Clifford Chance has hired Indian capital markets expert Rahul Guptan from Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co in India. Guptan will be based in Clifford Chance’s Singapore office.

Indian regulations currently do not allow foreign law firms to practise in India, so their India teams have to be based outside the country. “Our clients' demand for advice on Indian transactions grows daily,” said Crawford Brickley, Clifford Chance's head of capital markets practice in Asia.

The firm's India has over 195 members spread across 12 countries. It has also been in a joint venture with Singaporean law firm WongPartnership since 2003. The firm said Guptan’s appointment was not related to the Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence, which will allow foreign law practices to practise Singapore law in permitted areas and employ Singapore-qualified lawyers.

“The firm is studying the latest announcements on QFLP, but no decisions have yet been made,” said a firm spokesman. The Singapore Ministry of Law had asked for applications to be submitted last week. The foreign law practices who are interested in the licence are expected to boost its operations in Singapore to meet some of the application criteria outlined by the law ministry.