CJI Surya Kant Calls For Deepening Partnership Between Indian & French Arbitration Centres

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant called for a deeper and more structured partnership between India and France in the fields of arbitration and mediation, stressing that robust cross-border dispute resolution mechanisms are essential to sustain innovation-driven economic cooperation between the two countries.

Delivering the keynote address at the Indo-French Legal and Business Conference held in the backdrop of the India–France Year of Innovation 2026, the CJI said that as bilateral trade, investment and technological collaboration expand, disputes are inevitable, and what matters is the presence of credible, efficient and principled systems to resolve them.

India's Pro-Arbitration And Mediation Push

The CJI outlined India's transformation from a litigation-centric system to an ADR-first ecosystem. Referring to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and its subsequent amendments, he said India has aligned itself with global standards, ensured party autonomy and reduced judicial interference while retaining oversight to protect fairness and integrity.

"In sum, India's arbitration regime today is not merely functional; it is forward- looking, consistent, predictable and designed to make arbitration the default, not the exception, in commercial dispute resolution," he said. In his address, he briefly referred to the Supreme Court's judgment upholding the validity of unstamped arbitration agreements, and recognising group of companies doctrine.

He pointed out that arbitral awards from New York Convention countries such as France are enforceable in India as court decrees, providing confidence to foreign investors. The Supreme Court, he said, has consistently adopted a pro-arbitration approach, discouraging technical objections and upholding the sanctity of arbitration agreements.

On mediation, the CJI described the Mediation Act, 2023 as a landmark reform that gives statutory recognition to mediation, makes mediated settlements enforceable and promotes pre-litigation mediation, including online mediation for cross-border disputes.

"Together, the Arbitration Act, the Mediation Act, and the Commercial Courts Act form a coherent ecosystem: arbitration for binding resolution, mediation for consensual settlement, and specialized courts for oversight and enforcement.

The result is a jurisdiction increasingly regarded as arbitration-friendly, mediation-ready, and commercially pragmatic—a triad of qualities that make India a reliable partner in cross-border trade."

Call For Joint Indo-French Dispute Resolution Frameworks

Looking ahead, the CJI proposed concrete steps to deepen Indo-French cooperation in dispute resolution. These include the creation of joint arbitration and mediation panels trained in both civil law and common law traditions, stronger institutional partnerships between Indian arbitration centres and Paris-based institutions, and structured judicial and academic exchanges.

"A first and particularly promising avenue lies in the establishment of perhaps joint arbitration and mediation panels, comprising of professionals trained across civil and common law traditions. Such panels would bring not only technical excellence but also the cultural and jurisprudential fluency necessary for resolving disputes that traverse legal systems as seamlessly as they traverse markets.

Equally vital is the deepening of institutional partnerships between Indian arbitral centres and Paris-based institutions. Through shared procedural standards, joint training initiatives, and co- administered proceedings, these collaborations can create dispute resolution forums that are at once globally credible and contextually nuanced.

A third pathway is sustained judicial and academic exchange. Fellowships for judges, arbitrators, and scholars engaged in comparative alternative dispute resolution would foster a shared judicial sensibility, which values restraint, efficiency, and respect for party autonomy, irrespective of jurisdictional boundaries."