Devas Multimedia wins case against India on satellite deal in Hague

India has to pay $ 672 million to Devas Mutlimedia Pvt Ltd, after its space marketing agency Antrix Corp lost a case in the Permanent Case of Arbitration over cancelling a satellite deal by the private firm.

The Indian government had cancelled in 2011 a deal to lease satellites operating on the S-band spectrum with Devas Multimedia, that would have helped beam high speed internet on mobile devices.

Antrix Corp, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation, had signed the contract with Devas in 2005, but the deal was caught in the political storm that erupted over the 2G telecom scam.

The deal also cost five senior Isro scientists, including its former chairman G Madhavan Nair their government jobs

The PCA tribunal also found that India breached its treaty commitments to accord fair and equitable treatment to Devas’s foreign investors.

The PCA regularly administers cases involving states, including investment treaty claims brought under the arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The ruling, issued yesterday at The Hague, was the second by an international tribunal arising out of the cancellation of the Devas, a statement by Devas said on Tuesday.

An International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal in 2015 that Antrix’s repudiation of the Devas Antrix contract was unlawful, and awarded Devas damages and pre-award interest of approximately $672 million, plus post award annual interest accruing at 18 percent until the award is paid in full.