Tag: Arbitration Laws in India

In the past, the Supreme Court has examined what would transpire in the event an arbitration agreement was not duly stamped. The Supreme Court, in the case of M/S Sms Tea Estates P.Ltd v. M/S Chandmari Tea Co. P.Ltd (“SMS Tea Estate Decision”), when examining an application under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) held that, a court before admitting any contract into evidence or acting upon the contract, needs to examine whether the contract has been duly stamped. ......

On November 04, 2020, the President of India promulgated the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 (“Ordinance”). The Ordinance was promulgated to ensure that all parties get an opportunity to seek unconditional stay of enforcement of arbitral awards where the underlying arbitration agreement or contract or making of the arbitral award are induced by fraud or corruption. ......

In 2019 Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings (“Amazon”) had acquired a 49% stake in Future Coupons Limited (“Future Coupon”). As part of the transaction, Amazon was provided a ‘call’ option, which enabled it to exercise the option of acquiring all or part of Future Coupon’s promoter, Future Retail Limited’s (“Future Retail”) shareholding in the company (Future Coupon and Future Retail are hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Future Group”). ......

The scope of Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) is very broad. The Section empowers the Court to grant various “interim measures of protection” including orders for securing the amount in dispute, preservation of property, interim injunctions and appointment of receivers. The Section also empowers the Court to grant such other interim measure of protection “as may appear to the court to be just and convenient”. ......

Arbitration that was once supposed to be the panacea for the woes of litigation, has now become complex and expensive due to several factors, such as ‘multiplicity’ of tribunals, awards, references and challenges arising among the same parties, contracts or series of contracts. Multiple arbitrations before different tribunals has led to the increase in “multiplicity of arbitral tribunals”. ......

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law - Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, 1985 (“Model Law”) was drafted for the individual States to adopt “in their statutory arbitration laws either in its entirety, or a substantial part of its provisions, or at least its general shape and philosophy, so as to bring about a certain amount of uniformity amongst national laws…”....

Section 17 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) has been recognized as an important provision for the smooth and efficient working of the arbitral process as it ensures that the Parties seek interim measures from the arbitral tribunal itself rather than approach the Courts . The 2015 amendment to the Act (2015 Amendment”) has been a necessary and significant amendment. ...

In the context of arbitration, the terms “seat” and “venue” have very specific meanings. However, judicial interpretation over the years have created confusion as to the actual understanding of the same. In India, over the course of the past two years, we have seen conflicting decisions with respect to interpretation of arbitration clauses and determining the “seat of the arbitration”. In light of that, the recent decision of the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court in Mankastu Impex Private Limited V Airvisual Limited (“Mankastu”) has attained utmost significance. ...

Ever since India was ranked at 178 out of 189 nations in the world in contract enforcement, the government has attempted to take different steps to facilitate quick enforcement of contracts and hasten the process of dispute resolution through arbitration, so as to encourage investment and economic activity. As part of these measures to change the country’s image with regard to contract enforcement, the government has made amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”)with the most recent amendment coming into effect on August 30, 2019 (“2019 Amendment Act”)....