Arbitration Clauses – Are These Really Boiler Plate?

Arbitration clauses were typically copy paste clauses – appearing somewhere in the miscellaneous provisions which are included in contracts without much thought.

Times have changed. Arbitration is assuming greater importance in everyday contracts and is no longer the luxury of MNCs and enormous public sector undertakings.

The objective of this post is to provide a few pointers for drafting an effective arbitration clause given the present Indian legal context.

The principal question to be asked by the contract draftsman is whether or not arbitration is the preferred mode of dispute resolution (versus of course, litigation). Is arbitration at all permitted in respect of such contracts? This is given that there are some disputes that are inherently non-arbitrable.