 "Devendra Fadnavis launches Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration")
MCIA will help Indian parties resolve disputes here instead of approaching other centres such as London and Singapore.
A state government official told Business Standard, "Without waiting for today's formal launch, MCIA had already handled its first case in September due to huge demand for international arbitration." The official said the centre has roped in Indian and global experts on arbitration for adoption of best practices. He recalled that the state government had cleared its arbitration policy, which allows for an in-built arbitration clauses, in all government contracts above Rs five crore.
More From This Section
The arbitration centre is an important step in furthering the dispute resolution system. Global examples show a strong correlation between “arbitration-friendly” venues and financial centres: New York, London, Geneva, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
In the recent past, Singapore has attracted a major chunk of arbitration business from India. About 60 per cent of the cases arbitrated by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) were of Indian companies. "This points to a reluctance on the part of Indian companies to settle their disputes in their homeland, and the absence of a culture of institutional arbitration,'' said Sarosh Zaiwalla, senior partner, Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors, London, who is a former member of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC, Paris.
Zaiwalla said that an International Arbitration centre within the country will provide a time-bound and cost-effective arbitration facility and reinforce investor confidence, while furthering the policy of encouraging a culture of institutional arbitration to take root in India, as the Law Commission of India recently suggested was necessary.