Devas taps courts in England, France to get local revenue of Antrix

Satellite firm Devas Multimedia Ltd has informed Antrix Corp, the commercial arm of India’s space agency that it has sought approval from courts in England and France to pursue action locally to recover $672 million award it won from the International Commercial Court.

In September, Devas won the international tribunal award against Antrix over cancelling an order to lease two satellites to the country. In 2012, India had cancelled the satellite order citing national security issues after the deal was caught in the political storm that emerged after the 2G scam. The $300 million satellite leasing deal signed in 2005 had mandated Devas to offer two satellites that operate on the so called S band to transmit high speed internet on mobile devices. India took a view that it should be restricted to strategic purposes and not for commercial purposes.

Antrix does not have any local assets in these countries, but is a supplier of satellite images and offer components and satellite launch services to customers in these two countries. The courts can direct local customers of Antrix to deposit money due to the Indian space agency with the court, a lawyer for Devas, who did not want to named.

The award by the ICA is Rs 4360 crore, more than double Antrix’s revenues of Rs 1850 crore for 2014-15. Antrix earned profits of Rs 896 crore in the last five years.

Antrix Corp has already said it would file an “application for remedy” in courts with support from Department of Space against the tribunal verdict.

Antrix and Isro officials were not reachable for comment. The development was first reported by the Economic Times on Monday.

Separately, last month, Antrix lost a case in the Permanent Case of Arbitration at Hague after it found that India breached its bilateral treaty commitments with Mauritius to accord fair and equitable treatment to foreign investors of Devas by cancelling the deal. Two US investors in Devas – Columbia Capital and Telecom Ventures had filed the case against the Indian government, who own the country’s space agency for cancelling the deal.

A third investor Deutsche Telekom, who in 2008 had invested $ 75 million for 17 per cent valuing Devas at $ 443 million, is seeking another arbitration citing violation of Indo German bilateral agreements.