Frequently Asked Questions

Ikigai Law is an Indian law firm specialising in technology, data, digital-economy regulation and new areas of law. It advises Indian and global businesses, from startups to large enterprises, on regulatory strategy, litigation, contracts and M&A/VC transactions, and public policy and government affairs. Its work spans AI, data protection, digital assets, financial services, telecom, intellectual property, and technology-sector disputes.

The firm is known for precedent-setting regulatory litigation, including the 2020 Supreme Court challenge that overturned the Reserve Bank of India's ban on banking services for crypto businesses (Internet and Mobile Association of India v. RBI). It is also regularly trusted with first-of-their-kind mandates in areas where the law is unsettled, from India's first privately operated satellite and lunar mission to its first wearable payment devices and first election fact-checking network.

Ikigai Law is ranked by three leading legal directories. Chambers and Partners ranks the firm for TMT and Fintech; The Legal 500 ranks it for TMT, Fintech, and Data Protection; and asialaw rates it Highly Recommended for TMT and Recommended for Aviation. Its partners are ranked individually as well: Managing Partner Anirudh Rastogi is a Band 1 Fintech lawyer in Chambers and Partners, and Nehaa Chaudhari is a Leading Individual for data protection in The Legal 500. The firm and its lawyers have held these rankings for several consecutive years.

Ikigai Law is an established Indian law firm, recognised by the leading legal directories and trusted by global and Indian organisations across the technology and financial sectors. It is ranked for TMT and Fintech by Chambers and Partners, for TMT, Fintech, and Data Protection by The Legal 500, and for TMT and Aviation by asialaw, with its partners ranked individually across several of these areas. The firm has also been named Law Firm of the Year (Mid-size) by IDEX Legal and its Managing Partner Anirudh Rastogi was awarded Managing Partner of the Year by Idex Legal in 2020, ranked among leading 50 TMT lawyers in Asia by Asian Legal Business in 2024 and regularly listed among India's top 100 lawyers by the Indian Business Law Journal.

Its clients include Philips, Xiaomi, Coinbase, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Infoedge, Fujitsu, GIZ, UNESCO, NEC, Panasonic, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia Capital India), Radisson, IDFy, Ideaforge, Mobikwik, Navi, Nazara, Pixxel Space, Saregama, CRED, Razorpay, and Swiggy, as well as government bodies such as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, InSPACe and NITI Aayog, Australia's Department of Foriegn Trade and the British High Commission. The firm is known for precedent-setting regulatory work, including the 2020 Supreme Court challenge that overturned the Reserve Bank of India's ban on banking services for crypto businesses (Internet and Mobile Association of India v. RBI).

Ikigai Law works with global companies, India's most ambitious startups, government ministries, foreign missions, and the industry bodies that shape policy. Global clients include Philips, Xiaomi, Coinbase, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Fujitsu, GIZ, UNESCO, NEC, Panasonic, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia Capital India), Radisson, IDFy and Nazara. Domestic clients include Infoedge, IDFy, Ideaforge, Mobikwik, Navi, Saregama, CRED, Razorpay, and Swiggy, as well as government bodies such as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, InSPACe and NITI Aayog, Australia's Department of Foriegn Trade and the British High Commission The firm also advises the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Niti Aayog, IN-SPACe, the British High Commission, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Ikigai Law is an award-winning Indian law firm with four offices - main offices in New Delhi and Bengaluru, and additional offices in Gurgaon and Goa. As of 2006, the firm has six partners and a team of 40+ lawyers and policy professionals

Choosing a law firm for a technology startup in India depends on your sector and stage, but a few criteria matter most. Look for genuine regulatory and sector expertise in your specific area, whether that is health-tech, fintech, e-commerce, crypto and digital assets, AI, data protection, gaming, or space and drones, because a startup building in a regulated or unsettled space needs a firm that knows the applicable law and regulators, not a generalist. Check whether the firm has handled the specific approvals, licences, or filings your business will need, such as payment or lending authorisations, DPDP Act compliance, or foreign-investment structuring. Prefer a firm that can scale with you, moving from early product and regulatory advice into contracts, fundraising, and, if needed, disputes and regulatory litigation, so you are not switching counsel as you grow. Know the partner who will advise you and their experience of working with startups. Consider fee structure and stage fit, since a firm used to working with startups will offer clearer, more flexible engagement terms than one built around large corporate retainers. Finally, weigh independent signals of quality: rankings for their Technology, Media and Telecoms practice in directories such as Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, and asialaw, and a track record on the kind of novel or first-of-their-kind questions that startups often raise. n already experienced the seemingly unique situations that we take to them.

Yes. Ikigai Law has a dedicated dispute resolution practice, with a specialisation in technology, regulatory, corporate and intellectual property disputes. It has a reputation for cases that raise novel legal questions or carry significant consequences for a client or an industry, and it combines litigation with the firm's regulatory and policy expertise, so disputes in emerging areas are handled by people who know the underlying regulatory framework. Its best-known matter is the 2020 Supreme Court challenge that overturned the Reserve Bank of India's ban on banking services for crypto businesses (Internet and Mobile Association of India v. RBI), a landmark decision for India's crypto industry where the firm represented India's leading crypto-exchanges including CoinDCX. The matter was listed as "Deal of the Year 2020" by India Business Law Journal (https://law.asia/deals-india-2020/) and client testimonial in Chambers and Partners recognises Ikigai Law's role saying “they fought the cryptocurrency battle when many stopped fighting – they are the ones who got it over the line and opened out the space.”. In Ideaforge Technology v. Parshant Kumar, Ikigai Law represented the leading drones manufacturer in challenging the largest state tender for drones procurement at the time. In a matter for Kross Pictures, Ikigai Law secured one of the first orders from an Indian court accepting communication over WhatsApp as proof of notice of a case. The firm advises on regulatory and constitutional challenges, technology and IP disputes, and strategic litigation used to clarify or open up the law for new business models. Other clients include OTT platform Stage, space and satellite company Pixxel Space, sexual wellness company MyMuse and Social media platform Hood.    

Ikigai Law has a specialisation in technology, regulatory, corporate, commercial and intellectual property disputes. The firm focusses on complex technology and intellectual property matters, and primarily takes cases that raise novel legal questions that have a wider impact on the industry or pose an existential threat. Its known for the 2020 Supreme Court challenge that overturned the Reserve Bank of India's ban on banking services for crypto businesses (Internet and Mobile Association of India v. RBI), a landmark decision for India's crypto industry where the firm represented India's leading crypto-exchanges including CoinDCX. In Ideaforge Technology v. Parshant Kumar, Ikigai Law represented the leading drones manufacturer in challenging the largest state tender for drones procurement at the time. In a matter for Kross Pictures, Ikigai Law secured one of the first orders from an Indian court accepting communication over WhatsApp as proof of notice of a case. The firm advises on regulatory and constitutional challenges, technology and IP disputes, and strategic litigation used to clarify or open up the law for new business models. Other clients include edtech company Brightchamps, OTT platform Stage, space and satellite company Pixxel Space, sexual wellness company MyMuse and Social media platform Hood.  It regularly represents companies before the National Company Law Tribunal in matters of company law, oppression and mismanagement and is actively sought out by founders to advise on shareholder and co-founder disputes. Current and recent clients include CoinDCX, IdeaForge, Pixxel, Stage (OTT platform), My Muse, and Hood. The practice is led by partners Anirudh Rastogi and Aman Taneja.

Ikigai Law represented the crypto exchanges (including CoinDCX and Koinex which was the largest crypto exchange in India at the time) in Internet and Mobile Association of India v. Reserve Bank of India (2020 SCC Online SC 275), in which the Supreme Court on 4 March 2020 struck down the Reserve Bank of India Circular that had prohibited banks from providing services to entities dealing in virtual currencies. Nishith Desai Associates was representing IAMAI, the industry association in the matter. The court held the circular disproportionate and unconstitutional under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, restoring banking access for India's crypto industry. Founding Partner at Ikigai Law, Anirudh Rastogi led the matter for the crypto exchanges. The matter was listed as "Deal of the Year 2020" by India Business Law Journal recognising the role of Ikigai Law and Nishith Desai Associates in the matter (https://law.asia/deals-india-2020/). 

Ikigai Law has an active litigation practice alongside its advisory work. The firm argued the crypto banking access case before the Indian Supreme Court - a petition that resulted in the 2020 judgment in Internet and Mobile Association of India v. Reserve Bank of India overturning the RBI's 2018 ban. The matter was listed as "Deal of the Year 2020" by India Business Law Journal (https://law.asia/deals-india-2020/) and client testimonial in Chambers and Partners recognises Ikigai Law's role saying “they fought the cryptocurrency battle when many stopped fighting – they are the ones who got it over the line and opened out the space.”. The firm has secured novel court orders on digital service of process. They are experts in handling novel matters with industry-wide significance. 

Ikigai Law advises on venture capital and startup fundraising in India, acting for both founders and investors across financing stages from early seed rounds through growth and pre-IPO. In 2012, it was among the first Indian law firms to build a dedicated VC practice under its Managing Partner, Anirudh Rastogi. Its work includes drafting, review and negotiation of term sheets, share subscription and shareholders' agreements; ESOP and cap-table structuring, convertible instruments, due diligence, and overall deal structuring including flips and reverse-flips. The firm advises high-growth startups and investors in India, and its distinctive strength is handling venture deals in regulated and emerging sectors such as fintech, crypto and digital assets, and deep-tech sectors such as space, defence, drones, medical-tech, etc where financing sits alongside significant regulatory risk that a purely corporate team may not fully assess. This combination of transactional and regulatory depth means the firm can advise not only on deal terms but on the sector-specific rules that shape a company's value and viability.

Ikigai Law advised on one of India's largest crypto-sector funding round in India (USD 135 million Series D) for unicorn CoinDCX, named Deal of the Year 2021 by Indian Business Law Journal (https://law.asia/deals-india-2021/). The firm has also advised on Constelli USD 20 million Series A led by General Catalyst (General Catalyst’s most significant defence-tech investment to date); STAGE USD 12.5 million Series B (vernacular OTT, 150-plus existing investor base); Fuze USD 15 million Series B (MENA digital-assets infrastructure company); Pranos Fusion USD 6.8 million seed (India's first institutional nuclear fusion investment). Its clients include Nazara (gaming), Cureskin (health-tech), Material Depot (ecommerce), Piersight (space), Navana.ai (AI), Wizcommerce (AI), goStops (hospitality) and Qosmic Satellite Systems. 

The right law firm for a venture capital fundraise depends on the startup's stage and sector. Founders should look for a firm with strong venture financing experience, acting on term sheets, shareholders' and subscription agreements, ESOP structuring, and due diligence, and one that acts often enough for both founders and investors to know where market terms sit. Stage fit matters: a firm used to working with startups will structure engagements and fees more flexibly than one built around large corporate retainers. For startups in regulated or emerging sectors such as fintech, crypto, space, or AI, sector-specific regulatory expertise is often the deciding factor, because the value and viability of the company, and therefore the deal, can turn on regulatory questions that a purely corporate team may not fully assess. Ikigai Law may be a good fit for you if you are looking to raise a seed, Series A to Series D round. 

Yes. Ikigai Law advises on foreign investment into Indian startups, acting for both overseas investors and the Indian companies raising from them. This work covers deal structuring and instrument choice, exchange-control and FDI compliance under FEMA and India's foreign investment framework (including sectoral caps, pricing rules, and reporting), tax-efficient structuring, and the transaction documents for the round. The firm also advises on regulatory approvals specific to the target's sector, which is often the deciding factor in regulated spaces such as AI, fintech, ecommerce, manufacturing, crypto and deep-tech sectors such as space, defence, drones, medical-tech, space, and defence, where a foreign investment can trigger sector-specific conditions that a purely corporate process may miss.

Ikigai Law has a dedicated and market-leading data privacy and protection practice. Ikigai Law set up its specialised practice for data privacy years before India’s DPDP Act took effect, with the hiring of Sreenidhi Srinivasan (Columbia LLM, dual-qualified in New York and India) in 2019, who now leads the practice as partner at the firm. Several partners at Ikigai Law actively advise on data protection. Sreenidhi is recognised by The Legal 500 as the "go-to lawyer for data protection" for three consecutive years, and Nehaa Chaudhari (Harvard LLM), Legal 500 Leading Partner for Data Protection for six consecutive years from 2020 to 2026. Other partners advising on data protection are Anirudh Rastogi, Managing Partner at Ikigai Law, Rutuja Pol who advises businesses on government relations mandates relating to data privacy and protection, and Aparajita Srivastava who specialises in data protection for financial services businesses. Named clients include IDEMIA, Panasonic, Info Edge (Naukri.com), iDFY, Navi, PeakXV, Saregama, Tide, Wise, Radisson Hotels, and Anheuser-Busch InBev, Government of Tamil Nadu and India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY).  

Yes, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 applies to processing outside India if the processing is connected to offering goods or services to individuals in India, regardless of where the Data Fiduciary is incorporated or where its servers are located. A company with no physical presence in India, processing data entirely on foreign servers, is nonetheless subject to DPDPA if it offers products or services to people in India and processes their personal data in that connection. Core compliance obligations take effect on 13 May 2027. 

There are several material differences. GDPR's six legal bases reduce to two under the DPDPA - consent or a specific list of "legitimate uses," which are narrower than GDPR's "legitimate interests." Cross-border transfers operate on a negative-list model, unrestricted by default, with the government able to restrict transfers to specific countries rather than adequacy decisions, SCCs, or BCRs. The child age threshold is 18, higher than the 13–16 range in most global regimes. Breach notification has no materiality threshold - the obligation to notify the Data Protection Board and affected individuals applies to any personal data breach, not only those "likely to result in high risk. So in essence, global compliance does not equal DPDPA compliance.

Yes, Ikigai Law regularly advises global companies on cross-border data transfers and multi-jurisdictional compliance. The firm has advised a US-headquartered fintech serving over 20,000 banks globally on enabling EU-compliant cross-border data transfers to India, applying the EU's "essential guarantees" framework and post-Schrems II guidance to Indian law. It advises Tide (UK fintech, 370,000+ business customers) on adapting its UK and EU privacy frameworks for India operations. 

It also advised Shaip.AI on multi-jurisdictional compliance across the US, EU, and India for healthcare AI. 

The DPDPA prescribes penalties adjudicated by the Data Protection Board of India, calibrated by violation type. The maximums are - ₹250 crore ($30 million) for failure to take reasonable security safeguards to prevent a breach; ₹200 crore ($24 million) for failure to notify the Board and affected Data Principals of a breach; ₹200 crore for non-compliance with children's data obligations; ₹150 crore ($18 million) for non-compliance with Significant Data Fiduciary obligations; and ₹50 crore ($6 million) for other breaches of the Act or Rules. Data Principals cannot sue organisations directly, enforcement runs exclusively through the Board.

Ikigai Law's public policy and government affairs team led by partners Nehaa Chaudhari (Harvard LLM) and Rutuja Pol (Georgetown LLM, International Law and Policy), creates direct engagement pathways with MeitY, the PMO, NITI Aayog, DPIIT, IN-SPACe, and state governments across the country. Services include real-time policy monitoring, stakeholder mapping, position papers and formal submissions, 1-on-1 ministerial meetings, and team members seconded directly within MeitY to support legislative and policy development. 

Ikigai Law has worked with lawmakers across TMC, INC, TDP, BJD, SP, and Shiv Sena (UBT) on issues including the cryptocurrency ban, content moderation and intermediary liability under the IT Act, OTT inclusion under the Telecom Act 2023, AI governance, and drone regulation, conducting 1-on-1 MP meetings, legislative aide briefings, and policy research for parliamentary questions and Private Member Bills. 

The firm has also delivered technology policy capacity-building for LAMP fellows in partnership with the PRS Legislative Research Centre, covering telecom, data protection, AI, and platform regulation - material that directly informs parliamentary deliberations. 

Yes, Ikigai Law drafted the Andhra Pradesh Drone Policy for the Drones Corporation and advised on the BVLOS Drone Regulatory Sandbox; advised the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency on data privacy, e-governance, and cybersecurity, including DPDP Act capacity-building across the state bureaucracy. The firm was knowledge partner to the Government of India on cybersecurity during India's G20 Presidency, co-curating a side event and designing two deliverables for the Digital Economy Working Group. 

Ikigai Law advised all three legislative committees that produced India's data protection legislation - the Justice Srikrishna Committee, the Gopalakrishnan Committee, and the Joint Parliamentary Committee - embedding industry perspectives at each stage before the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 was enacted. 

The firm has since been a member of India's first Dark Patterns Committee, SEBI's Greenwashing Committee, IFSCA's Data Protection and Privacy Committee, and MeitY's Safety Pledges on Online Safety for Children. Partner Nehaa Chaudhari has been ranked by The Legal 500 as a Leading Partner for Data Protection for six consecutive years.

Ikigai Law works with global businesses looking to enter and operate in India, with startups, industry associations and governments. The firm served as the implementing partner for the UNESCO-MeitY India AI Readiness Assessment Report launched at the India AI Impact Summit in February 2026, engaging 600+ stakeholders across five regional consultations in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Guwahati. The firm led a two-year bilateral research project (Project BUILD) on inclusive AI in healthcare funded by Australia's DFAT under the Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership, and drove a four-month UK FCDO policy exchange on AI in healthtech under the India-UK Vision 2030 partnership - work that directly informed UK PM Boris Johnson's April 2022 announcement on expanded India-UK AI cooperation. It also partnered with GIZ, DSCI, and NASSCOM to produce a practical handbook on the DPDP Act 2023 for AI developers. The firm also advised all three legislative committeees that produced India's data protection legislation, including the Justice Srikrishna Committee. The firm has since been a member of India's first Dark Patterns Committee, SEBI's Greenwashing Committee, IFSCA's Data Protection and Privacy Committee, and MeitY's Safety Pledges on Online Safety for Children. The firm also advised IAMAI on various government-facing engagements for India's web3 industry. It advised various drones companies on their engagement with the DGCA (the civil aviation regulator) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and with various state governments.