Partner's Profile

The Founding Partner, Mr. Shameem Ahmed is a post graduate in Law (LL.M) with 15 years of experience covering Industry (PepsiCo & Hersheys), Consulting (KPMG/PwC) and Litigation practice (Sr. Counsel Mr. C. Natarajan). It is this mixture of diversified roles which makes the partner’s profile unique and suitable for a corporate client.

His most recent association prior to forming AHMED & AHMED was with Hershey India Private Limited (a 100% subsidiary of the US Chocolate major - The Hershey Company) where he headed the Legal and Indirect tax department for its India business. At Hersheys, he played significant role both during the Joint Venture with Godrej Industries and also, later in establishing Hershey as a 100% foreign company in India. He successfully defended the company in several litigation including criminal prosecution, arbitration and was also successful in getting some heavy tax demands set aside.

Shameem had also handled a national role at PepsiCo India as their In-house lawyer for the Indirect tax matters. During his tenure with PepsiCo, he had handled some of the landmark cases in the matters of VAT classification, Cenvat Credit, Service Tax, Tax exemptions, deferrals etc., most of which stands even today as the judicial precedents on the concerned subjects. He had the rarest opportunity of appearing before the judicial and quasi judicial forums in almost every corner of the country and had successfully handled indirect tax cases involving more than INR 475 Cr (USD 76 Mio).

Apart from the Industry roles, he was also associated with some of the Global Consulting firms like KPMG and PwC and had advised many multinational companies with respect to their India operation. During his association with these consulting firms, he had handled multiple issues including a service tax litigation for one of the leading IT park involving a tax demand of about INR 100 Cr (USD 16 Mn).

Shameem’s association with some of the largest FMCG and other industries makes him familiar with almost all type of legal and tax issues which a business corporation will face, whether it be in the area of commercial laws or in the areas of indirect tax.