Executive Summary

In 2015, India unveiled first a new draft model BIT and then a significantly revised final version, on the basis of which it intends to re-negotiate all of its existing BITs, as well as any new agreements. Apparently heeding the calls of ISDS critics to "rebalance" arbitration, the Draft Model BIT set out expansive investor obligations and provided that any violation of the host State's domestic law could cause investors to be denied the benefit of treaty protection and/or give rise to State counterclaims. This constituted a striking departure from India's existing BITs, which do not ...