Centre for International Trade and Economic Laws

Current Projects

Joint Research Project on “Sustainability Indicator” for International Investment Agreements with Macquarie University

To accelerate economic growth, States enter into International Investment Agreements for the purpose of attracting foreign investors. At times the sustainability of these investments becomes challenging owing to issues like inequality, human rights abuses, and environmental pollution. To address these impending issues, researchers at the Centre for Environmental Law (CEL) of Macquarie University and Centre for International Investment and Trade Law (CIITL) of Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) of OP Jindal Global University are collaborating to develop a “sustainability indicator” that may be applied to assess the sustainability of international investment agreements. The project will apply the sustainability indicator to all investment agreements (i.e., bilateral investment treaties and investment chapters in free trade agreements) negotiated by India and then develop concrete recommendations to the Indian government to balance often competing objectives of investor protection and encourage responsible investor conduct.

Books

• Prabhash Ranjan, India and Investor State Dispute Settlement: Affronting Sovereignty or Indicting Capriciousness (Routledge: 2024) (182 + xviii pages)
• Marc Bungenberg, Manjiao Chi, Sufian Jusoh, Prabhash Ranjan, Islambek Rustambekov (Eds) Asian Yearbook of International Economic Law, 2023 (Springer: 2023).

Journal Articles

• Prabhash Ranjan, ‘India and International Investment Law: Preserving, Delegating, and Reclaiming Sovereignty’, 23 India Review, 2024 115-133.
• Prabhash Ranjan, ‘International Investment Law Regionalism in Asia: The Tale of South Asia’ 31(2) Asia Pacific Law Review, 2023, 514-534.
• Prabhash Ranjan, ‘India-UK Investment Relations and Global Britain’ 34(1) King’s Law Journal, 2023, 120-144.
• Prabhash Ranjan and Praharsh Gour, ‘The TRIPS Waiver Decision at the World Trade Organization: Too Little Too Late!’ 13(1) Asian Journal of International Law, 2023, 10-21.
• Prabhash Ranjan, ‘Russia-Ukraine War and WTO’s National Security Exception’, 58(2) Foreign Trade Review, 2023, 246-258.
• Prabhash Ranjan, Investor-State Dispute Settlement and Tax Matters: Limitations on State’s Sovereign Right to Tax, 31(1) Asia Pacific Law Review, 2023, 219-234.
• Oiswarjya Basu, ‘Lenders’ approach towards Floating Charge as a Security Device: An English Law Perspective’, Competition & Commercial Law Review, 2021
• Oiswarjya Basu and Shatrunjay Bose, ‘Cairn Moves to Seize Air India Assets to Recover Hefty Award against India: Worthwhile Choice or a Futile Exercise?’, Kluwer Arbitration, 2021
• Aveek Chakravarty, Challenges to the Assessment of Damages Claims Involving Crypto-Assets in Investment Arbitration, Global Jurist, 2020

Book Chapters

• Prabhash Ranjan, ‘Bilateral Investment Treaties and the Environment’ in Philippe Cullet, Lovleen Bhullar and Sujith Koonan (Eds) The Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Natural Resources Law (Oxford University Press: 2024), 139-158.
• Prabhash Ranjan, ‘Corruption and Investment Treaty Arbitration in India’ in Nobumichi Teramura, Bruno Jetin, and Luke Richard Nottage (Eds) Corruption and Illegality in Asian Investment Arbitration (Springer: 2024) 235-257.
• Prabhash Ranjan, ‘Intellectual Property and Investment Treaties: Comparing Newest Indian and Australian Treaty Practices’ in Mathew John et al (Eds) The Indian Yearbook of Comparative Law 2020 (Springer: 2023), 199-215.
• Prabhash Ranjan, ‘The Impact of Investment Treaties on the Rule of Law in India’ in Jansen Calamita and Ayelet Berman (Eds) Investment Treaties and the Rule of Law Promise: The Asian Experience (Cambridge University Press: 2022), 38-66.
• Prabhash Ranjan, ISDS Transparency Provisions in the Indian Model BIT: A Half-Hearted Attempt? in Leila Choukroune and Rahul Donde (Eds) Adjudicating Global Business In and With India (Routledge: 2022), 75-91.
• Prabhash Ranjan, ‘Investor Obligations in India’s New Bilateral Investment Treaties: Emergence of New Treaty Practice’ in Manjiao Chi, Marc Bungenberg & Andrea K. Bjorklund (Eds) Asian Yearbook of International Economic Law (Springer: 2022), 89-108.

Op-Eds

• Oiswarjya Basu, A Detailed Look at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Its Rejection of Vinesh Phogat’s Petition, The Quint, 17 August 2024
• Prabhash Ranjan, Investment Lessons from India-EFTA Trade Deal, The Hindu, 13 May 2024;
• Prabhash Ranjan, Reading the Fine Print of India-EFTA Trade Deal, The Hindustan Times, 29 March 2024;
• WTO’s Investment Facilitation Negotiations are not Illegal, The Hindu, 28 March 2024;
• Prabhash Ranjan, The WTO is Having an Existential Crisis, The Indian Express, 26 March 2024;
• Prabhash Ranjan, Budget Focus on BITs is Good for the Indian Economy, The Hindustan Times, 6 February 2024;
• Prabhash Ranjan and R V Anuradha, How to Restore WTO’s Authority, The Indian Express, 5 February 2024.

Meet the Team

Dr. Prabhash Ranjan Co-Director	Dr. James J. Nedumpara Co-Director	Dr. Aveek Chakravarty Assistant Director	Dr. Pallavi Kishore Senior Fellow
Avirup Bose Senior Fellow	Oiswarjya Basu Fellow	Ruby Panchal Fellow	Bhawna Kataria Fellow

The Centre promotes discussion, research and scholarship in the field of international investment and trade laws

Exploratory Workshop on ‘Sustainability of Investment Agreements: Case of India’ (5 November 2022)

On November 5, 2022, CIITL, in collaboration with Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, organised a one-day exploratory workshop on ‘Sustainability of Investment Agreements: Case of India’. The workshop saw the participation of various stakeholders from the government, academia, law firms, and the industry. Mr. Dammu Ravi, Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, delivered the key-note address. Professor Surya Deva from Macquarie University spoke about the project.

Other speakers included, Mr. Pranav Kumar (Reliance Industries); Professor James Nedumpara (Centre for International Trade and Investment Laws, IIFT); Mr. Tamal Mandal (Luthra and Luthra Law Offices); Ms Fereshte Sethna (DMD Advocates); Dr. Daniel Mathew (National Law University Delhi); Dr. Ajay Kumar Sharma (Faculty of Law, Delhi University); Ms. Ramya Raman (P&A Law Offices); Mr. George Pothan (Ministry of External Affairs); and Mr. Madhav Mallya (Jindal Global Law School).

 

Guest Lecture on “Basics of Investment Treaty Arbitration”

by Prof. Dr. Steffen Hindelang organised by Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution in collaboration with Centre for International Investment and Trade Laws. He is a Professor at Uppsala University and an ICSID Arbitrator. The guest lecture is scheduled for the 27th of August from 4:30 to 5:30 PM.

Venue: Performing Arts Academy, Prithviraj Jindal Academic Block (T1), First Floor

Short bio of the speaker:
Steffen Hindelang is Professor of International Investment and Trade Law at Uppsala University in Sweden. He is also the Executive Director of the CELIS Institute, an independent, non-profit, non-partisan research enterprise dedicated to promoting better regulation of foreign investment in the context of security, public order and competitiveness. Steffen has advised the EU, European governments as well as companies on investment review regimes, international investment disputes, and international organisations on the reform of the current international investment law regime. He has been repeatedly invited by the European Parliament’s INTA Committee to prepare studies on the development of the EU’s Common Commercial Policy. He frequently acts as an expert advisor before international tribunals and national courts and has served as an ICSID arbitrator