India’s 2016 Model BIT Through the Lens of Private International Law: Implications for Investor-State Arbitration

Amit Kumar Kashyap; Souad Ezzerouali; Bhavvya Wadhera; Halah Salah Alhadithi; Shatha Ismaeel

doi:10.21107/tlr.v9i1.33878

India’s 2016 Model BIT Through the Lens of Private International Law: Implications for Investor-State Arbitration

Amit Kumar Kashyap, Souad Ezzerouali, Bhavvya Wadhera, Halah Salah Alhadithi, Shatha Ismaeel

Abstract

This study examines India's Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) of 2016 through the lens of investor protection, legal certainty, and Investor–State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) from the perspective of Indian investors abroad. It also assesses whether the model BIT balances cross-border investment protection with preserving the host State's regulatory space. This study contributes a private international law perspective to recalibrating India's Model BIT for balanced investor protection. This study adopts a doctrinal approach and analyzes the 2016 Model BIT, arbitral awards, government and institutional documents. The study finds that the Model BIT departs from the more investment-friendly approach of earlier Indian treaties. By eliminating Fair and Equitable Treatment and Least Favored Nation status, along with the narrow definition of protected investment, the denial-of-benefits device, and regulatory exception clauses, it strengthens the host State's sovereignty but at the cost of substantive protection available to investors. From the perspective of private international law, the study finds that questions such as nationality, corporate structure, applicable law, jurisdiction, and exhaustion of domestic remedies affect the predictability and practicality of accessing treaty protection. They take prominence in investor-State arbitration, where restrictive jurisdictional and procedural requirements may deny or delay access to an international remedy. Hence, the study recommends recalibrating, not abolishing, the Model BIT, while preserving India's regulatory interests through clearer protection standards, a carefully delimited Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) clause, greater clarity on corporate nationality and structure, and a proportionate response to local-remedy exhaustion.

Keywords

Bilateral Investment Treaty; Fair and Equitable Treatment; Most-Favoured Nation; Arbitration; Private International Law

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.21107/tlr.v9i1.33878