DIAC Arbitration Process: Step by Step from Notice to Award

What actually happens at DIAC, in short

A DIAC arbitration is a dispute filed with the Delhi International Arbitration Centre and decided by an arbitral tribunal under the DIAC (Arbitration Proceedings) Rules, 2023. It opens with a notice to the other side. Then you file a written Request at DIAC, the respondent gets 30 days to respond, the tribunal is formed and fees are paid. After that it looks a lot like a civil trial held in a private room. Pleadings, documents, issues, evidence, arguments, award.

Two sets of rules run side by side. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (the Act) sets the framework and the outer time limits. The DIAC Rules supply the detail: what the Request must contain, how arbitrators are picked from the DIAC panel, when deposits fall due, and how the award gets scrutinised before anyone signs it. If they clash, the Act wins. Rule 1.3 says the mandatory provisions of the Act prevail.

How you got to DIAC doesn't change much. You may have come through a clause in your contract or a Section 11 referral by the Delhi High Court, and some parties only sign a memorandum after the dispute has already started. Either way, the process is the same from there. Not sure DIAC applies to you at all? Our page on working with a DIAC arbitration lawyer explains the routes in.

The ten stages of a DIAC arbitration

This is the usual order in a domestic commercial arbitration. It isn't fixed. The tribunal can reorder, merge or add stages, and it sets the real dates at the first procedural hearing.

1. Send the notice invoking arbitration

   You write to the other side invoking the arbitration clause. Say what the dispute is, list the claims, and usually propose DIAC and an arbitrator. Under Section 21 of the Act the arbitration commences on the day the respondent receives this notice. So keep the courier receipt, the tracking printout and the email delivery proof. All of it.

2. File the Request at DIAC

   The claimant files a Request for Arbitration under Rule 4. It carries the clause, the contract, both parties' details, the claim with amounts, proposals on the tribunal and proof that the respondent has been served. You pay the administrative charges at this point.

3. DIAC checks and registers it

   The Centre checks that the Request is complete. Under Rule 4.2, a Request DIAC considers inchoate isn't treated as a valid Request at all. In practice the usual hold-ups are a missing document or missing proof of service. Both are avoidable.

4. The respondent's 30 days

   Under Rule 5.1 the respondent has 30 days from receiving the Request to file its Response. It accepts or denies the claims, outlines its defence and any counter claim, and gives its arbitrator nomination or list. If it says nothing, it's presumed to have consented to arbitration at DIAC.

5. The tribunal is appointed

   With a sole arbitrator, DIAC appoints a name that appears on both lists. If there's none, the Chairperson appoints. With three arbitrators, the two party nominees pick the presiding arbitrator within 21 days, and if they can't, the Chairperson appoints within 21 days. Every arbitrator files a written disclosure under Section 12 of the Act.

6. Fees are assessed and deposited

   DIAC works out the arbitrators' fees on the sum in dispute and tells each side to deposit its share. That's normally half each. If a deposit isn't made within 30 days of falling due, Rule 33.5 lets the Centre or the tribunal terminate the claim or counter claim it relates to.

7. First procedural hearing

   The tribunal meets the parties. Under DIAC's Practice Direction of 29 May 2026, this meeting happens online. It sets dates for the Statement of Claim, Statement of Defence, counter claim, replies, documents and evidence. Section 23(4) of the Act expects pleadings to be done within six months of the arbitrator receiving notice of appointment.

8. Pleadings, admission and denial, issues

   Both sides file pleadings with their documents. Then each admits or denies the other's papers. The tribunal frames the issues it must decide, and usually deals with any objection to its jurisdiction under Section 16 at this point.

9. Evidence

   Witness affidavits come first. Then each witness is cross-examined in sittings before the tribunal, ordinarily in DIAC's hearing rooms. Expert evidence, if there is any, comes in here too.

10. Arguments and the award

    Written submissions, then oral arguments. The tribunal sends a draft award to the DIAC Coordinator for scrutiny at least 45 days before its time runs out, and then signs and delivers the final award. Section 29A wants the award within 12 months of completion of pleadings. By consent, that stretches by six months.

Once the award is out, you've got 30 days to ask for corrections under Section 33. The losing side has three months (plus up to 30 days more for sufficient cause) to challenge it under Section 34. If there's no stay, the winner can enforce it under Section 36.

How long each stage takes, and what you pay

Before you file: the notice, and your limitation date

Most businesses treat the notice as a formality. It isn't. Section 21 of the Act fixes the start of the arbitration on the date the respondent receives it, and Section 43 applies the Limitation Act, 1963 to arbitrations. Most money claims carry a three-year limitation period. A notice received inside those three years protects the claim, even if the Request goes in later. Leave a claim out of the notice, though, and expect the other side to argue it was never referred.

A good notice names the clause and describes the dispute. It lists every claim with its amount and basis. If the clause gives a choice of institution, it proposes DIAC, and it either proposes an arbitrator or invites a joint nomination. Send it to the contract address and the registered office. Courier and email, both. And if the respondent writes back with a different arbitrator in mind, that letter becomes part of the record DIAC (and any Section 11 court) will read.

When Advocate B.K. Singh takes on a fresh DIAC matter, the first thing he prepares is a one-page limitation sheet. It lists each claim, the date it arose, the article of the Limitation Act that applies, any written acknowledgment or part payment that restarts time under Sections 18 and 19, and the last safe date to send the notice. Everything after that gets planned around this one sheet.

Filing the Request: what DIAC looks for

Rule 4.1 sets out what the Request must carry, so far as it applies to your case. That means any court referral order, the request itself, the full arbitration clause, a memorandum of consent if the clause doesn't name DIAC, and copies of the contracts. It also means disclosing related arbitrations between the same parties, giving party and lawyer details, and describing the dispute with claims in quantified amounts. Add proposals on the number of arbitrators, governing law, language and seat, your arbitrator list or nomination, proof of service on the other side, and confirmation that administrative charges are paid. Long list. Rule 4.3 lets you file the Statement of Claim along with the Request, if you're ready.

For a sole arbitrator, you list five names from the DIAC panel. For a three-member tribunal you nominate one panel arbitrator, get that person's consent and confirm that no ground of ineligibility under Section 12(5) of the Act applies. You can go outside the panel only where it lacks the qualification the parties agreed on. That's rare, in our experience.

This page sticks to the sequence. How to draft the Request and what to file with it is in our guide on starting a DIAC arbitration. Picking arbitrators gets its own guide on DIAC arbitrator appointment.

If you're the respondent: your 30 days

Rule 5.1 gives the respondent 30 days from receiving the Request to file a Response. In it you confirm or deny the claims, including whether the arbitration agreement applies at all. You give your own details and your lawyers', describe the defence and any counter claim with amounts, comment on what the claimant has proposed, and give your five names or your nominee. You also confirm service on all parties and payment of your administrative charges. Rule 5.2 lets you file the Statement of Defence and counter claim with it.

Stay silent and Rule 5.1 presumes you've consented to arbitration at DIAC. That presumption is what allows DIAC to press on and appoint the tribunal. You can still object to jurisdiction later, before the tribunal. It's just harder. A respondent that never responded struggles to argue that it didn't accept DIAC.

For a company that needs board approval, thirty days is nothing. Fix the date of receipt on day one, pull together the contract and the correspondence in the first week, and by the third week decide whether you have a counter claim. Don't drift. What goes into each is covered in our guide on defending and counter claiming at DIAC.

Forming the tribunal: disclosure, challenges and delay

Under Rule 8 the parties can choose one arbitrator or three. Never more than three. If they haven't agreed, it's a sole arbitrator. Once a name is settled, the arbitrator gives a written disclosure under Section 12 of the Act and the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, covering past dealings with the parties or their lawyers, any interest in the outcome, and current workload. Certain relationships listed in the Seventh Schedule make a person ineligible outright under Section 12(5), unless both sides waive it in writing after the dispute arises.

If you doubt an arbitrator's independence, you can challenge the appointment before DIAC under Rule 10. Your notice of challenge has to reach DIAC within 14 days of receiving notice of the appointment or learning of the grounds, and nothing happens on it until a processing deposit is paid. The Chairperson or a Sub-Committee decides, ordinarily within 60 days. Under Section 13 of the Act the outer statutory window is 15 days. Whether a challenge is worth making is discussed in our guide on objecting to a DIAC arbitrator.

If the Delhi High Court sent the case under Section 11, its order may already name the arbitrator. Then this stage is quick. DIAC tells the arbitrator, takes the disclosure and moves on to fees. That route has its own guide on Section 11 references to DIAC.

Where fees come into the timetable

People think of fees as a side issue. At DIAC they decide whether the case moves at all. DIAC assesses the arbitrators' fees on the claim and counter claim added together, under the DIAC (Administrative Costs and Arbitrators' Fees) Rules, 2018, and normally asks each side to deposit half. The money is released to the tribunal in stages, from framing of issues through to the award. The arbitrator gets paid as the case moves.

If a party doesn't pay, Rule 33.5 allows the claim or counter claim concerned to be terminated once 30 days pass from the due date. A claimant can pay the respondent's share to keep its own claim alive. With a strong claim, it's often worth doing. In Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd v. Delhi International Arbitration Centre (18 March 2026), the Delhi High Court upheld separate assessment of claim and counter claim where one side refused to pay its share. The actual figures and fee schedule are in our guide on DIAC arbitration fees.

The first procedural hearing sets your calendar

Soon after appointment, the tribunal holds a first procedural hearing under Rule 21.2. DIAC's Practice Direction 1/2026, dated 29 May 2026, says preliminary procedural hearings must happen virtually. Physical hearing rooms are kept for evidence, final arguments, applications under Sections 13, 16 and 17 of the Act, and other cases where people need to be present. Check the current practice direction before your hearing. These things change.

At this hearing the tribunal fixes dates for the Statement of Claim, the Statement of Defence and counter claim, the reply and rejoinder, admission and denial of documents, the list of witnesses and the evidence affidavits. It records whether hearings will be in person or online, the language, and how documents get exchanged. All of this goes into a procedural order. Keep it on your desk for the rest of the case.

Go in with realistic dates. A claimant that asks for two weeks to file its Statement of Claim and then wants three extensions only hurts its own credibility. And under Rule 21.4, an adjournment application filed less than 15 days before a hearing has to carry a fee of Rs 3,000.

Pleadings, documents and issues

The Statement of Claim (Rule 16) lays out the facts and the contract terms you rely on. It gives each claim with its calculation, interest and costs, and attaches the documents. Then the other side replies. The Statement of Defence (Rule 17) answers it paragraph by paragraph, raises preliminary objections like limitation or lack of jurisdiction, and includes any set-off or counter claim. Miss the timetable and Rule 16.2 and Rule 17.2 let the tribunal terminate the claim or close the defence. Amendments need the tribunal's leave under Rule 18, and if the amount changes, the Coordinator may reassess fees. Drafting is covered in our guide on the DIAC Statement of Claim.

Once pleadings close, each side admits or denies the other's documents. An admitted document needs no formal proof. That alone can save weeks of evidence. The tribunal then frames issues, often from a list counsel have agreed, and decides any jurisdiction objection under Section 16. That plea must be raised no later than the Statement of Defence. If the tribunal accepts it, the case ends there and the claimant can appeal under Section 37. If it rejects the plea, the case carries on.

Evidence and hearings at DIAC

Evidence usually comes in by affidavit. Each witness is then cross-examined in front of the tribunal. A company typically puts up one or two officers who handled the contract, plus an accounts witness and a technical expert if the case needs them. Many tribunals fix a time budget for cross-examination so it doesn't drag on. Under Rule 26.3, if a party doesn't turn up without sufficient cause, the tribunal can go ahead without it.

Evidence hearings happen in DIAC's rooms on the Delhi High Court campus. Usually, anyway. The tribunal can, after consulting the parties, sit elsewhere or online. If it sits outside DIAC, Rule 23.3 requires it to send DIAC an intimation and a copy of the proceedings within 7 days. Emails and WhatsApp messages should be backed by a certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Don't skip it.

Interim applications while the case runs

Interim relief runs on its own track, alongside the main case. Before the tribunal is formed, you can ask DIAC for an emergency arbitrator under Rule 14. The order has to come within 14 days of the emergency arbitrator's appointment, and it lasts 90 days unless the tribunal changes or extends it. Once the tribunal is in place, it can grant interim measures under Section 17 of the Act and Rule 15. Securing the amount in dispute, say, or preserving goods, or appointing a receiver. Those orders are enforceable like court orders.

There's no separate arbitrator's fee for Section 17 applications under the DIAC fee rules. You can also go to court under Section 9. But once the tribunal is constituted, the court ordinarily won't step in unless the Section 17 remedy wouldn't work. The emergency route is explained in our guide on the DIAC emergency arbitrator.

Arguments, the draft award check, and the deadline

After evidence come written submissions and oral arguments. Then the tribunal writes the award. DIAC adds a step that ad hoc arbitrations don't have. Under Rule 31.1, the tribunal sends its draft award to the DIAC Coordinator at least 45 days before its time expires. A committee checks the draft for form and may suggest changes within one month. It doesn't touch the merits. If no suggestions arrive in time, the tribunal finalises the award.

The deadline itself comes from Section 29A of the Act. It's 12 months from completion of pleadings, extendable by six months by consent, and Rule 31.1 treats this as an 18-month window including the extension. After that only the court can extend the mandate. Section 29A(4) lets the court cut the arbitrator's fee by up to five percent for each month of delay that's down to the tribunal. Time spent on a pending challenge to an arbitrator is added under Rule 10. Extensions are covered in our guide on the DIAC arbitration time limit.

Papers to keep ready from notice to award

• The contract with the arbitration clause, every amendment, and the purchase orders and work orders
• Your notice invoking arbitration, proof it was delivered, and their reply if they sent one
• The Delhi High Court's Section 11 order if there is one, or else the signed memorandum agreeing to DIAC
• DIAC's filing receipt, the administrative cost receipt and each fee deposit receipt
• Every procedural order of the tribunal, with all its dates put into a calendar the whole team can see
• Invoices, ledgers, bank statements and balance confirmations, indexed and page-numbered
• Emails, letters and WhatsApp chats in date order, with a Section 63 Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam certificate
• A board resolution or authority letter for whoever signs, and for the witnesses
• Draft witness affidavits, and an expert report if there's a technical issue
• A running sum of principal, interest and costs that someone updates at every stage

Where the arbitration sits, and which court supervises it

The case is filed and run at DIAC, on the Delhi High Court campus in New Delhi. Under Rule 23.1 the seat is New Delhi unless the parties expressly agree something else. The seat matters. It decides which courts supervise the arbitration, and so where you file for interim relief under Section 9, a challenge under Section 34 or an extension under Section 29A.

For commercial disputes of Rs 3 lakh and above, Section 10 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 sends those applications to the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court when the value is above Rs 2 crore. Below that, they go to the Commercial Court at District Judge level that has jurisdiction. Check the current pecuniary limit, because it's been under review since late 2025. If your business is in Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram or Faridabad, you'll still attend the arbitration in Delhi. Your local courts come in only at execution, where the assets are.

Where DIAC cases usually go wrong

• The notice is vague. If it only says "disputes have arisen", expect a limitation fight over every claim it didn't name.
• The Request goes in half-done. No proof of service, or a contract copy missing, and registration can sit for weeks.
• The respondent waits for DIAC to write. Your 30 days run from receiving the Request. No reminder resets them.
• Deposits get paid late. A treasury approval that takes six weeks can cost you a claim under Rule 33.5.
• Documents trickle in. Tribunals don't like admitting papers that weren't filed with pleadings, unless there's a good reason.
• Nobody picks witnesses until late. The manager who ran the contract may have left the company by then. Trace people early.
• No one watches the Section 29A clock. Once the mandate expires, somebody has to apply to court before an award can be made.

After the award, and how the process feels from each side

When the award arrives, check the arithmetic and look for any claim it missed. Do it straight away. Section 33 allows corrections or an additional award only if you ask within 30 days. The losing side can challenge under Section 34 within three months, plus up to 30 days for sufficient cause, and filing a challenge doesn't stay the award automatically. What comes next is in our guides on challenging a DIAC award and enforcing a DIAC award. You can settle at any point. Under Rule 29 the parties can ask for the proceedings to be held in abeyance for mediation, and a settlement can be recorded as a consent award under Section 30. Our guide on settling during a DIAC arbitration explains how.

If you're the supplier or service provider bringing the claim, most of the work comes early, in the notice, the Request and the documents. If you're the buyer or contractor defending, the pressure points are the 30-day Response, the fee deposit and deciding on a counter claim. Startups and MSMEs feel the deposits most. A registered micro or small supplier should check whether the MSME Facilitation Council route under Section 18 of the MSMED Act is open before choosing DIAC. Large companies and public bodies need approvals for deposits, nominations and settlement lined up in advance. The DIAC timetable won't wait for an internal committee.

When an arbitration reaches Advocate B.K. Singh halfway through, the delay is seldom the arbitrator's doing. Usually it's a missed procedural date, a late deposit or a document filed out of turn. Frankly, a one-page calendar of every date in the procedural order, owned by one named person in the company, prevents most of it.

If you'd like your notice, Request or procedural calendar looked at before your next date, send them to Advocate B.K. Singh's team through our contact page.