India has been trying hard towards revamping its Arbitration management

India has been trying hard towards revamping it arbitration management so that it can become a hub for international commercial arbitration. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act,1996 was formed with a view of bringing great changes but it had a lot of gaps of its own. Most of the important decisions in the last decade were witnessed  from the “seat” of the arbitration being in Singapore, New York or London which are considered to be established in global arbitration centers. Many investors from abroad and various corporate do business in India  were not ready to take the risks associated with having the seat of arbitration in India.

The judiciary played a vast role in turning the negative perception of arbitration in India by following and keeping in mind the suggestions of the Law Commission Report No. 246. This report’s main objective and suggestion were to improve the current law with a viewpoint of improving the scenario relating to arbitration so that all the loopholes in the Act can be covered. The recent amendment to the bill in 2015 by the union headed by the  Prime Minister Narendra Modi which shows India’s positive approach towards Arbitration. This is a complete game-changer in the field of arbitration which will not only attract but also improve the faith of the foreign investors in the Indian Arbitration System

The Arbitration and Conciliation Amendment  Act, 2015 was passed by the Union Cabinet and got its approval from the President on 23rd October 2015. This Amendment was passed taking into the account the Law Commissions report and the suggestions made by it not only that but also the suggestions received from the stakeholders was also taken into account. The basic objective of the Amendment was to make arbitration a favored method of dispute resolution, especially in regard to commercial disputes, one of the other objectives, is to make India a center for International Commercial Arbitration Centre.

The ordinance had come out with an issue whether it would be applicable to fresh or pending arbitration operations. On the same issue, the Madras High Court in the W.P No. 37355 of 2015 had issued a notice to the central government to obtain clarity whether the new provisions Act had a prospective or a retrospective effect. A notice was also issued by the Bombay High Court in the case of Kochi v. BCCI to seek clarification whether Section 34 of the ordinance which talks about the setting aside of domestic awards would apply to pending cases.