India to challenge Cairn arbitration award, plans the same in Vodafone case
The Modi government on Wednesday set the stage for fierce battles with Cairn Energy Plc and Vodafone Plc after Parliament passed the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that empowers Indian courts to set aside arbitration awards if it believes that there is a prima facie reason to believe that these have been “induced by fraud or corruption”.
The Act will take retrospective effect from October 23, 2015.
Cairn Energy recently won an award from the Permanent Court in the Netherlands that directed India to pay $1.2 billion in damages plus interest and costs to the oil company after rejecting the government’s demand for retrospective payment of capital gains tax arising from a corporate restructuring dating back to 2007.
