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19 Manchester J. Int'l Econ. L. 112 (2022)
The Future of India's Investment Treaty Practice: An Important Parliamentary Intervention

handle is hein.journals/mjiel19 and id is 117 raw text is: 







Manchester Journal of International Economic Law
Volume 19, Issue 1: 112-125, 2022





                The  Future of India's Investment Treaty Practice:
                    An   Important Parliamentary Intervention



                                     Prabhash   Ranjan*



ABSTRACT: India's bilateral   investment  treaty (BIT) programme   has  undergone  a complete
overhaul  ever since India was sued by  multiple foreign investors before various investor-State
dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals. India unilaterally terminated all its BITs, adopted a new Model
BIT, and is now negotiating new investment treaties with several countries like the European Union
and Australia. Against this background, the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs
has made  some significant recommendations on India's approach toward BITs. The parliamentary
committee  recognises the value of BITs for India to attract foreign investment inflows. This paper
studies the critical recommendations of the parliamentary committee and concludes that India needs
to revisit its Model BIT to strike a balance between investment protection and State's right to
regulate. This recalibration in India's approach would be useful at a time when it is endeavouring
to enter into investment treaties with important capital exporting countries to India.





                                     1. INTRODUCTION

Rattled by an innumerable   number  of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) claims, a few
years back, India decided  to review its investment treaty practice.1 This review led to India
unilaterally terminating its bilateral investment  treaties (BITs) 2 and  spelling out a  new
investment  treaty practice based on principles enshrined in the 2016 Model  BIT.3 Since  then
India has managed   to sign a few  BITs,  based on  the 2016  Model  BIT,  with countries like









* Prabhash Ranjan, Professor and Vice Dean, Jindal Global Law School, O P Jindal Global University, Sonipat,
Delhi-NCR, India. The author is grateful to Faizan Ahmad for his useful research assistance.
' For a detailed discussion on India's BIT practice see Prabhash Ranjan, India and Bilateral Investment Treaties:
Refusal, Acceptance, Backlash (Oxford University Press, 2019); Aniruddha Rajput, Protection of Foreign
Investment in India and Investment Treaty Arbitration (Kluwer Law International, 2018).
2 India has unilaterally terminated around 70 BITs. See Government of India, 'BIT' Department of Economic
Affairs, https://dea.gov.in/bipa (accessed 10 January 2022).
3India,  Model  Text for the Indian Bilateral Investment Treaty' (hereinafter '2016 India Model BIT'),
https://dea.gov.in/sites/default/files/ModelBITAnnex_0.pdf (accessed 10 January 2022)


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