Top 500 firms' legal costs hit ₹62,146cr: What's the reason
India's biggest 500 companies spent a massive ₹62,146 crore on legal costs in the financial year ending March 2025—up 11% from last year.
The jump comes as businesses face more global deals, tougher regulations, and rising disputes.
Legal bills now eat up about 0.4% of their total revenue.
Who spent the most?
Reliance Industries topped the list with ₹3,459 crore in legal expenses, followed by Sun Pharma and Coforge.
Pharma, IT, and finance firms led sector-wise spending—reflecting how complex business (and law) has gotten.
Most of these costs went to handling lawsuits, regulatory filings, penalties, and big-ticket mergers.
Legal costs likely to keep rising
An analyst says legal costs will likely keep climbing until tech like AI makes things smoother.
For now, Indian companies are investing heavily to manage risk as business keeps getting more complicated.