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India FTAs & ISDS

India and bilateral investment treaties – are they worth it?
21-Jan-2015 Beyond Brics
Instead of relying only on a treaty-based approach, India should initiate domestic policy reforms to attract and protect foreign investments, argues Kavaljit Singh
Fixing BIPPA
25-Dec-2014 Financial Express
The definition of investment that the govt of India had agreed to while entering into BIPPAs is particularly problematic, writes Biswajit Dhar
New bilateral investment treaties will help India avoid arbitration
17-Dec-2014 Economic Times
Bilateral investment treaties that the government of India will enter into from now on will have a provision preventing foreign investors to drag India to arbitration on any issues that have been settled by a judicial authority.
Nokia invokes India-Finland bilateral treaty to solve tax row
15-May-2014 PTI
With tax authorities pressing with over Rs 21,000 crore in unpaid dues, Finnish telecom major Nokia has invoked the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) India has with Finland to resolve the dispute.
India: Nokia mulls invoking bilateral investment treaty
13-May-2014 Indian Express
Entangled in a protracted tax mess in the country, Nokia has said that it would like to address the issue under the bilateral investment treaty between Finland and India, sources told The Indian Express.
Vodafone initiates investment arbitration against India
8-May-2014 Live Mint
Vodafone Group Plc has abandoned the conciliation process and started international investment arbitration against the Indian government over its long-running tax dispute.
A BIT of a secret
22-Jan-2014 Indian Express
India’s bilateral investment treaty arbitration must be made more transparent.
Investment deal? Just watch it
2-Jan-2014 The Hindu Business Line
In the last couple of years, South Africa has become the unlikely champion of the anti-BIT movement.
India-UAE BIPPA: Government builds safeguards to protect itself
18-Dec-2013 Economic Times
India has introduced provisions in the just-concluded bilateral investment protection and promotion agreement (BIPPA) with the United Arab Emirates to ensure that only executive decisions can be challenged and that too within a stipulated period.
Bilateral investment pacts can’t be subject to foreign jurisdictions: FM
18-Apr-2013 First Post
India’s Finance Minister P Chidambaram has made it clear that any bilateral investment protection agreement has to be subject to jurisdiction of domestic legal institutions and India will not allow it to be subjected to foreign courts or tribunals.
Multinational firms look for tax shields in bilateral pacts
19-Mar-2013 Live Mint
The aggressive push by India’s tax department to increase revenue has prompted several multinational companies to informally seek the views of lawyers and consultants about invoking bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements to resist the government’s demands for more money.
BIPA talks put on hold
22-Jan-2013 The Hindu
In a significant development, the Government of India has ordered a freeze of all Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPA) negotiations till a review of the model text of BIPA is carried out and completed. This follows a spate of show cause notices on the Government by foreign companies seeking to recover their investments under the agreement.
Need to align bilateral investment treaty regime with global reality
8-Jan-2013 The Hindu
The changing dynamic of the global economy has led to a transformation in the role of developing countries as both capital importing and exporting States. There is an urgent need to redefine the global BIT regime to reflect this changing paradigm.
Investment protection clause: India can’t do a Maldives without paying a price
24-Dec-2012
Recent disputes, including the GMR-Maldives government row and the clash between foreign telecom firms Telenor, Sistema, Etisalat and Vodafone and the Indian government, have exposed India’s vulnerable position in investment agreements. While the foreign telecom companies can use a potent weapon - the ’investment protection’ clause in bilateral treaties - against India, GMR cannot do the same with Maldives.
Malaysia headquartered Axiata Group threatens Indian government with international arbitration
26-Jul-2012 Economic Times
Malaysia headquartered Axiata Group, which holds about 20% stake in Idea Cellular has threatened claim damages and drag the Indian government to international arbitration under bilateral investment protection pacts (BIPA), making it the sixth international investor in the telecoms space to serve notice under bilateral trade agreements.
Treaties that gave away the store
27-Apr-2012
As India grapples with the Vodafone and 2G fallout, the Bilateral Investment Treaties it signed a few years ago are coming back to haunt it.
India plans to abolish ISD clause in FTAs
6-Apr-2012
India plans to abolish the investor-state dispute system and renegotiate FTAs with South Korea, Singapore, and other countries, an Indian newspaper reported.
India to oppose Vodafone’s move to invoke BIPA pact
31-Mar-2012 Economic Times
The Indian government is likely to oppose any move by Vodafone Plc to invoke the India-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) if it is forced to cough up Rs 12,000 crore in taxes on the grounds that the investment was routed through several step down firms based in different countries and that the treaty does not cover tax disputes.
Voda seeks Netherlands treaty to snub govt, will others follow?
30-Mar-2012 First Post
Fearing the Indian government will use new tax laws to trap it back around Rs 12,000 crore in taxes, the world’s largest mobile operator, Vodafone, may invoke a bilateral investment treaty between India and the Netherlands to avoid doing so.
2G: Telenor plans to invoke India-Singapore treaty
29-Mar-2012 Economic Times
Norway’s Telenor will seek ’compensation for all investment, guarantees and damages’ if the Indian government fails to sort out issues related to its licence cancellation within the next six months, the company said.