In Conversation With Anjana Bali, Head Of Legal, DLF Home Developers Ltd.

Many Congratulations on featuring in BW Legal World’s General Counsel 100 list for the year 2020. We’d love to know about your journey so far, most memorable experiences, and your thoughts on receiving this Award. (Please feel free to share your overall thoughts.

My Journey: My journey so far has been very challenging and eventful. I come from a business family, being not only the first generation lawyer, but also a first-generation entrant in the corporate world. I entered the legal profession in the year 1993 after graduating in law from Delhi University.

For almost a decade I practised at Delhi High Court after which I got an opportunity to join DLF in 2003, subsequently, I moved to Emaar MGF (now Emaar India) in 2010. After 10 years stint at Emaar, I have recently come back home to DLF in June 2020 and expect the journey onward to be interesting and fruitful.

Awards and Recognitions: Though I am thankful to the fraternity for the Awards and recognitions I have received over the years, the work that I do is primarily driven and motivated by excelling at the opportunity while keeping in mind the interest of all involved.

Awards and recognitions are an important pat on the back from time to time and a confirmation of a job well done, but these should not be a means to an end. Each of these awards are not only the efforts of one individual but a collective effort and contribution by the entire team helping us achieve our goals.

Most Memorable Experience:

One of the most enriching and memorable experience which I fondly remember and am proud to share is when I helped widows of the 1984 riots and fought their case in the Delhi High Court, ultimately resulting in getting them compensation and dues from the Government. This enriching experience resulted in many learnings at the personal and professional level.

What do you attribute your success to? What would you say has helped you emerge as a top General Counsel in your industry?

Life is a challenge and I love taking challenges. Self-conviction is the entire foundation which keeps anyone going and I am no different.

Legal profession, Real Estate Industry and being a woman was considered a deadly combo, but I not only took this challenge head on, but also witnessed that despite the prejudices, this zone is more successfully occupied by female colleagues, which is very encouraging.

“Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds” – Napolean Hill.

What advice would you have for others who want to set off in a similar direction?

We are each on our own journey. Each of us is on our own adventure encountering all kinds of challenges and the choices we make on that adventure that will shape us as we go. To all the upcoming lawyers I would say…. Don’t be scared to make mistakes, but always learn from them.

Would you please share with our readers the array of work you handle at your organization. What is your in-house team size, and would you please allow us a little peek into your routine at work?

It is well known that there are a plethora of challenges in any real estate organisation, however, my organisation strongly believes in being of utmost compliant which makes the direction clear. We deal with all the challenges that are synonymous with the real estate industry, be it issues relating to land,

contractual, compliance, regulatory or labour matters etc. We have a mid-size team of competent inhouse counsels and have an added advantage of being supported and guided by leading external counsels who are one of the best in the industry and fraternity.

In what ways has your business sector/industry been impacted by the pandemic and the subsequent second wave? How long would it take for the industry to revive?

Almost all sectors have been affected by the pandemic, and the second wave has definitely come as a shock just when we all had adjusted to the “new normal”. The residential real estate industry has definitely been resilient in such troubled times. Now more people have realised the need for a home which is boosting sales and with the low-interest rates the affordability has also increased.

But of course, with job loss and salary deductions, our customers are also facing certain challenges. There are challenges on the construction front too due to the break in the supply chain of raw material and labour.

Not just Real Estate but all industries are finding it difficult to keep up with the ever changing environment owing to COVID-19. One cannot predict how long this lasts and what next comes up, but until then we should try and get vaccinated, follow the covid protocol and stay safe.

What have been your key learnings as the legal gatekeepers of your company from the year past and what are your predictions for the future?

There has never been so much of un-predictability as has been witnessed by the world in the last one year or so, as a legal gatekeeper of the company, the greatest learning from this has been to resolve as many issues as you can, today and don’t let them linger on.

Other than that, when COVID-19 hit, we were unaware and clueless how we are going to continue with our day to day business. Even before the pandemic, technology and the internet was crucial for any business. But now it is the very backbone. The pandemic has made it ever so clear that digitizing our data, records, and information is now the need of the hour if we want to ensure smooth remote operations. Organizations will now have to invest and prioritize on technology. Even our courts have now gone online. This is one skill set that we all need to sharpen.

Any significant legislation or decision of the top court that has been a welcome change or has been rather mistimed in your opinion. 

The Supreme Court upheld the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2020, that mandates a threshold of at least 10% of home-buyers in a project or 100 of the total allottees for initiating insolvency proceedings against the real estate developer. This has been a huge sigh of relief for the real estate developers as frivolous litigations could stall the entire functioning of a project or a company thereby abusing the spirit of the legislation.

An experience, matter or person that left a lasting impression on you.

Now that I see that shows like The Serpent are being made on the subject, I recount the day I met Charles Shobraj in flesh and blood and had an opportunity to conduct a mini-interview of sorts with him as a student.

On a serious note, a person who I admire most is Sh. Vinod Khanna, Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipient, a great actor, a leader, union minister, 4 times Member of Parliament and a philanthropist and my experience(s) of meeting and interactions with him have left a lasting impression and my perspective of spirituality has been guided by these experiences.

What keeps you busy when you’re not working? Any favourite book or movie/series that you'd like to recommend to our readers.

I love travelling, which unfortunately has taken a back seat owing to the Pandemic. Apart from that I love to spend time with my family and during the lockdown times we have watched quite a few shows and realise that we all have very individual tastes, so would not really like to recommend any. Fortunately, the OTT platforms give various options to the viewers as per the age group and their choices.