Introduction
Since 2017, India has increasingly implemented tariff and
non-tariff barriers, impacting its participation in international
trade. The landmark case of White Industries1
exposed India to the realities and vulnerabilities of
investor-state dispute settlement
("ISDS"), leading to a period
when a huge number of Investment Treaty Arbitrations
("ITA") were initiated against
India, consequently making it lean towards protectionist measures.
Moreover, India's trade policies remain more restrictive than
the OECD ("Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development") average, with only Indonesia
and Thailand having a more restrictive approach.2
A significant move came in March 2023 when India issued
termination notices for Bilateral Investment Treaties
("BITs") with 68 countries,
seeking to renegotiate them based on its 2015 Model BIT
("Model BIT"). So far, only a
handful of countries including Belarus, Taiwan, Kyrgyzstan, Brazil,
the UAE, and
