The Centre for Policy and Research in International Law (“CPRIL”), organised an Expert Lecture by Prof. Dr. Prabhash Ranjan on the topic of “India and Bilateral Investment Treaties” on March 21, 2025 at the National Law University, Jodhpur.
Prof. Prabhash Ranjan began the lecture by providing a detailed background on the functioning of Bilateral Investment Treaties (“BITs”). The background emphasised on the necessity of investments for States in a globalised world. The speaker held an interactive discussion on the role of BITs in ensuring and capturing investments and the balancing of rights between the Host State and Investor through these treaties. The issue of retrospective amendment and prolonged judicial battles in the Vodafone case of 2011 was highlighted to provide context to the students on the importance of binding States through treaties.
Various principles such as the Most Favoured Nation, National Treatment and rights like protection against unlawful expropriation and their inclusion in BITs was explained by the speaker. The speaker furthered the need for due process in order to protect investments. Subsequent to the discussion on the need for BITs and the provisions of BITs, Prof. Prabhash Ranjan focused on the Indian story with respect to BITs. The lecture focused on the progression for policies of investment from 1960s to 1990s. The speaker emphasised on the circumstances leading to the Liberalisation, Globalisation and Privatisation in 1991 and its impact on foreign investment. The discussion progressed onto the clauses adopted in the Model BIT by India and the reasoning underlying the same with specific emphasis on the impact of cases like the White Industries case. The lecture concluded with a Question and Answer session between Prof. Ranjan and students. A variety of questions ranging from the impact of humanitarian crisis on investment laws and treaties to clauses of BITs drafted by India were answered by the speaker.
The lecture concluded with a vote of thanks and a felicitation of the speaker by Dr. Manoj Kumar Singh, Dean (Academics).
