Publications

Cross-border digital services pose a novel challenge to international taxation. Not covered by the traditional definition of ​‘permanent establishment’ (PE), digital services have been sought to be alternatively taxed under various ​‘source-based’ approaches: via Digital Service Taxes (or Equalization Levies), via the Significant Economic Presence (SEP) test, as Service PEs, as Dependent Agent PEs, and as Virtual PEs. Each of these…

A crucial arbitration award has been set aside by the Delhi High Court based on the finding that private entities carrying out state functions through commercial contracts must serve public interest. In Union of India v Reliance Industries Ltd. and Ors, an arbitral award was set aside on the basis that private corporations entrusted with sovereign functions cannot avoid constitutional accountability, notwithstanding the commercial…

In January 2025, India’s Consumer Protection Authority issued notices to Ola and Uber on the allegation that these ride-sharing platforms were pricing services differentially based on the profile of the user — iPhones were charged higher than Android devices and (anecdotally) also variably based on a device’s remaining battery level. The question of processing user data extraneous to the relevant service is increasingly prominent in…

Freedom to choose seats of arbitration is essential to party autonomy in international commercial arbitration. In Arif Azim Company Limited v Micromax Informatics FZE, the Supreme Court first upheld the parties’ rights to choose arbitral seats. It then applied the Shashoua principle to recognise a designated venue as the seat of arbitration, if a supranational set of rules accompanied it and there was no contrary…

There is increasing debate surrounding the unprecedented use of unilateral sanctions in recent years (e.g. by the US, the EU, Japan, China, and Russia) — specifically, their legality under international law (as countermeasures), legality under WTO law (as national security exceptions), their architecture and overall market-distorting effect, and investment protection and/​or administrative disputes against (allegedly wrongful)…