How to Start an Arbitration at DIAC: Filing the Request, Step by Step

The short version: what starting at DIAC involves

Everything begins with one document, the Request. Rule 4.1 of the Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Arbitration Proceedings) Rules, 2023 says what goes in it. You need the arbitration clause and the contract, a statement of the dispute with the amount claimed, and your proposals on the number of arbitrators and the seat. You also need your list of arbitrator names from the DIAC panel, proof that the other side has been served, and confirmation that you've paid the administrative charges. File all that and DIAC registers the matter. Then it asks the other side to respond.

The Request isn't your whole case. Think of it as the opening notice. The detailed Statement of Claim normally follows later, within whatever time the tribunal fixes at its first procedural meeting. If your Statement of Claim is ready, you can file it along with the Request (Rule 4.3). Sometimes that's the sensible thing to do.

Two legal points sit underneath all of this. First, under Section 21 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, an arbitration commences on the date the respondent receives a request to refer the dispute to arbitration. That's the date limitation cares about. Second, DIAC won't act on an incomplete Request. Rule 4.2 says a Request DIAC considers 'inchoate' isn't valid. So a half-ready filing rushed in can lose you more time than it saves.

Is DIAC even open to you? Start with the clause

DIAC can only take a dispute the parties agreed to send it, or one a court referred. That makes the clause your starting point, and it deserves a slow read. Wording like 'shall be referred to arbitration under the Rules of the Delhi International Arbitration Centre', or 'administered by DIAC', means you can file a Request directly. Under Section 7 of the Act, an arbitration agreement can be in a signed contract, in letters or emails exchanged, or in a reference to some other document that has the clause. So don't stop at the main contract. Purchase order terms, a master agreement or an email chain can each carry the clause.

Sometimes the clause provides for arbitration but leaves out the institution, or lets one side appoint the arbitrator. You can still get to DIAC. One way is a memorandum of understanding both sides sign, choosing DIAC. Rule 4.1(e) provides for exactly that, and DIAC has a model format. The other way, when the opposite party digs in, is a Section 11 petition before the Delhi High Court, which often appoints an arbitrator and directs that the arbitration be held under the aegis of DIAC. That route is explained on our page on the Section 11 reference to DIAC.

A clause that lets one party alone pick the sole arbitrator used to look like a shortcut. Now it's a liability. The Supreme Court held in TRF (2017) and Perkins Eastman (2019) that a party can't appoint unilaterally. In Central Organisation for Railway Electrification v. ECI-SPIC-SMO-MCML (2024), a Constitution Bench went further and held that unilateral appointment clauses offend the equal treatment of parties. If your clause reads like that, don't lean on it. Go to DIAC by consent, or through the court.

If there's no arbitration clause at all, arbitration is off the table unless both sides agree to it now, and your route is a commercial suit. We compare the two on DIAC arbitration or commercial court suit. One more thing. If you're a registered micro or small supplier chasing delayed payment, read DIAC or MSME Facilitation Council before you file anything, because Section 18 of the MSMED Act, 2006 can override a private arbitration clause.

The law behind a DIAC filing

Before you file: the Section 21 notice, and limitation

Most clauses expect a notice before anyone files. Some want 30 days of negotiation between senior officers first, or a reference to an engineer or a committee. Read the steps and follow them. If they'd be pointless (the other side has refused to meet, say), put that in writing. Skip an agreed step and you've handed the respondent an easy first objection. Arbitrators don't enjoy starting a case with a procedural fight.

The notice invoking arbitration, which people call the Section 21 notice, should identify the contract and the clause and describe the dispute and the amount. It should say you're referring the dispute to arbitration under the DIAC Rules, and either propose arbitrators or invite the other side to agree on one. Email it to the address in the contract. Also send it by speed post or courier to the registered office, and keep the delivery proof. Rule 3.3 of the DIAC Rules treats an email as delivered when it's transmitted. A court looking at limitation, though, will want to see that it was actually received.

For most money claims, limitation is three years under the Limitation Act, 1963, counted from when payment fell due or when the breach happened. A written acknowledgment of the debt (Section 18) or a part payment (Section 19) starts a fresh period. Our page on limitation for recovery of money has the detail. When a DIAC file lands on Advocate B.K. Singh's desk, the first thing he writes on the cover is the last safe date to serve the Request. Every other step gets planned backwards from it.

Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 forces pre-institution mediation before a commercial suit. It doesn't apply to arbitration. You don't need a Legal Services Authority report to start at DIAC. You can still offer mediation, and DIAC can host it, but it's not a condition for filing.

How to file at DIAC, step by step

This is the order we work in when we act for a claimant. The respondent's side has its own page on defending a DIAC arbitration.

1. Read the clause and every contract document

   Confirm DIAC is in the clause, or that there's a court order or signed memorandum taking the dispute there. Write down the agreed number of arbitrators, the seat, the language and any pre-arbitration step. Then gather everything that could hold contract terms. Purchase orders, work orders, emails, meeting minutes.

2. Fix the claim and the limitation date

   Calculate principal, interest so far (at the contract rate, or a reasonable commercial one) and any damages. For each amount, find when it fell due, and when the debtor last acknowledged it or paid part. That gives you your time left. It also shows which claims are already weak.

3. Send the notice invoking arbitration

   Serve the Section 21 notice, taking the dispute to DIAC arbitration and suggesting arbitrators. Save the email trail and the postal tracking. With limitation close, the Request can double as the notice. Don't hang around for an answer that may never arrive.

4. Draft the Request under Rule 4.1

   Work through items (a) to (m), covering whichever apply: the clause, the contract, the dispute, relief and amounts, procedural proposals, related arbitrations, arbitrator names. Stick to facts and leave nothing out. Save the arguing for the Statement of Claim.

5. Pick your arbitrator names

   For a sole arbitrator, five names off the current DIAC panel. For three arbitrators, one nominee, whose consent you take after confirming no Section 12(5) disqualification under the Seventh Schedule applies. Either way, check each name for links with the other side.

6. Serve the Request on every other party

   The complete Request and documents go to the respondent and anyone else bound by the arbitration agreement, by email and by post or courier. DIAC needs proof of service it's satisfied with under Rule 4.1(l). Keep every receipt and delivery report.

7. Pay the administrative charges and file

   Use the fee calculator and payment link on DIAC's website to pay the registration charges. File the Request with proof of payment and of service. You can file at the counter in the Centre or through the e-filing module. Ring the DIAC office beforehand to confirm current practice.

8. Track registration and the reply

   After registration, DIAC notifies everyone. The respondent's thirty days under Rule 5.1 start running. Put that in the diary, along with any deposit dates DIAC sets and the deadline for constituting the tribunal.

If the other side has already gone to court with a Section 9 petition or a suit on the same contract, say so in the Request. In that court, raise the arbitration clause at the earliest opportunity. Section 8 of the Act obliges the court to refer the parties to arbitration if you object no later than your first statement on the substance of the dispute.

Papers to collect before you file

What the Request has to say, item by item

• Terms of reference and court order (items a and b). If you've got provisional terms of reference, attach them. Where a court made the reference, attach its order, and read it carefully, because it often fixes the arbitrator or the fee terms.
• The request and the clause (items c and d). Say in so many words that you're requesting the dispute be referred to arbitration. Then set out the clause you're invoking in full. Quote it, don't paraphrase it.
• The MoU and the contract (items e and f). Where the clause doesn't provide for DIAC, attach the signed memorandum agreeing to it. Attach copies of the contracts or instruments the dispute comes out of.
• Related arbitrations (item g). Disclose any other arbitration between the same parties over the same dispute, or a related one from the same transaction. Keep one quiet and you'll face an application to consolidate, or an objection, later on.
• Parties and lawyers (item h). Full names, addresses, emails and phone numbers for every party and its lawyers, so far as you know them. Use the registered office and the contract's notice address. A wrong address holds up service.
• The dispute and the money (item i). Describe the dispute, your claims and the relief you want, with amounts quantified, and give an estimate for anything you can't quantify yet. DIAC's fee assessment runs off the quantified figure. Don't inflate it, and don't leave it blank either.
• Procedure (item j). Set out what's already agreed on the number of arbitrators, governing law, language and seat. If nothing's agreed, give your proposals.
• Arbitrators, service and fees (items k, l and m). Your five panel names or your nominee, proof that the other parties were served, and confirmation that the administrative charges are paid.

Picking arbitrators when you file

You're locked into your arbitrator choices the day you file. So settle them before the draft is final. For a sole arbitrator, Rule 4.1(k) asks for five names from the DIAC panel. The respondent gives its own five in its response, and under Rule 8.3 DIAC appoints from names that appear on both lists. If no name is common, the Chairperson or a Sub-Committee appoints under Rule 8.4. In practice the lists hardly ever overlap. Expect DIAC to choose.

Still, pick names that fit the dispute. A construction claim full of measurement fights may need someone at home with technical evidence. A share purchase dispute wants someone comfortable with valuation and corporate paperwork. For a plain unpaid-invoice claim, you want an arbitrator who keeps hearings short. The DIAC panel has retired judges, senior advocates and technical members, and the current list is on DIAC's website.

With a three-member tribunal, you name your arbitrator in the Request, after getting consent and confirming the person isn't ineligible under Section 12(5) read with the Seventh Schedule. The respondent names its own in the response. The two nominees then appoint the presiding arbitrator within 21 days. How DIAC makes appointments, and how to object to one, is covered on our page on DIAC arbitrator appointment.

Three arbitrators cost a lot more (about 2.4 times a sole arbitrator on DIAC's fee schedule) and are much harder to get in one room. For most claims under a few crore, go with a sole arbitrator unless the contract insists on three.

What you pay on filing, and the deposits that come after

On filing, only DIAC's administrative charges are due from the claimant. The respondent pays its own with its response (Rule 5.1(g)). The arbitrators' fees come separately, as deposits DIAC demands after registration. The amounts follow DIAC's schedule under the DIAC (Administrative Costs and Arbitrators' Fees) Rules, 2018, pegged to the sum in dispute, and a calculator sits on DIAC's website. Use today's schedule. Old figures mislead.

Rule 33.1 of the 2023 Rules ordinarily splits deposits 50 percent to the claimant and 50 percent to the respondent, and DIAC may set separate deposits for claim and counter claim. Where a deposit stays unpaid thirty days after it fell due, Rule 33.5 allows DIAC or the tribunal to end the arbitration for that claim or counter claim. In Samsung India Electronics v. Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Delhi High Court, 18 March 2026), the court backed DIAC's separate assessment of claim and counter claim fees, in a case where the respondent wouldn't pay its share on the main claim.

Plan, then, for paying both halves if that's what keeps your claim going. Under Rule 33.2, liability for deposits is joint and several, and either party can cover the other's share. We go through the numbers and the remedies on our pages on DIAC arbitration fees and on the other side not paying.

Put your own lawyers in the budget too, along with stenography, copies and any expert you'll need on quantum or technical points. We discuss our professional fees at the first meeting and agree them in writing, stage by stage.

How long each early stage takes, and what it costs

Where the arbitration sits, and which court supervises it

You'll find DIAC on the Delhi High Court campus, Shershah Road, New Delhi. Confirm the address and filing hours on its website before going over. Rule 23.1 makes New Delhi the seat of a DIAC arbitration, unless the parties expressly chose something else. Hearings needn't happen at the seat, though. Rule 23.2 lets the tribunal sit wherever is convenient, and Rule 26.1(a) lets it choose, after consulting the parties, between in-person and video hearings. Ask how your tribunal runs things.

Why does the seat matter? Because the courts of the seat supervise the arbitration. They hear a Section 9 application for interim measures, a Section 34 challenge to the award, and execution. With New Delhi as seat and a commercial dispute, Section 10 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 routes those to the Delhi High Court's Commercial Division when the value is above Rs 2 crore, and to a district Commercial Court for anything less. A proposal to raise the Delhi district court limit has been pending, so confirm the figure that applies today. Our page on which commercial court will hear your case walks through the value rules.

A business in Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram or Faridabad can use DIAC just as a Delhi business can. Watch one drafting trap, though. Suppose the contract picks DIAC rules but puts the seat in Gurugram. The supervising court then follows the seat, not DIAC's address. Better to sort that out early. See our page on the DIAC arbitration clause.

Should the Statement of Claim go in with the Request?

Rule 4.3 allows it. When your papers are in order, it has real advantages. The respondent sees your full case from the first day, the tribunal can set a tighter timetable at the first meeting, and the six-month pleadings window under Section 23(4) is less likely to slip.

It's a bad idea in some situations. Limitation may be close while the claim still needs work. You may be waiting on an expert's quantum report. Or you expect the respondent to deny that any arbitration agreement exists, so the forum question may get argued first. In any of those, file a complete but lean Request now. Use the weeks before the first procedural meeting to build the Statement of Claim properly. Rule 4.4 allows claims and reliefs to be added to and amended later.

Whichever way you go, the figures in the Request and the Statement of Claim must match, or the difference must be explained. A claim that balloons between the two raises questions about the fee assessment. And about you. What goes into a good Statement of Claim is in our guide on the DIAC statement of claim.

If you need urgent protection while you file

Nothing gets frozen just because a Request is on file. Maybe the other side is about to sell off the goods, clean out a bank account, cash a guarantee or start trading on your brand. Then you need an interim order. The DIAC Rules offer an emergency arbitrator under Rule 14, appointed within two business days, who has fourteen days from appointment to decide. Our guide on the DIAC emergency arbitrator covers the process.

Or go to the court at the seat under Section 9. Courts can act ex parte where giving notice would defeat the whole point. An emergency arbitrator can't do that. It must hear both sides. When a court grants interim measures before arbitration begins, the arbitration has to start within 90 days of the order, or within whatever longer time the court allows. So the Section 9 order and the DIAC Request are often prepared side by side.

What happens once you've filed

DIAC's office checks the Request. If anything Rule 4.1 requires is missing, you'll be asked to fix it, and until you do, the Request may not count as valid. Once it's registered, the respondent has thirty days from receipt to file its response, with its own arbitrator list and charges. If it stays silent, Rule 5.1 presumes it has consented to arbitration under the DIAC Rules. DIAC goes ahead and appoints.

Respondents often file a counter claim with the response, or object to jurisdiction. Sometimes both. A jurisdiction objection (that the claim falls outside the clause, for example, or is time barred) is for the tribunal to decide under Section 16 of the Act. DIAC's office doesn't rule on it. A counter claim gets its own fee assessment.

Once constituted, the tribunal holds a first procedural meeting. It fixes the timetable for pleadings, documents and evidence and sorts out practical things like hearing dates and video conferencing. From there the case runs as our guide to the DIAC arbitration process describes. When files reach Advocate B.K. Singh halfway through, the damage usually goes back to the first month. An incomplete Request, a missed deposit, or an arbitrator list nobody checked for conflicts.

Mistakes that hold up or sink a DIAC filing

• Filing on a clause that never mentions DIAC. With no DIAC clause, signed MoU or court order, DIAC has nothing to proceed on. Sort out the forum first.
• Waiting on a reply while limitation runs. Their silence doesn't stop the clock. Serve the Request before your last safe date, even if the contract's notice period hasn't fully run, and say why you couldn't wait.
• Sending the Request to the wrong address. Use the notice clause address and the registered office, and keep proof. A fight about receipt turns into a fight about limitation.
• Not putting a number on the claim. Rule 4.1(i) asks for amounts. A vague figure slows the fee assessment and invites a provisional estimate under Rule 33.3 that may not suit you at all.
• Naming arbitrators without a conflict check. Having to withdraw a name after an objection costs weeks. Look for any past role with the other side, its group companies or its lawyers.
• Ignoring the deposit notice. Under Rule 33.5, not depositing within thirty days of the due date can finish the claim. Put every deposit in the calendar. Be ready to pay the other side's share if it comes to that.
• Bundling two contracts into one Request without thinking it through. Different clauses or different parties can draw a jurisdiction objection to a combined claim. Separate Requests, consolidated later under Rule 6, may be safer.
• Treating the Request as your full pleading. The Request gets the case started cleanly. After that, prepare a proper Statement of Claim with every document you mean to rely on.

How it differs for suppliers, service firms, lenders, startups and large companies

Goods suppliers usually have the simplest file. Invoices, delivery proof, a ledger and a handful of emails. The big question is whether the supplier is a registered micro or small enterprise. If it is, the MSME Facilitation Council route under Section 18 of the MSMED Act may beat DIAC, with interest at three times the RBI bank rate and a 75 percent deposit the buyer must make before it can challenge the award.

Service firms, IT vendors and consultants tend to fight over whether the work met the specifications. Their Request should point to acceptance documents, sign-offs and change requests, because the defence will be about quality, not about being unable to pay. Lenders and investors who put money into a company under a loan or investment agreement with a DIAC clause should look hard at the guarantees and security documents. If the guarantor signed a separate deed with no arbitration clause in it, the guarantor may not be bound to arbitrate.

Startups mostly worry about cost. Three things help: a sole arbitrator, a lean Request filed with the Statement of Claim, and an early request for a fast track procedure under Rules 12 and 13 (which needs the other side's written agreement). Large companies have a different headache. Their disputes often span several contracts and group entities, so related arbitrations need disclosing, the right entities need joining, and the signatory needs internal approval, all before filing.

Government bodies and PSUs have their own clauses, often with an internal dispute committee step built in. Follow it. Document it, and keep a copy of every letter.

What to do this week

Dig out the arbitration clause first, along with anything else that might contain it. Note what's owed, when it fell due, and when they last acknowledged it or paid part. If DIAC is named in the clause, get going on the Request and your panel names today. If it isn't, choose between asking the other side to sign a DIAC memorandum and filing a Section 11 petition. Disputes outside DIAC are covered more generally on arbitrationlawyer.in. And our DIAC arbitration lawyer page sets out how we run claims and defences at the Centre.

If you'd like someone to go through your contract, invoices and correspondence before the Request is filed, send them to Advocate B.K. Singh's team using our contact page.