Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley is expected to unveil plans for the new international arbitration centre in New Delhi on 27 August as part of a bid to build local legal expertise for multinationals operating in the country. Despite being the world’s third-largest foreign investment recipient, high-profile companies – including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Tata Teleservices – have been forced to pursue arbitration outside the country for recent local disputes due to a perceived lack of local infrastructure and expertise. ‘With the rapid growth of Indian economy, it has become imperative for investors to have an efficient and cost-effective dispute resolution mechanism,’ commented a top Indian official to Business Line.

Speed, skill and efficiency

The New Delhi hub will follow in the footsteps of an international arbitration centre launched in Mumbai last year at the behest of the Maharashtra state government, which has been handiling a number of preliminary cases. In October, India responded to longstanding criticism of its sluggish arbitration system with the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, which aimed to boost the popularity of arbitration for dispute resolution by introducing time-bound adjudications. 

Sources: Asian Legal Business; BusinessLine