Managing Business Risks: What Foreign Businesses Must Know | Doing Business in India | Episode 27

In most markets, businesses manage risk through contracts, clearly defined legal remedies and courts that enforce them. In India, that final element is often where the system becomes difficult. Enforcement can take years and, in some cases, decades. Businesses operating in India therefore need to think beyond the contract itself and adopt practical strategies for managing disputes in a legal system where timely enforcement is rare.

In this episode of the Veyrah Law series, Ajay Joseph (Partner at Veyrah Law) examines a practical framework for managing operational risks in India. The discussion covers the five principal categories of operational risk; regulatory, business partner disputes, ownership disputes, labour disputes and reputational risk, and the consistent principle that applies to all but one of them: settle, do not litigate. The episode then sets out a practical execution framework: maintaining strict regulatory compliance as the one risk that cannot be settled away, avoiding concentration risk in customers and suppliers, managing senior employee exits with disciplined documentation and comprehensive releases, staying clear of unnecessary political and social controversy, ensuring legal and PR teams work together before any public communication during a crisis, and recognising when a commercial settlement is preferable to prolonged litigation. India rewards businesses that are operationally disciplined, not merely legally protected.