Sonali Sharma joins Barclays India as managing director and head of legal

MUMBAI: Few lawyers have sat on as many sides of the Indian financial table as Sonali Sharma. Law firm partner, bank counsel, group general counsel and head of legal at a global lender: she has done them all. Now she adds another title, joining Barclays India as managing director, head of India legal and lead for India regulatory and government relations.

The appointment is a strong signal of intent. Sharma brings more than 25 years of work experience spanning regulatory matters before the RBI and SEBI, banking, capital markets, financial services litigation and distressed and special situations. Her regulatory work covers AIF, merchant banking, stock broking, portfolio management, research, private wealth and FPI. In banking, she has worked across corporate banking, structured finance, financial markets, transaction banking and global trade products. In capital markets, her experience includes debt, equity, structured products and offshore bond issuances. In litigation, she has handled financial services matters including IBC and securities cases.

The pedigree explains the pick. Sharma began as a trainee at Mulla & Mulla and Craigie Blunt & Caroe from June 1998 to April 2001, working on admiralty litigation and DRT matters. She then spent 12 years at Juris Corp, first as an associate from August 2001 to July 2008, advising on structured finance, FII, DCM banking, securitisation and non-banking finance companies. She became a partner in July 2008 and stayed until October 2013, focusing on capital markets, structured finance, banking and securities, and regulatory litigation.

The move to the other side of the table came next. From March 2015 to May 2022, Sharma was senior legal counsel at Standard Chartered Bank in Mumbai, covering capital markets, corporate finance, loan syndications and structured credit derivatives. From May 2022 to September 2023 she was head of legal at Avendus, acting as general counsel for the group across equities, M&A, credit, wealth management, debt and equity funds, private equity and general corporate work. After a stint as an independent legal consultant on fund raising, private equity and credit from October 2023 to May 2024, she became head of legal India at Bank of America, a role she held from September 2024 to October 2026.

The analysis is plain. Indian financial services is regulated by many hands and policed with growing vigour. A foreign bank in India needs a legal chief who can read the RBI and SEBI as fluently as a courtroom, and who can speak to government with credibility. Sharma’s career offers precisely that mix of transactional, regulatory and contentious experience. Barclays gains a leader who has seen deals, regulators and disputes from every angle.

Outside the boardroom, Sharma has been a volunteer with Cuddles Foundation in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region since May 2024. She said she is looking forward to her new chapter at Barclays India, which began in October 2026.