Let’s Fix Domestic Arbitration Foundations Before Chasing Global Hub Status — Dr. S. Muralidhar at DAW 2025

At Delhi Arbitration Week 2025, former Orissa High Court Chief Justice and Senior Advocate Dr. S. Muralidhar urged India to focus on strengthening its domestic arbitration ecosystem before aspiring to be a global arbitration seat like London or Singapore. He argued that India’s Bar and Bench are largely generalist: same lawyers and judges handle bail, matrimonial, criminal, and arbitration work, which undermines specialization. He pointed out structural gaps—lack of dedicated benches, inconsistent time discipline, weak enforcement, and underdeveloped institutional arbitration—that compromise credibility. Dr. Muralidhar emphasised that unless fundamentals like specialist arbitrators, consistent timelines, robust enforcement (especially of foreign awards), and an arbitration-friendly procedural culture are addressed, the “global hub” tag remains aspirational. He warned against simply transplanting foreign arbitration models, urging context-sensitive adaptation. He highlighted that arbitration hearings are often shoehorned into off-hours rather than being given priority scheduling, which hurts quality and efficiency. His core message: improve domestic base first, then ambitions will follow.