Supreme Court Enforces A Foreign Arbitral Award Rendered Under Two-tier Arbitration Agreement

The series of judgments by the Supreme Court of India, that have famously come to be known as the 'Centrotrade saga' finally culminated in a decision of a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India in Centrotrade Minerals and Metals Inc v. Hindustan Copper Ltd. (Centrotrade - III).¹ In this landmark judgment, read with the judgment of the Supreme Court in Centrotrade Minerals & Metal Inc. v. Hindustan Copper Ltd. (2017) (Centrotrade - II),² the foundation has been laid for enforcement of a foreign arbitral award rendered under a two-tier arbitration structure.

Facts

The contract of sale between Centrotrade and HCL (Parties) contained a two-tier arbitration agreement, by which the first tier was to be settled by arbitration in India. In the event that either party disagreed with the result, that party was to then have the right to appeal to a second arbitration, to be held by the International Chamber of Commerce in London (ICC). Centrotrade invoked the