Introduction

For years, India has enjoyed high growth rates contributing to its development. It became the fifth-largest economy in 2019, overtaking the United Kingdom and France. Since independence, its economic journey has been quite extraordinary. Economic growth has not yet enabled India to win the war against poverty and this will undoubtedly impact the country’s future performance and stability. Interestingly, India has adopted original normative positions in its investment agreements. It has taken an opposite stance to the majority of developed and developing countries as far as certain standards of treatment are concerned—notably the National Treatment and Most Favoured Nation Treatment standards. In parallel, the Indian government, with the support of the judiciary and the legal profession, is promoting ambitious reforms for the country to become a world-class arbitration hub. In addition, the Mumbai International Arbitration Centre has been set up in an effort to promote the use of institutional arbitration in the country.