The Indian arbitration landscape is thriving - three years and
two rounds of changes, one too many for the practitioners,
arbitrators and the domestic/foreign parties to cope with. The
Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015 ("2015
Amendment") came as a sigh of relief, trying to plug most of
the loopholes to bring Indian arbitration at par with international
standards. However, the same cannot be said about the next round of
changes.
The Arbitration & Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2019
("2019 Amendment") came into force with effect from 9
August 2019. The 2019 Amendment continues to retain most of the
provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill,
2018, ("2018 Bill"), even the regressive ones. Despite
the severe criticism and year long wait for the 2018 Bill to
translate into amendment, the not so forwardlooking provisions seem
to see the light of the day, a clear anti-thesis to the very object
of arbitration.
