The summit featured a keynote address by Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani, a plenary session with addresses by Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice Tejas Karia and Justice J.R. Midha, and a panel discussion on policy and legal perspectives relating to institutional arbitration and ODR.

Setting the tone for the summit in his keynote address, Venkataramani remarked, “The adversarial system is mechanical,” adding that “we need to talk with emotion about dispute resolution.”

His address was followed by a plenary session featuring Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice Tejas Karia and Justice J.R. Midha. Speaking at the session, Justice Karia emphasized that “dispute resolution must continue to evolve with the needs of society.” He, along with Justice Gupta, spoke about the value of ODR in resolving large volumes of disputes. They highlighted how ODR is already addressing dispute resolution challenges across various industries and urged the legal community to embrace it. Justice Midha underscored the need to improve efficiency in arbitration through technology-backed processes.

The event also witnessed the launch of Presolv360's AI Library for Arbitration in the presence of the dignitaries. Released as an open-source tool, the AI library aims to help the arbitration community access precedents, principles and insights more efficiently, while enabling practitioners and researchers to contribute to its growing body of knowledge.

The summit also featured a panel discussion bringing together perspectives from policy, regulation and practice. Representing NITI Aayog, Dr. Banusri Velpandian, Senior Specialist, noted that several regulatory and industry ecosystems have already adopted an ODR-first approach and observed that such dispute resolution reforms are closely linked to economic growth.

Dr. Avnit Singh Arora, Director, Ministry of Law & Justice, discussed various initiatives undertaken by the Government of India to promote institutional arbitration and ODR, with the twin objectives of expanding access to alternative dispute resolution in Tier-II and Tier-III cities and villages, while also positioning India as a regional and global hub for ADR.

Jeevan Ballav Panda, Partner at Khaitan & Co., emphasized that policy and regulatory measures must be accompanied by a corresponding change in mindset within the legal community and the judiciary.

Reflecting on the summit, Namita Shah, Co-Founder of Presolv360, said, “We hope this event acts as a conversation starter for wider adoption and acceptance of Online Dispute Resolution across government, judiciary, and independent dispute ecosystems. We believe the technological tools that ODR has at its disposal allows us to reimagine dispute resolution processes across different categories and design for their unique requirements.”

About Presolv360

Presolv360 is an independent, technology-driven ADR and ODR institution committed to making dispute resolution in India more efficient, accessible and future-ready through institutional arbitration, mediation, conciliation and online dispute resolution processes.