Arbitration & FDI

India has been constantly improving its record on the measuring yardstick of ease of doing business. That being said there is a lot that still remains to be done. For example, India incurs a large cost every year because of delays in major infrastructure projects and the legal complexities associated with such delays. The presence of an effective arbitration and mediation mechanism can reduce the legal pressures that businesses in India face leading to monetary loss and contractual delays. The Union Government has taken steps to make India a hub for arbitration matters. Questions that need to be addressed include what measures can be taken to ensure that that India’s domestic arbitration environment becomes robust and how can institutional arbitration and mediation mechanisms in India be strengthened to enhance the ease of doing business.

The panel will address the following three questions:

• Do BITs offer no promise of greater investment? This is especially because the needs of other smaller economies may not be compared with those of India and Brazil.
• What are the benefits (if at all) of ratifying international conventions that facilitate the use of arbitration from the perspective of increased FDI inflows?
• If the access to arbitration is viewed as a service, to what extent can the choice or presence of a good arbitral institution play a role in contributing to the economy?