The Final 2015 Indian Model BIT: Is This the Change the World Wishes to See?

Abstract

On 28 December 2015, the government of India approved its final Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (Final Model BIT).3 The Final Model BIT was approved after a consultative process and following a draft Model BIT issued to the public in March 2015 (Draft Model BIT).4 Various stakeholders, both domestic and international, provided comments to the Draft Model BIT. In addition, the Law Commission of India (LCI)5 undertook a detailed analysis of the Draft Model BIT and provided suggested changes to several provisions in a report.6 The Final Model BIT varies considerably from the Draft Model BIT, and, as will be discussed in the following note, some of the ambitious proposals in the Draft Model BIT have been scaled back. One important change is that the Final Model BIT requires an investor to exhaust local remedies for at least a period of five years.7 This is a considerable departure from the provisions on the exhaustion of local remedies found in other investment treaties known to the authors.