Arbitration preferred over litigation: Survey

Arbitration is the preferred method of dispute resolution over litigation in the country because of the speed of resolution, confidentiality and cost effectiveness but there is still scope for improvement, a survey has found. Conducted by law firm Khaitan & Co, the survey, which focused on the experience of parties rather than advocates and experts involved in domestic arbitration in the country, asserted that most arbitrations take 24 to 36 months to complete while a majority wanted the exercise to be over within 12 months.

According to a press release, a large majority of those covered under the survey ‘Current Trends in Domestic Arbitration in India’, said they intended to use domestic arbitration in the future for both small and large disputes.

“Arbitration is the preferred method of dispute resolution over litigation because of the speed of resolution, confidentiality, cost effectiveness, and process with speed of resolution being the most important. Most arbitrations are taking 24 to 36 months to complete instead of 12 months, which is what parties expect,” according to the findings shared in the release.

The survey indicated there was “significant scope” for improvement to meet the expectations of the parties involved in arbitration proceedings.

“Simplification of award enforcement, penal consequences for non-compliance with time limits, and special court benches to deal exclusively with arbitration related matters were most favoured measures for improvement in the domestic arbitration process,” it stated.

The release said more than 80 per cent of the respondents were in favour of having “emergency arbitration measures” for urgent or time-sensitive issues, and that in spite of significant efforts, “ad hoc arbitration”, an arbitration held outside an institutional framework, remained popular.