Bio

Santosh Pai is a Partner with Link Legal and has 14 years of experience. He is enrolled as an Advocate in India and has qualified as a Solicitor(NP) with the Law Society of England & Wales, London. His work experience gained in India, China, UK and Thailand encompasses cross-border M&A, joint ventures, greenfield investments, technical collaborations and policy research. His other areas of interest include cross-cultural negotiations, business development and public speaking. He is also a practitioner of the ‘Policy Governance’ model of board governance. As the founder and head of the India-China practice group, he has advised Chinese investors in India and Indian companies doing business with Chinese counterparts since 2010. He has lived in China for five years and visited over 40 Chinese cities. He is one of the few Indian lawyers who can speak Mandarin Chinese. He is a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Core Group on China and also a member of the general body of Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. He has authored a thesis titled “Chinese investments in India: Opportunities and Challenges” under the guidance of Prof. Gao Xiqing, former Vice-Chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission and China’s sovereign wealth fund. His manuscript titled “Practical Guide for Chinese investors in India” was translated into Chinese and published by China Law Press. Contributions from him have appeared in the peer-reviewed journal China Report and several business publications such as China Business Law Journal, Board & Directors and SOE. He has also been quoted by leading newspapers and media platforms such as South China Morning Port, Reuters, Bloomberg, Economic Times and Hindustan Times. He is a regular speaker at conferences in India and abroad. He teaches two core courses in the ‘Managing Business in India-China’ PGPEX Program at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Shillong. He also chairs the regional board of an international environmental NGO that supervises operations in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.