Indian Parliament Enacts Revisions To The 1996 Arbitration Act

On 11 December 2015, we provided a summary of revisions to the 1996 Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act (the "Act") made by the President of India through the 2015 Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Ordinance that came into effect on 23 October 2015 pending final approval by the Indian parliament. In late December, the Indian parliament passed the 2015 Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act (the "Amending Act"). The Amending Act is identical to the Ordinance except that the Ordinance had been silent as to the applicability of the revisions to the Act to pending arbitral proceedings. The Amending Act now states that, unless otherwise agreed by the parties,¹ the revisions do not apply to arbitrations commenced prior to 23 October 2015, the date the Amending Act is deemed to have come into force.²