Arbitration Clauses With Indian Parties: Seat, Arbitrator Appointment, Stamp Duty And Non-Signatories In India

Most arbitration disputes involving an Indian party are shaped years earlier, by a clause drafted in a few minutes. Indian courts have settled several questions about those clauses in recent years: how the seat is identified, whether one party may appoint the arbitrator, what an unstamped contract does to the clause, and when a company that never signed can be bound. This note answers those questions for businesses contracting with Indian parties and for Indian businesses contracting abroad. It sits alongside the firm’s longer analysis of drafting arbitration clauses against Indian counterparties.

Seat in India or abroad: what actually changes?

The seat decides which country’s courts supervise the arbitration and where the award can be challenged. With an Indian seat, Part I of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 applies in full, and any challenge to the award is brought in an Indian court. With a foreign seat, the award is challenged only at the seat and is enforced in India