View: GoI should not contest Cairn, Vodafone awards in Indian courts

The decision of a French court to allow Cairn to take control of 20 GoI properties in central Paris, reportedly valued at over $23 million, means that India now faces the unpleasant prospect of a run on other assets, including strategic oil and gas assets across the globe. Investment treaty award holders like Cairn Energy PLC, Vodafone Group BV, and Devas (Mauritius) Ltd are on the hunt.

They are taking such actions because they find that enforcement of investment treaty arbitration awards may virtually be impossible before Indian courts.

To explain: all foreign arbitral awards are enforceable in India as India is a signatory to the New York Convention of 1963. However, India signed the New York Convention with one limitation, i.e. only awards that are “considered commercial under the law in force in India” shall be enforceable in India.