Firm Profile - Athena Law Associates-2011-12-P

8/2/2019 Firm Profile - Athena Law Associates-2011-12-P

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Contact athena law Head Office at Delhi :808, L & T Building, Sector 18-B, Dwarka, New Delhi 110 078Telephone : +91-11- 2456 9689, 4561 1851, Fax: +91-11-2803 1882email : [email protected]

Branch at Orissa:Durga Bhawan, Plot No. 273D, Behind The world shopping mall ,Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar, Orissa 751 012Telephone: 094397 26148email : [email protected] ; [email protected]

Athena Law AssociatesWe provide services in the niche area of indirect taxes, intellectual property right laws, trade lawsincluding Anti Dumping and Safeguards and contract negotiation and contract drafting. Ourendeavour is to serve our clients through consistently delivering high quality services. The emphasisis on hard work and continuous training which enable our people to provide services of highestquality. Our goal is to position ourself as the firm where clients come to us for their mostchallenging legal issues, most significant business transactions and most critical disputes.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected];mailto:[email protected]


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Athena law practice The firm is a full service law firm directly handlingfollowing areas of law right from the advisorystage to litigation stage.

Indirect TaxesIntellectual propertyTrade Laws

Commercial Services Contract Drafting

Customs Duty Customs duty is levied on import and exportof goods. For classification of goods, India follows HSN. Wespecialise in providing services relating to Customs dutyissues including classification and valuation. The servicesinclude providing consultancy and representing the clientsbefore courts and authorities in their litigations.

Central Excise Duty Excise Duty is imposed on goods

manufactured in India. We have a dedicated team of professionals who look after the diverse and complicatedissues relating to Central Excise Duty. We provide bothconsultancy services and litigation services in respect of Central Excise Duty.

Foreign Trade Policy and DGFT matters Export of goodsfrom India and Import of goods into India is governed by theForeign Trade Policy. DGFT i.e. the Director General of Foreign Trade is the administrative body which governs theforeign trade in India. The Foreign Trade Policy is closelyknit with the Customs and Excise laws of India. Wespecialise in this field of law and provide both consulting asalso litigation services.

Service Tax Service Tax is levied on taxable servicesdefined under section 65(105) of the Finance Act, 1994.Service Tax is undisputedly the largest growing indirect taxin India. Starting from a narrow base of three services andimposed at five percent in 1994 it has now widened itscoverage to more than hundred category of services andthe rate of service tax has also been increased to 10%.

We have a highly specialised practice of service tax wherewe cater to the diverse needs of our clients spanningaround different industries. Service tax is a tax typically onvarious commercial activities such as insurance,

telecommunications, consultancy, softwares, etc. Theendeavour of our firm therefore is to understand thedynamics of the business and then apply the law. Weprovide solutions to businesses and also do litigation for ourclients.

Cenvat Credit In order to charge tax only on valueaddition, the Cenvat credit scheme was introduced in India.Both excise duty and service tax are subsumed by theCenvat rules and they allow setting off credit of bothagainst either of the taxes. Opportunity to avail CenvatCredit gives a direct value addition to businesses and is thusa key area in tax planning.

The practice of Customs, Central Excise and Service Taxinvariably involves Cenvat Credit issues and all taken

together forms the indirect tax code of India at the Unionlevel. We endeavour to provide best of the services to ourclients and handle diverse issues and matters both inconsulting as also litigation of Cenvat Credit issues.

Value Added Tax (VAT) The State Sales Tax Legislationswere re-engineered and the new approach was referred toas VAT laws. Sales Tax is mainly a State subject, though CSTis levied by the Union, the same is administered, collectedand retained by the States. Therefore for all practicalpurposes, sales tax is a State subject.

We specialise in dealing with Sales Tax issues. Theunmatched combination of expertise in Union and Statelaws gives our firm the edge while strategising thebusinesses. Complete Indirect Tax support for any proposedbusiness transaction is the hallmark of our firm. Apart fromconsulting, we have also been very active in litigating VATmatters across various states.

SEZ/EOU/EHTP/STP (Special Zones) For promoting andsimplifying exports, the Union of India has evolved variousschemes such as the Special Economic Zones, 100% ExportOriented Undertakings, Electronic Hardware TechnologyParks and Software Technology Parks. Establishing theseUnits involve evaluation of the benefits granted under the

Indirect Taxes India currently follows a highlycomplex event based indirect tax regime. India being a federal country,power to levy tax is with Centre as also with the States. Centre leviesCustoms Duty, Central Excise Duty (other than liquor for human

consumption), Service Tax and Central Sales Tax, whereas the Stateslevy Sales Tax (also called VAT), State Excise Duty (Only on liquor) andEntertainment Tax, etc. This event based taxation is now proposed tobe substituted with the advanced and more progressive Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime which shall be supply based.


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scheme and the conditions laid down for availing thebenefits.

Once decided to opt for the scheme, there are variousapprovals and formalities involved for entering the regimeof these schemes.

We provide strategic services whereby the clients can takean informed decision which is best suited to their factualscenario. We also help the clients establish their entities in

these special regimes. Once established, we also providecontinued hand holding and support in complying with the

day to day requirements.

We provide the following services inthis field :

Patents Drafting of patent Applications Office actions Patentability Analysis Freedom to operate analysis Patent invalidation Searches Prior Art searches Foreign filing permissions International filing of applications

which include filing of overseasapplications in India and filing of Indian applications abroad

Trade marks Drafting of trademark

Applications Office actions Freedom to operate analysis Trademark invalidation

International filing of applications which include filing of overseas applications in India and filing of Indian applications abroad

WTO and Regional Trade

Matters International trade has been liberalisedunder GATT and other agreements under WTO regime.There is a further liberalisation of cross boundary trade atregional levels by entering into various regional preferentialtrade agreements. With liberalised cross border trade anumber of domestic industries are complaining injury onaccount of increased imports and are seeking higher dutyon the imports. The WTO agreements as an exceptionalmeasure permit imposition of Anti Dumping duty ,Safeguards duty and Counter vailing duty as the case maybe for the protection of domestic industry. These threeexceptional taxes are meant for three different situationswhich are mutually exclusive

Anti dumping An application for imposition of antidumping duty can be moved when exporter is dumping its

product in overseas market at a price lower than the normalprice.

Counter vailing duty An application for counter vailingduty can be moved when the exporting government isgiving subsidy on its export which is resulting into cheapimports in a member country.

Safeguard duty An application for safeguard duty can bemoved when there is a sudden and sharp increase inimports as a result of unforeseen developments causinginjury to domestic industry. While in the case of antidumping duty there is an alleged foul play on the part of exporter and in the case of counter vailing duty an allegedfoul play on the part of exporting country, there is noalleged foul play on the part of exporter or exportingcountry in the case of safeguards duty. Thus safeguardsduty is imposed purely for the protection of domesticindustry on a no fault principle.

We have successfully handled a number of cases in theabove arena for imposition of duty as well as opposing theimposition of duty.

Commercial Services,Negotiations and Contract In thecommercial field, the most significant aspect is helping theclients undertake their business smoothly. Understanding

the commercial aspects of the clients business is the key .

We at ALA have a unique combination of personnel i.e.technical persons, engineers, accountants and legalprofessionals. We strive to understand the fine niceties of the clients business and couple it with our legal expertiseto give best of the solutions.

We help businesses enter into commercial relations byhelping them in negotiating the contracts, building

ProposedGSTA dual GST,one at Central

(CGST) and theother at State level(SGST) have beenproposed apart from

the IGSTwhich shallbe imposed by the

Centre on allinter-state

transactions.

Progressive taxation - GST The Government of India has appreciated the needof a supply based indirect tax regime instead of thepresent event based regime. The Government iskeen to introduce the new system by April 2010 oras soon as possible thereafter.

The introduction of GST is a welcome step and we

are fully geared to help businesses meet the

challenge of GST. We are ready to help clients adapt

their businesses and the accounting systems to the

new system, and to identify the potential

advantages. At the same time we shall also

endeavour to help our clients against the challengesposed by the GST regime.

IntellectualProperty (IPR) Over a period of time,intellectual propertieshave gained highimportance in businesses.At times, the value of intellectual property of abusiness may be morethan the physical assetsemployed therein. Thuswe strive that our clientsget appropriate IPprotection.


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commercial and tax efficiencies in transactions, supply chainmanagement and drafting contracts.

Key PersonnelMr. Pramod Kumar Rai

Managing PartnerMr. Pramod Kumar Rai is the Managing Partner of athenalaw associates. He is an Engineering graduate from IITKanpur and an Ex Indian Revenue Service officer (JointCommissioner in Central Excise & Customs). Mr. Rai holds a Gold Medal in law (LLB) and has also earned a Masterdegree in Law from the oldest public grant University of United States, namely the University of Georgia, on a 100%university funding. Mr Rai is also a registered patent agentfor filing domestic as well as international patentapplications.

Mr. Rai combines a rare techno-legal background and bringsalong with him ten years of his diverse and rich experienceas a Tax Administrator with Govt. of India. In theGovernment apart from his executive functions, he hasacted as a quasi judicial authority in more than thousandtaxation disputes.

He regularly appears in the courts, tribunals and beforeDesignated Authorities for Anti Dumping and Safeguardsand has argued in over a thousand cases till now.

Contact Mr. Pramod Kumar Rai at :email - [email protected] - +91 9899428589

Mr. Puneet Agrawal

Partner Mr. Puneet Agrawal holds an honours degree in commercefrom the Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. Hecompleted his law from the Delhi University. He has alsodone Chartered Accountancy and is a member of theInstitute of Chartered Accountants of India. He wasmeritorious in the Chartered Accountancy and was awardedscholarships by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He was among the top 0.1% students of the CentralBoard of Secondary Education.

Before ALA, he worked with Lakshmikumaran andSridharan, Advocates and worked extensively on a variety of Indirect tax issues. He has handled matters of clients fromdiverse industries and have represented them beforevarious courts and tribunals. His field of specialisation isindirect taxes, negotiations, business structuring andcontract drafting.

He has a flair for lecturing and training and has beenregularly delivering talks at law colleges, regional councilsand study circles of the Institute of Chartered Accountantsof India. He was also felicitated by the Northern IndiaRegional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountantsof India for Commendable Contribution to the Profession .

Contact Mr. Puneet Agrawal at :

[email protected]+91 9891898911 Mr. M. S. PothalDirector and Anti Dumping Head

Mr. M. S. Pothal is a First Class Commerce Graduate with

Distinction from Utkal University and a qualifiedChartered Accountant. He is an expert on TradeProtection Measures under WTO. Mr. Pothal has beeninstrumental in numerous antidumping investigations inIndia and abroad.

Before ALA, he worked with TPM Consultants, NewDelhi. Mr. Pothal has distinction of working withrenowned companies in India and abroad in antidumping and allied investigations. He has worked inclose coordination with industry associations and otherbodies like CII, FICCI, ICWAI, DGAD etc for theaugmentation of anti dumping mechanism in India.

Mr. Pothal specializes in Anti Dumping, Counter Veiling

and Safeguard measures and has represented Domesticproducers, exporters and importers in more than 100cases of Anti Dumping, Anti Subsidy and Safeguard casesin India and abroad before competent authorities.

Contact Mr. M. S. Pothal at:email: [email protected]+91 9650807635

Bibek HalwaiBhubaneswar Branch HeadMr. Bibek Halwai holds an honours degree in commerceand has done Chartered Accountancy with distinction. He isa member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Indiasince 2006

Before ALA, he has worked with Lakshmikumaran andSridharan, Advocates and has worked extensively on varietyof Indirect tax issues. He has handled matters of clientsfrom diverse industries and has represented them beforevarious courts and tribunals. Mr. Bibek specializes inindirect taxes, negotiations, business structuring andcontract drafting.

Contact Mr. Bibek Halwai at :Email - [email protected];

[email protected];Mob - +91 9439726148
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Firm Profile - Athena Law Associates-2011-12-P