Indian Parties Can Now Pick A Foreign Seat For Arbitration

A foreign seat of arbitration is often preferred by multinational companies in contracts involving their subsidiaries incorporated in India. However, they were dissuaded from choosing a foreign seat due to the uncertainty over whether two or more Indian parties can designate a foreign seat,¹ and if interim reliefs that are indispensable to secure assets apply to such arbitrations. These ambiguities are now resolved by the Supreme Court of India judgement in PASL Wind Solutions Private Limited v. GE Power Conversion India Private Limited² ("PASL").

In PASL, both parties to the arbitration agreement were Indian companies. The dispute resolution clause read: "In case no settlement can be reached through negotiations, all disputes, controversies or differences shall be referred to and finally resolved by Arbitration in Zurich in the English language, in accordance with the Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, which Rules are