Indian companies often delay legal risk escalation until crisis emerges: Emaar India GC Vasant Shelke

Indian companies often delay legal risk escalation until crisis emerges: Emaar India GC Vasant Shelke

Vasant Shelke, General Counsel at Emaar India, has observed that Indian companies tend to handle legal and regulatory risk in a compartmentalised manner. According to him, business teams frequently hold back on flagging potential concerns until those concerns harden into regulatory notices, disputes or full-blown crises. His remarks point to a structural gap in how legal risk travels upward within organisations.

Why Escalation Gets Delayed

Shelke attributes the delay to three broad factors. First, business-centric priorities dominate decision-making, which can push legal and compliance considerations to the periphery until they become unavoidable. Second, organisational cultures tend to be reactive rather than preventive, meaning legal teams are brought in after a problem has already surfaced. Third, escalation channels are weak, leaving general counsel without a clear, reliable route to learn about risks at an early stage. Together, these factors prevent legal heads from identifying and addressing legal, regulatory and reputational risks before they escalate.

Why This Matters For Businesses

For in-house legal, tax and compliance functions, the observation highlights a recurring governance challenge. When escalation is delayed, the cost of resolution rises. Regulatory notices, litigation and reputational damage are typically more expensive and harder to manage than early-stage interventions. A compartmentalised approach also means legal teams lack visibility into business decisions that carry regulatory consequences, undermining their ability to advise proactively. For boards and audit committees, the concern is that risk registers may not reflect ground-level realities if business teams self-filter what reaches the legal function. The issue is not necessarily a lack of legal expertise but a lack of timely information flow.

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