In India’s fast-evolving fintech and SaaS ecosystem, the role of legal leadership is undergoing a quiet but powerful transformation. No longer confined to compliance checklists or last-minute approvals, today’s in-house legal heads are expected to move at the speed of business, anticipating risk, enabling growth, and shaping strategy. Few embody this shift better than Mr Mrudul Dadhich, Head of Legal – VP at Perfios.
With experience spanning top-tier law firms like Khaitan & Co and JSA, international exposure at Baker McKenzie, and senior in-house roles, Mrudul’s journey reflects a deliberate evolution, from technical legal excellence to strategic business ownership. In this conversation, he shares how his career transitions shaped his leadership philosophy, the realities of managing legal complexity in a high-growth techfin company, and what the future holds for in-house legal teams in India.
A Career Built on Conscious Transitions
Mrudul describes his professional journey as a series of intentional shifts. His early years at leading law firms instilled in him an uncompromising sense of legal rigor and precision, essential skills for high-stakes transactions and advisory work. A stint at Baker McKenzie, initially part of his master’s program, unexpectedly opened doors to global best practices and international legal thinking.
Yet, despite the intellectual stimulation of private practice, something was missing. The transactional nature of law firm work, closing a deal and moving on, left him disconnected from the long-term impact of his advice. That realization led him in-house, first at Enel and eventually to Perfios. Here, he found what he was seeking: the opportunity to witness legal decisions play out across a company’s lifecycle and to act not just as a legal guardian, but as a strategic enabler.
At Perfios, operating at the intersection of data, technology, and regulation, Mrudul’s role has evolved far beyond building a legal framework. Today, he functions as a true business partner, one who speaks the language of products, revenue, and scale, alongside statutes and compliance.
Preparing for the Complexity of TechFin
Each phase of Mrudul’s career has contributed to the instincts required to lead legal at a fast-scaling techfin SaaS company. His background in M&A and private equity sharpened his understanding of deal velocity, investor expectations, and commercially structuring risk, critical elements in a high-growth environment. On the other hand, his corporate advisory experience reinforced the importance of governance and regulatory architecture, especially vital in the heavily regulated “Fin” side of fintech.
Leading legal at Perfios, he explains, means constantly toggling between these two modes, driving growth with the decisiveness of an M&A lawyer while safeguarding compliance with the caution of a corporate advisor.
Navigating Regulation Without Slowing Growth
One of the biggest challenges Mrudul has faced at Perfios is what he calls “compliance convergence.” Operating in a regulatory framework that is still evolving, while simultaneously responding to global shifts in data privacy norms, requires agility without compromising trust.
His solution was to move away from a purely reactive legal model and embed legal thinking directly into the product development process. By building regulatory requirements natively into the tech stack, Perfios can adapt to legal changes without disrupting clients or slowing business momentum. For him, compliance should never be a blocker; it should be an enabler aligned with commercial objectives.
Rethinking M&A in a Scaling Startup
While M&A was familiar territory from his law firm days, leading it at Perfios demanded a mindset shift. In-house, the legal role doesn’t end at closing; it intensifies. Acquisitions in a fintech environment are not just about buying companies, but about integrating capabilities without inheriting hidden liabilities.
Mrudul’s responsibility extends from identifying compliance gaps during due diligence to translating technical legal findings into operational insights for the board and leadership team. Post-acquisition, the focus shifts to building a unified legal infrastructure, aligning policies, integrating cultures, and ensuring new entities adapt to the group’s operational rhythm. Managing this full lifecycle has been one of the most challenging and rewarding phases of his career.
From Risk Elimination to Risk Calibration
Reflecting on his growth as a legal leader, Mrudul points to one defining lesson: unlearning the pursuit of perfection. Early in his career, he operated with a zero-risk mindset, striving for absolute certainty before advising the business. Over time, he realized that in high-growth environments, speed itself is a strategic asset.
His role evolved from eliminating risk to calibrating it, creating guardrails that allow innovation without exposing the business to catastrophic outcomes. Effective legal leadership, he believes, is less about being technically right and more about giving the business the confidence to make tough, imperfect decisions quickly.
A formative moment came early in his law firm days, when a partner reminded him that CEOs don’t need exhaustive legal treatises; they need clear, actionable answers. That lesson continues to shape his approach: distilling complexity into clarity and delivering legal advice that the business can immediately act upon.
The Future of In-House Legal in Startups
Mrudul envisions the modern in-house legal function evolving from a risk guardian into a value architect. In fintech and SaaS startups, legal teams must be embedded upstream, working alongside product, sales, and strategy teams from the outset. When done right, legal becomes a revenue enabler, helping companies close deals faster by building trust and compliance into the product itself.
To balance speed with governance, he advocates for tiered risk frameworks, automation of low-risk contracts, and clear playbooks with pre-approved negotiation guardrails. This approach frees legal leaders to focus on high-impact strategic issues while maintaining strong compliance foundations.
Advice for the Next Generation of Legal Leaders
For young lawyers aspiring to move in-house or become General Counsel, Mrudul offers clear advice: shift from being a legal technician to a business partner. Success in-house is measured not by the depth of legal analysis, but by the commercial utility of the solution.
Understanding financial statements, product mechanics, and the realities of sales and operations is just as important as knowing the law. The most effective GCs, he says, are not necessarily the smartest lawyers in the room, but the ones who clear the path for the business to succeed safely.
Conclusion
As India’s fintech and SaaS sectors continue to expand, legal leadership will play a defining role in shaping sustainable growth. From AI governance and data privacy to cross-border compliance and M&A integration, the challenges ahead demand legal minds that are flexible, business-savvy, and deeply collaborative.
Mrudul Dadhich’s journey, from law firm precision to in-house partnership, offers a compelling blueprint for this new era. By transforming legal complexity into strategic advantage, he exemplifies how the modern Head of Legal can move beyond compliance to become a true architect of value in a high-growth organization.
-Interview conducted by Shivani Solanki
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