Google’s India legal head steps down amid regulatory scrutiny

Google faces a leadership exit as its India legal head Bijoya Roy steps down after just 16 months at the company. This raises fresh questions about the company’s ongoing regulatory challenges, but Roy cited personal reasons for her departure and is likely to start her own venture, as per a Reuters report.

Roy’s resignation comes as a high-profile departure, because it comes at a time critical time when Google is dealing with multiple challenges in India. It's already facing regulatory pressure, and now it does not have a government relations head. 

Now, Google is battling several hurdles in the country, including antitrust cases, legal concerns over AI training data, and the new content takedown rules, which came into effect this February.

Roy joined Google India as Head of Legal back in November 2024. She has spent nearly 2 decades in the legal profession, securing major roles at Tata Housing, Asian Paints, Kodak, and she has spent nearly a decade with Thomson Reuters across London and Dubai. Lastly, in 2019, Roy joined Flipkart as Vice President of Group General Counsel.

As of now, Roy has not provided an official statement on the departure, and Google has yet to publicly comment on the development.

Google has been facing a wave of high-profile departures, as Google’s head of public policy in India, Sreenivasa Reddy, stepped down last year, and the role still remains unfilled.

For a company that has made India one of its crucial markets globally, the absence of senior legal and policy leadership could bring many challenges.