BANGALORE: Legal process outsourcing (LPO) to India is now slowing down after the first few years of rapid growth. Business is down 20% with low-end services like online research and documentation being the worse hit. With cost of legal services in India just one-tenth of the cost in the US, industry experts says Indian LPO firms need to offer more services to stay on the growth track.

N L Mitra, partner, Fox Mandal Little, said: "Claim writing, claim drafting, filing claim prosecution, office procedures… this requires huge manpower. Low-end products have come down and middle products are also being affected. This year, may be, the market is going to be down by 20% but will recover by next year."

LPO firms are also looking beyond US and UK, and are exploring new markets in Japan, Europe, China and parts of Asia. Some of the legal outsourcing services, which are in high demand, include bankruptcy, intellectual property, entertainment and media.

Neeraj Gupta, Partner, SDD Global Solution, added: "It depends on the kind of work you are doing or the company specifically is doing. If you are working in entertainment and media or IP-related domain, work is increasing... work is increasing in bankruptcy as well. If you are working in other domain, work might slow down."

Given the current economic scenario, offshoring legal services to India is looking attractive with cost savings of nearly 70% but the industry will need to find high-end skilled professionals to move up the value chain.