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The Supreme Court of India, by way of its judgement dated 25.03.2026, in the matter of Nagaraj V. Mylandla v. P.I. Opportunities Fund-I and Others Etc.1, reiterated that foreign arbitral awards can be resisted in India only on limited public policy grounds and courts cannot re examine such awards on merits at the enforcement stage.
The court emphasized that it is the sovereign commitment of India to honour foreign awards, except on the exhaustive grounds provided under Article V of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 1958 (New York Convention). In addition to this, the court relied on the principle of 'transnational issue estoppel' which prevents a party from re-litigating the same factual or legal issues in an Indian enforcement court, which has already been adjudicated by the foreign court at the seat of arbitration. The court also observed that the application of the doctrine of 'transnational issue estoppel' would effectively curb the propensity of parties to relitigate settled factual issues taking advantage of the fact that they are before a different court in a different jurisdiction.
Footnote
1. SLP (Civil) Nos. 31945-31947 of 2025
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