The Upper House of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, recently passed a bill (the “2019 Amendment Bill“) to amend the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act (the “Act“). Read more
Based on the recommendations of the Sri Krishna Committee (previously discussed here), on 3 July 2019, the current Law Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, introduced Bill No.127 of 2019, the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Bill 2019 (the Bill) in the Lok Sabha. The Bill replaces an ordinance issued by the previous government in March 2019 … Read more
In a decision of 11 March 2019, the Supreme Court of India (the “Court“) struck down part of an arbitration clause which required a claimant to deposit 10 per cent of the amount claimed with the arbitrator before the arbitration went ahead. The contract was between a government entity and a private party and the … Read more
We previously reported here that a Geneva-seated UNCITRAL tribunal (the “Tribunal“) constituted under the India-Germany Bilateral Investment Treaty dated 10 July 1995 (the “India-Germany BIT”) found India in breach of its treaty obligations in relation to its cancellation of a spectrum allocation contract[1] (the “Contract“) in an interim award dated 13 December 2017 (the “Award“). … Read more
In its recent decision in Union of India v Hardy Exploration and Production (available here), the Supreme Court of India found that a contractual clause stipulating Kuala Lumpur as the ‘venue’ of arbitration did not amount to a choice of juridical seat. While the Indian courts’ jurisdiction to hear set-aside applications will be excluded if … Read more
India entered into its first bilateral investment treaty (BIT), with the United Kingdom, in 1994, as part of a strategy to attract inbound foreign direct investment (FDI). Having begun to open its economy in the 1990s, India today is a major investment destination. The Modi government has been keen to attract further investment, including with … Read more
Herbert Smith Freehills has issued the latest edition of its Indian international arbitration e-bulletin. In this issue we consider various court decisions, which cover issues such as the applicability of the Arbitration Amendment Act 2015, binding non-signatories to an award, enforcement of an award before the National Company Law Tribunal, and the continued pro-arbitration approach … Read more
An UNCITRAL arbitral tribunal has reportedly dismissed a US$36 million claim by a French investor, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS (“LDA“), against India under the 1997 France-India bilateral investment treaty (“BIT“). The award is not public at this time, but press reports state that LDA has also been ordered to pay approximately US$7 million in respect … Read more
