India’s corporates spent more than 60 thousand crore rupees to legal matters in FY 2025.
Corporates of the country fight on many fronts. Where they have to fight different kinds of war from their competition to stay in the market. Sometimes there is a price war and sometimes on the products. Apart from all this, the corporates of the country have to fight the war on the legal front. Due to which the corporates of the country have spent thousands of crores of rupees in the last financial year. This amount is more than 62 thousand crore rupees. The special thing is that this expenditure has increased by 11 percent in the financial year 2024. Reliance Industries is at the top in terms of spending in legal cases. Let us also tell you what kind of information has been given in the report.
Tremendous increase in legal expenditure
In the last financial year, legal expenditure of Indian companies increased by 11 per cent to Rs 62,146 crore ($ 7.27 billion), including Reliance Industries, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Coforge, Infosys and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) top 5 companies. According to the ET report, according to the annual report of the top 500 companies, the speed of the deal abroad, the resolution of the disputes and the more compliant costs have seen a huge increase in this expenditure.
While Nifty 500 companies spent 56,016 crore ($ 6.72 billion) on legal matters in FY 2024. Of this, according to the market cap, the top 50 companies have a large part in the total legal expenses. Statistics show that in FY 2025, the legal expenditure of Nifty 50 companies increased by 10 per cent to Rs 20,640 crore.
Law firm DSK Legal’s managing partner Anand Desai said in the ET report that I think this legal expenses will continue to increase until technology like AI is used properly. I think we have to bring stability in our laws and rules and the government will have to get entangled in maximum one or two appeals.
Which companies spent the most
Reliance Industries topped the top 5 legal spending companies in FY 2025. The country’s largest company spent Rs 3,459 crore in legal matters. At the same time, Sun Pharmaceutical has spent Rs 3,261 crore, Koforge has spent Rs 1,664 crore, Infosys has spent Rs 1,655 crore and L&T has spent Rs 1,615 crore. Typically, legal costs include litigation and mediation, professional charge, regulatory, punishment and general stamp duty etc.
L&T Group General Council Hemant Kumar said in the ET report that due to merger and aquisition outside the country and other deals activities, the legal expenditure of the Indian industry has increased. Kumar said that companies had to bear a lot of cost related to litigation and arbitration process. Increasing attention on following the rules and avoiding non-complex increased legal expenses. He said that in my view, an increase in legal expenses reflects a mature market where companies are rapidly recognizing and investing as strategic areas to legal and compliance.
Pharma sector spending the most
Pharmaceuticals are being seen at the top of the top 5 sectors in terms of legal expenses. Companies of this sector spent Rs 10,776 crore on legal matters in FY 2025. The IT sector stood second with a expenditure of Rs 9,520 crore. Finance has spent Rs 4,625 crore, oil and gas Rs 4,126 crore and Capital Goods sector companies have spent Rs 3,870 crore in legal cases.
The total legal expenditure of Nifty 500 companies may seem quite large, but in FY 2025 it was only 0.39 percent of their total revenue. In FY 2025, the total revenue of Nifty 500 companies was Rs 1,57,13,552 crore, which is 6.90 percent more than the previous year’s Rs 1,46,99,064 crore. In FY 2025, the total profit increased by 10.4 per cent to Rs 15,66,345 crore.
Suzanne Talwar, a partner of the legal firm Economic Lodge Practice, said in a media report that legal expenses are an essential expenses to do business. With the ever increasing regulatory complexity, the risk of litigation and increase in corporate transactions, legal expenses will continue to increase. He further said that the legal cost is usually high in sectors like Tech, Energy and Pharmaceuticals, because they have high regulatory risk and hence more legal expertise is required.