Year In Review: Key Decisions And Developments In Indian Arbitration Law In 2014

Introduction

The judicial developments in arbitration in India in 2014 have been both encouraging and curious at the same time. We briefly review some of the key decisions rendered by Indian courts this year and their impact on the arbitration jurisprudence.

Challenging foreign awards in pre-Balco arbitration agreements under Section 34 becomes increasingly difficult

Having overruled Bhatia International¹prospectively, BALCO²created much curiosity in respect of the treatment that challenges to foreign awards from pre-BALCO arbitration agreements under Section 34 of the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ("1996 Act") would receive in Indian Courts. A rather encouraging decision this year (in the post-BALCO era) dealing with a pre-BALCO arbitration agreement is Reliance Industries Limited v. Union of India.³