The time taken and procedures involved in enforcement proceedings of arbitral awards in India have drawn substantial criticism over the years, paving the way for the amendments in 2015 and 2019 to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. This note briefly examines the effect of the recent judgment of the Supreme Court of India in Hindustan Construction Company on the question of whether the operation of a domestic arbitral award is automatically stayed upon the filing of a challenge to the award and traces the development of the automatic stay rule through the amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 in 2015 and 2019 prior to the Supreme Court’s judgment.

Listening to the speakers at a seminar on recent developments in arbitration law in India, it struck me that drafting arbitration agreements with an Indian counter party has become less about reflecting the intention of the parties and more about reflecting the state of the Indian judicial precedents and statutory amendments.

We are pleased to present the India chapter of the Chambers & Partners global practice guide on International Arbitration 2019 (Second Edition). The India chapter covers issues relating to, among others, enforcement of awards, court intervention in the arbitration process, jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals and recent amendments to the law governing arbitration in India.