Emergency Arbitration In India: Background And Emerging Trends

INTRODUCTION

Arbitration is known to be a preferred mechanism for dispute resolution in comparison to court proceedings. One of the many reasons arbitration is preferred to court proceedings is its time efficiency. Arbitration stakeholders globally recognise the need for expedited outcomes and often advocate the necessity for further enhancing arbitration processes with newer expedited arbitration mechanisms. The 2025 QMUL Survey¹ highlighted that 50% of the Survey Respondents were of the opinion that expedited or express arbitration procedures could most improve efficiency of arbitration. The need for an expedited outcome is attributable to industries in the centre of emerging trends such as Technology & IP, BFSI, Construction and Entertainment, although the landmark case in India viz. Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC v Future Retail Ltd (2022) 1 SCC 209, arose out of a dispute in the retail and e-commerce space. Parties in commercial disputes in India invariably tend to seek