The Great Legal Minds Show – Hemant Sahai on the Future of Indian Law

Overview

In this episode of The Great Legal Mind Show, Rajnigandha Kalra sits down with Hemant Sahai, Founding Partner, HSA Advocates. He has spent more than three decades working across India’s power, infrastructure and project finance sectors. The conversation covers his career, the choices behind building a law firm, and where he thinks India’s energy transition is heading.

From commerce student to firm founder

Hemant Sahai didn’t start out planning to run a law firm. He studied science, then commerce, and expected to become a general counsel in industry. Studying law at the University of Delhi changed that. Meeting lawyers who had built their own practices showed him that law offered far more than a job.

He was a founding member of Jyoti Sagar Associates (JSA) in 1991 and spent a little over 12 years there. He moved to Mumbai in 2000 to set up the firm’s office, which he describes as a huge success. In 2003 he decided that if he was going to build a practice again in Delhi, he would do it for himself. That led to HSA Advocates.

A firm built around infrastructure and energy

HSA Advocates is best known for large infrastructure and energy work. Its practice also covers manufacturing, services and financial services, along with corporate M&A, advisory, real estate and disputes in arbitration and the courts. Sahai talks about how timing shaped the firm’s early focus. India was on the cusp of change and was expected to prioritise project development and infrastructure, whichever party came to power.

Three decades of India’s infrastructure story

Sahai describes how the sector has moved through distinct phases:

• The PPP years: Private investors were invited into power, roads, airports, health and education. His team worked closely with the Planning Commission and drafted model concession agreements across sectors.
• Government-led development: Infrastructure spending shifted toward public funding, and renewable energy became the standout private-sector opportunity.
• The renewables boom: He began working in renewables in Gujarat in 2010. The 2012 solar programme, at about 963 MW, was then the largest in India’s history. Before it, the country had only around 30 MW of solar. He has since seen the shift from solar to wind, to hybrid, and now toward hydrogen and green ammonia.

More than writing a contract

Asked about balancing policy goals, contractual commitments and commercial reality, Sahai says advising on PPPs is not a one-size-fits-all exercise. Good advice needs an understanding of policy, regulation, project development, EPC contracting, fuel supply, financing, land aggregation, tax and specialised disputes. He argues that combining all of these skills in one team is still rare, even in a market with many brilliant individual lawyers.

Advising government and the private sector

He explains why he sees no conflict in advising both sides. Policy work, such as regulations, model agreements and frameworks for planning bodies and think tanks, exists to enable private investment and help investors identify, manage and price risk. Having worked on the policy side also gives private clients useful insight into how government reads its own policies.

Regulatory certainty and the Mundra projects

On what India needs to boost investor confidence, Sahai points to predictable policy and regulation, confidence in the offtaker, and flexibility in long-term contracts. He uses the Mundra thermal power projects as an example. After the Supreme Court’s Energy Watchdog judgment, a high-powered committee was set up with government support, and Sahai was a member and author of its report. As a result, the PPAs were amended and the projects were put on a viable footing. It took years of policy support, which he says shows how hard it is to change contracts in India.

Boardroom experience and a Singapore arbitration

Sahai explains how working with business leaders and finance professionals has sharpened his ability to spot and mitigate risk. He also recounts a Singapore arbitration against Chinese solar equipment suppliers over underperforming modules. After the award went in his client’s favour, the sole arbitrator, a well-known Australian Queen’s Counsel, invited him to run a workshop for arbitrators on solar power projects.

The next phase: green hydrogen

Looking ahead, Sahai is bullish on hydrogen and its green derivatives, including ammonia, methanol and ethanol. He expects India to be among the world’s largest producers, consuming around 18% domestically (government figures) and exporting the rest. He cites India’s geography near key shipping routes, Europe’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, and the bunkering hubs in the Middle East as advantages. He expects significant investment in the next one or two years and is already advising large companies on their plans.

Legacy and values

Sahai wants HSA Advocates to be known as a quality law firm that excels in its chosen areas, including M&A, corporate advisory, project finance and infrastructure advisory, rather than one that does everything. He would like it to be recognised across the region, building on work in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Africa. He also wants it to be professionally run, with ownership held among senior professionals rather than driven by family.

Rapid fire

• If not a lawyer: an architect or interior designer.
• Advice that stayed with him: from his father, an army man: never be ashamed of doing anything, and put your heart and soul into doing it well.