspects: corporate governance, general corporate strategies, engagement with regulators including in relation to adverse actions, data processing, business ventures and partnerships, distribution and other forms of engagement between insurers and insurance intermediaries.

Anirud has been recognised as a ‘Rising Star’ (Insurance) in the Asialaw rankings 2025 and Key/ Recommended Lawyer (Insurance) in the Legal500 rankings in 2023 and 2025.

Anirud regularly publishes blogs especially on contemporary matters affecting the Indian insurance industry. His interviews with Asia Insurance Review (a premier and comprehensive professional regional magazine dedicated to the insurance and reinsurance industry in Asia) discuss the critical developments in the Indian insurance regulatory space and their implications for stakeholders.

Professional Experience:

*Notable deals in the insurance sector:

Advised Jio Financial Services Limited (“JFS”) in relation to its joint venture with Allianz Europe B.V. (“Allianz”) for undertaking general insurance business in India;
Advised JFS in relation to its joint venture with Allianz for undertaking reinsurance business in India. The joint venture between JFS and Allianz is the second private reinsurer in India;
Advised QBE Holdings (AAP) Pty Ltd. (“QBE”) in relation to its acquisition of the entire shareholding Raheja QBE General Insurance Company Limited (“RQBE”) from Prism Johnson Limited;
Advised Central Bank of India in relation to its acquisition of 25.18% in Generali Central Life Insurance Company Limited (formerly known as Future Generali India Life Insurance Company Limited) and 24.91% in Generali Central Insurance Company Limited (formerly known as Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited), through the corporate insolvency resolution process of Future Enterprises Limited under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016;
Advised Warburg Pincus Group on its exit from SBI General Insurance Company Limited;
Advised Temasek Group in relation to obtaining IRDAI approval and acquisition of up to 9.9% of the share capital of Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company Limited, a listed standalone health insurer;
Advised Elevar Venture Partners LLP in relation to its minority investment in Coverstack Technologies Private Limited (“Coverstack”) (with an insurance intermediary subsidiary i.e. Coverfox Insurance Broking Private Limited (“Coverfox”)). Coverstack, along with Coverfox are engaged in the business of insurance distribution and providing various technology and allied services;
Advised Go Digit General Insurance Limited in relation to a proposed scheme of amalgamation between Go Digit Infoworks Services Private Limited and Go Digit General Insurance Limited and their respective shareholders;
Advised Go Digit General Insurance Limited on negotiating and drafting the amended joint venture agreement amongst Kamesh Goyal, Oben Ventures LLP, FAL Corporation and Go Digit Infoworks Services Private Limited;
Advised Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company Limited in relation to its Initial Public Offering, being the first initial public offering to be undertaken under the new regulatory regime notified by IRDAI in IRDAI (Registration, Capital Structure, Transfer of Shares and Amalgamation of Insurers) Regulations, 2024, and being the first company to have successfully completed the process of issue and listing under the new regime;
Advised Zurich Insurance Company Ltd. in relation to its acquisition of a majority stake from Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited in Zurich Kotak General Insurance Company (India) Limited (formerly Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company Limited);
Advised V-Sciences Investments Pte. Ltd. (a Temasek group entity) in relation to the proposed subscription of 2.63% of the paid up equity share capital of Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company Limited;
Advised Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. in relation to its portfolio company D2C Consulting Private Limited (being part of RenewBuy Group) merging with Insurancedekho Group;
Advised Hinduja Group, being the successful resolution applicant in relation to the corporate insolvency resolution plan of Reliance Capital Limited, specifically with respect to the insurance subsidiaries, viz. Reliance General Insurance Company Limited and Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company Limited;
Advised Piramal Group in connection with their indirect investments in Shriram General Insurance Company Limited and Shriram Life Insurance Company Limited;
Assisted the Regulation Review Committee formed by the General Insurance Council and Life Insurance Council in revamping the existing regulatory framework into a principle-based regulatory framework;
Assisted members of the Task Force on Impact of Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 on the Insurance Sector formed by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (“IRDAI”) to understand the data protection implications of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 on the insurance sector;
Advised Axis Bank Limited in their equity investment in Go Digit Life Insurance Limited to acquire a stake of 9.9%;
Advised the IRDAI on the transfer of the life insurance business of Sahara Life Insurance Co. Ltd to SBI Life Insurance Company Limited;
Advised Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the President of India, acting through the Ministry of Finance, Government of India on the initial public offering (IPO) of LIC, which was the largest Indian IPO in terms of size of offer;
Advised Axis Bank Limited, Axis Capital Limited and Axis Securities Limited in the acquisition of 13% shares of Axis Max Life Insurance Company Limited to dial-up their shareholding to 16.23%;
Advised Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. in relation to its INR 300 crore (approx.) investment in D2C Consulting Services Private Limited (RenewBuy), the holding company of D2C Insurance Broking Private Limited;
Advised abrdn (Mauritius Holdings) 2006 Limited in connection with its exit from HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited through a block deal on the floor of the Indian stock exchanges;
Advised the Department for International Trade, Government of the United Kingdom on the national treatment and market access aspects in the insurance sector in India;
Advised Aditya Birla Health Insurance Company Limited and its Indian promoter, Aditya Birla Capital Limited in relation to a capital infusion by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority;
Advised ICICI Securities, Morgan Stanley India Company, Axis Capital, Edelweiss Financial Services, HDFC Bank, and IIFL Securities (the book-running lead managers) running the proposed listing of Go Digit General Insurance Limited;
Advised Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which has invested in the Series D funding round of Acko Technologies and Services Private Limited (“Acko”), the holding company of Acko General Insurance Limited. Acko became a unicorn with this funding round;
Advised CreditAccess Life Insurance Limited in relation to the joint-venture arrangement and inter-se shareholders rights in advance of seeking registration as a life insurance company with the IRDAI;
Advised Creaegis, Bessemer Venture Partners and ICICI Ventures in relation to a primary investment in and secondary acquisition of Solvy Tech Solutions Private Limited (Zopper), a company engaged in the business of providing extended warranties and having an insurance broking arm through a subsidiary;
Advised Navi Technologies Private Limited, in relation to acquisition of 100% equity share capital of DHFL General Insurance Limited (now Navi General Insurance Limited) from Wadhawan Global Capital Limited (whose shares in the insurance company at the time of sale was subject to IRDAI promoter lock-in). The IRDAI approval for the aforesaid transaction factored in a specific exemption for the same;
Advised ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited, in relation to acquisition of the web-based customer relationship management business of Unbox Technologies Private Limited, commonly known as ‘AutoNinja’, in a slump sale completed pursuant to a business transfer agreement. This transaction holds value for being one of the very few (if not the only) non-insurance business acquisition completed by an Indian insurance company;
Advised Premji Invest in relation to acquisition of shares aggregating to 16% (approx.) of the share capital of State Bank of India General Insurance Company Limited from IAG International Pty Limited;
Advised Star Health and Allied Insurance Co Ltd in relation to its Initial Public Offering;
Advised the Joint Global Co-ordinators and Book Running Lead Managers and the Book Running Lead Managers in respect of the Initial Public Offering of PB Fintech Limited (the parent entity of Policybazaar (India’s largest digital insurance marketplace) and Paisabazaar); and
Advised Knighthealth Technologies Private Limited (Practo Group) in relation to procuring registration as a Corporate Agent (Composite) with the IRDAI.

Other notable deals in the non-insurance sector:

Advised Axis Bank Limited and Axis Finance Limited in relation to INR 750 crore investment by Kedaara Capital;
Advised Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) in relation to its acquisition of a majority stake in HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited (a listed oncology-specialty hospital chain) from Aceso Company Pte. Ltd. (a CVC Group entity);
Advised ICICI Bank Limited in its purchase of additional 2% stake in ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Limited held by Prudential Corporation Holdings Limited;
Advised Actis PC Investment (Mauritius) Limited and Actis PC (Mauritius) Limited (Actis Group entities) in their 100% stake sale of Profectus Capital Private Limited to Ugro Capital Limited;
Advised the Actis Group on a transaction involving a two-step internal reorganization and infusion of primary funds in a special purpose vehicle incorporated in Singapore to facilitate the indirect sale of certain shares held in Pine Labs Limited;
Advised Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited in relation to its acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Sonata Finance Private Limited (a microfinance NBFC);
Advised JSW Group in relation to acquisition of majority stake in Gecko Motors Private Limited and Sarbloh Motors Private Limited;
Advised ABB India Ltd, ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd in relation to the scheme of arrangement among (APPSIL) and their respective ABB India Limited, ABB Power Products Systems India Limited shareholders and creditors for the demerger of ABB India’s power grids business to APPSIL;
Advised Reliance Industries Limited (Reliance) wherein Reliance is acquiring 51.03% stake in Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited (Hathway) through a preferential issue of 90,88,10,000 equity shares of face value of Rs. 2 each of Hathway at a price of Rs. 32.35 per equity share, to the group companies of Reliance;
Advised Likewize India Shared Services LLP (“LLP”) in relation to the change in partners of the LLP; and
Advised Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on insurance regulatory compliance issues in relation to a pre-initial public offer fund raise by Flipkart Pte Limited (holding company of the Flipkart group).