Whither India’s Bilateral Investment Treaty Framework?
By Kavaljit Singh | Briefing Paper # 15 | December 2013
In the light of several notices invoking provisions of India’s bilateral investment agreements and demanding billions of dollars in compensation, the Indian government decided to put ongoing BIPA negotiations on hold and initiated a review of its model BIPA. The briefing paper critically examines the ongoing review process conducted by bureaucrats with no transparency and wider public consultation. The paper suggests a number of key policy recommendations concerning the design and implementation of a model BIPA. India needs to learn lessons from South Africa which has fundamentally changed its approach towards BIPAs, argues the author.