Kartik Ganapathy

Kartik Ganapathy is a Founding & Senior Partner of CMS INDUSLAW. His primary practice area is Mergers and Acquisitions, and he focuses primarily on private equity and venture capital investments, M&A, and corporate and securities law.

He has significant experience in both public and private cross-border private equity investments, M&A, joint ventures, and Indian corporate and commercial law.

His recognition includes being consistently listed as a leading individual in the Corporate & M&A and Private Equity fields by Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500; recognised as a recommended lawyer in Private Equity/Venture Capital by the Practical Law Company; recognised as a 'Distinguished Practitioner' for Private Equity by Asialaw 2025; and featured as one of India's top lawyers by India Business Law Journal in their 2024–2025 A-List.

He was listed as one of the top 25 second-generation Indian corporate lawyers by RSG Consulting in its first India Report 2010 and was endorsed as one of the most trusted lawyers in India in the Indian Corporate Counsel Association's publication The Vanguards.

In the course of his career, he has previously been a Partner at Nishith Desai Associates, General Counsel to a mid-tier KPO/BPO company, Legal Counsel at ChrysCapital, a Senior Associate at Dua Associates, and a Senior Consultant in the Legal Division at Arthur Andersen in Mumbai.

Apart from regular speaking engagements, he is an active member of the International Bar Association. He retired as Vice-Chair of the Securities Law Committee of the International Bar Association on 31 December 2015, after previously serving as Chair of the Regulatory Affairs Sub-Committee and Regional Representative for Asia.

His publications include "How Indian firms are reforming the legal landscape to attract international business" (Financial Express, July 2025), a chapter on Healthcare M&A 2025 (Chambers and Partners, May 2025), "A Legal Practitioner's Thoughts On Merging Across Borders" (Legal Era, November 2024), "Building Sustainable and Equitable Global Economy" (Outlook Planet, May 2023), "Echo Sierra Golf … the alphabets of change" (Lexology, March 2023) and "New rules for management of battery waste: a much-awaited change" (Chambers and Partners, September 2022).

He holds an LL.M. in Corporate Law from the School of Law, New York University (2003), an Advanced Professional Certificate in Graduate Business Education from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University (2003) and a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore (1996). He is an Advocate in India and speaks English.