A. LEGISLATION, TRENDS AND TENDENCIES
A.1 Legislation
The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Arbitration Act”)
governs the conduct of arbitrations in India as well as the
enforcement of domestic and foreign awards. The Ministry of
Law and Justice (in an attempt to reform perceived lacunae in
Indian law) had released a consultation paper on proposed
amendments to the Arbitration Act in 2010. However, the
general consensus among the legal community is that no
amendments or modifications to the statute are imminent.
A.2 Trends and Tendencies
As we discuss in detail in Section B, there appears to be a recent
and concerted tendency within the Supreme Court of India and
the various High Courts to reduce judicial intervention in
arbitrations (especially foreign-seated arbitrations) and narrow
grounds of challenge to arbitral awards. This new judicial
attitude is combined with other parallel developments that
include: (i) the establishment of independent Indian centres by
reputed arbitration institutions such as the London Court of
International Arbitration (“LCIA”) and the Singapore International
Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”), (ii) the encouragement by the
Supreme Court of alternative dispute resolution processes
including arbitration,3 (iii) the establishment of arbitration
centres under the aegis of high courts such as the Karnataka and
Delhi High Courts, and (iv) fledgling attempts to establish an
arbitration bar. While a large scale impact of these trends is yet
to be seen, it is no longer a mistake for parties to consider
arbitrating in India.