Amarchand has already closed 11 deals worth over Rs 26,744 crore ($4,923m) this year, which is almost half the deal volume and more than half the deal size clocked by the firm at the end of 2012.

Luthra & Luthra follows Amarchand with its four projects worth $3,052m, already almost equalling the $3,832 from 11 projects it had tallied in the rankings at the end of 2012.

Link Legal, which displaced Luthra & Luthra off second place in 2012’s yearly rankings, has so far reported projects worth less than 14 per cent of Luthra’s deal sizes, docketing $427m from two projects.

Link Legal had topped Dealogic’s 2012 half-year rankings and had then gone on to merge with projects boutique India Law Services in December.

Khaitan & Co made an appearance for the first time after 2010 end-of-year rankings, in seventh place with three projects worth $278m. When last seen, the firm had also reported three projects, worth $1.1bn.

The 10 front runners this quarter together added up $12.6bn from 29 projects, which is behind Q1 2011’s $20,086 off 28 projects, but closer to 2012’s slumped half-yearly benchmark of $20.0bn from 70 projects.

2012 saw the first year-on-year decline in 10 years, with 10 Indian front runners.

Legal Adviser of India Project Finance Deals – 1Q 2013

Source: Dealogic