Defending champion in the singles was Roger Federer , who, however, canceled his participation in Paris-Bercy shortly after his final defeat in Basel . In this year's final David Ferrer won against qualifier Jerzy Janowicz ; Ferrer won the final of a Masters tournament for the first time and for the seventh time in the current season. The big surprise of the tournament was Janowicz, who reached an ATP final for the first time after qualifying and on the way beat five top 20 players, including world number three Andy Murray . In doubles, Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi were the defending champions, this time they competed with other partners: Bopanna played with Mahesh Bhupathi , Qureshi played together with Jean-Julien Rojer . Both pairings reached the final this year, with Bhupathi and Bopanna able to prevail in two sets against Qureshi and Rojer.
The field of participants in the individual competition consisted of 48 players, that of the doubles competition consisted of 24 pairs. The 16 top seeded players in singles and the eight top seeded pairings in doubles each received a bye to the second round.
The qualification took place on October 27th and 28th, 2012. Six qualifying places that entitle them to participate in the main draw of the tournament were played out. There were also two lucky losers.
At the BNP Paribas Masters 2012, the following prize money and world ranking points were paid out or credited for reaching the respective round. Players who entered the main field from qualification received the specified qualification points in addition to those for reaching the respective round. Otherwise the amounts are not to be understood as cumulative. The amounts for the double competition were per player.