Piyush is a Partner with Kochhar & Co. and heads the Competition and Regulatory (Contentious & Non-contentious) Practice Group at the Firm. He also heads the Aviation Law Practice Group.
Piyush practices corporate and commercial law with strong emphasis in the specialist areas of competition and regulatory law and aviation law. He regularly advises on competition, regulatory and market access issues. Piyush also has a broad experience in advising clients, ranging from leading airlines to airports and MROs, on various aspects of aviation laws in India and in Singapore for over a decade.
Piyush leads a team which handles complex competition law matters involving innovative solution-oriented structuring, interaction with the regulator and economists and a multidisciplinary approach and advises on the full range of competition matters, including cartel enforcement, abuse of dominance, merger control and competition audit and compliance within India and the Indian sub-continent. He represents various Indian and multinational clients across sectors such as petroleum, pharmaceuticals, financial services, airlines, telecom, automobiles, glass, FMCG, etc. Piyush has represented prominent Indian clients in significant cases before the Competition Commission of India (‘CCI’), the High Court of Delhi as well as before the Supreme Court of India.
Piyush has also assisted various multi-national and local companies in setting up competition law compliance and audit structures, as well as advising regularly on dawn raids and whistle-blowing programmes for companies in a wide range of industries.
Aside from his competition law expertise, Piyush also heads Kochhar & Co’s Aviation law practice. Piyush is an Aviation law expert with over a decade of diverse experience in advising clients across the entire spectrum of the industry including airline manufacturers, airlines, MROs, regulatory bodies and cargo & logistics operators.
His expertise is backed by rich industry experience of having worked as in-house counsel with leading airlines carriers - Singapore Airlines Ltd and ‘IndiGo’ airlines – the largest low cost airline in India. Piyush has also worked with leading Singapore law firms advising clients on corporate M&A, aviation and competition.
Under the aegis of Kochhar & Co., Piyush has been providing extensive legal advice to airlines, MROs and OEMs on various aspects of Indian aviation laws (including repossession/insolvency issues & applicability of international conventions) and is also advising the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Specifically, Piyush is leading a team of lawyers which is representing most of the international airlines operating in India under the auspices of the IATA at various fora where several major government-linked entities are the opposite parties.
Piyush has personally conducted numerous trainings and workshops on various issues including aircraft leasing and financing, competition compliances, emissions trading and alliances, JVs and regulatory hurdles within the aviation industry in India.
Piyush regularly publishes articles on competition law, including authoring the India chapter on anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance and merger control in Competition Law in ‘Doing Business in India’ (Thomson Reuters publication) and speaks regularly at various forums on competition law.
Piyush is highly regarded by his peers as well as clients. He has received many recommendations from major publications. The recent ones include:
Asialaw Leading Lawyers 2017 lists Piyush as a leading individual and has ranked him as a market-leading lawyer in Competition & Antitrust in India for the second consecutive year.
Asia Pacific Legal 500 (2016 & 2017) lists Piyush as a recommended lawyer for Antitrust / Competition as well as for Aviation laws in India.
Education
• LLM, The George Washington University Law School.
• LLB, University of Delhi.
• B.Com (H), University of Delhi.
• PG Diploma in International Trade and Business Laws, Indian Society for International Laws.
• PG Diploma in Environmental Laws, World Wide Fund for Nature - India.
• PG Diploma in Cyber Laws, Amity Law School.
Admissions
• Admitted to the Bar in 2003.
Member
• Delhi Bar Association.
