ABSTRACT
Concepts like de-legalization and de-judicialization dot the landscape of international law scholarship. International investment law is no exception to this. This chapter discusses whether India is moving away from investment protection obligations and ISDS within this broad conceptual framework. In other words, is India de-legalizing and de-judicializing its international investment relations? Formally, India remains committed to ISDS even if it is extremely limiting. However, the fact that India has signed a handful of BITs in the last seven to eight years and has stopped accepting international law obligations on investment protection and ISDS in its three new FTAs tells a different story. Unlike the past, India’s new FTAs decouple international investment law from international trade law obligations. This decoupling gives credence to the de-legalization and de-judicialization thesis. Whether this trend will continue or reverse depends on the outcome of India’s investment treaty negotiations with the United Kingdom and the European Union.
