In short. A business in Delhi can take almost any trading dispute to court: unpaid dues, damages for a broken contract, an injunction to stop a breach or copying, specific performance of a deal, shop and office lease fights, partnership and shareholder disputes, IP suits and court petitions in arbitrations. If the dispute comes out of business dealings and it's worth Rs 3 lakh or more, it goes to a Commercial Court, usually after mediation. Trials commonly run one to three years. A mediated settlement can come in months.
Is this your situation?
- A customer, supplier, landlord, partner or licensee has let you down, and you honestly don't know if it's even a court matter.
- One person told you it's a consumer case. Another said go to the police. You'd like a straight answer on what kind of case this is.
- You want your money back. You also want them to stop doing what they're doing.
- A former distributor is selling your designs, or your software, under his own name.
- There's an arbitration clause somewhere deep in the contract, and you're wondering whether a court can still step in.
- Before you sit across the table from a lawyer, you just want a plain list of what can be filed.
Which commercial cases can a Delhi business actually file?
Almost any dispute that grows out of your trading or professional dealings can become a commercial case, provided it's worth Rs 3 lakh or more. Money claims. Damages. Orders to stop someone, or to make them do what they promised. IP claims, lease fights, partnership quarrels and court petitions linked to an arbitration all fit. The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 decides which disputes qualify. How the case then runs is governed by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC), as amended for commercial disputes.
We find it easiest to start with one question: what do you want the judge to do? Pay you? Stop the other side? Make them finish the deal? Protect you while an arbitration goes on? Each answer leads to a different kind of case, with its own rules on evidence, urgency and time. And you don't have to pick just one. A single suit can ask for several of these together.
Treat this page as a working list. If you aren't yet sure your dispute counts as commercial at all, start with our guide on what a commercial dispute is, which walks through the definition in Section 2(1)(c) of the Act one category at a time. This page picks up where that one stops. It looks at the cases businesses really bring in Delhi and how each one tends to play out. For how we run them, see our commercial court services page.
The list: your business problem, the case, and where it goes in Delhi
| What's gone wrong | The case you can file | Where it usually goes in Delhi |
|---|---|---|
| The customer hasn't paid your invoices | A recovery suit, or a summary suit under Order XXXVII CPC if your papers qualify | District commercial court up to Rs 2 crore, Delhi High Court above that |
| You paid an advance and the supplier never delivered | A suit for your money back, with interest and damages | Same value rule |
| They broke the contract and you lost money | A damages suit, including any agreed (liquidated) damages | Same value rule |
| They won't complete the deal | A suit for specific performance under the Specific Relief Act, 1963 | Same value rule, valued on the contract |
| An old distributor or a rival is using your brand | A suit for an injunction, damages or account of profits, for trade mark infringement or passing off | District commercial court, or the Delhi High Court above Rs 2 crore |
| Someone copied your software, content or design | A copyright or design infringement suit | As in the row above |
| Your shop or office tenant won't pay, or won't leave | A suit for rent, possession and mesne profits, if the premises are used only for business and aren't covered by the Delhi Rent Control Act | Commercial court, by value |
| A partner or co-shareholder has broken the agreement | A suit on the partnership deed or the shareholders' agreement | Commercial court by value. Company law remedies go to the NCLT |
| The contract has an arbitration clause | A petition for interim measures (Section 9), appointment of an arbitrator (Section 11) or a challenge to the award (Section 34) | Commercial court or the Delhi High Court, depending on value and the kind of arbitration |
| You already hold a decree or an award | An execution petition under Order XXI CPC | The court that passed the decree, or the court where the assets are |
Money claims: recovery suits, refunds and summary suits
Most commercial cases in Delhi are about money, plain and simple. A supplier wants the price of goods it delivered. A service firm wants its fees. A contractor wants running bills paid and retention money released. One business lent to another and hasn't been repaid, or a buyer paid an advance and got nothing back. All of these are recovery suits. The plaint sets out the principal, the interest you're claiming and the papers that prove each invoice or payment.
Some claims get a faster track. If yours rests on a written contract, an invoice the buyer accepted in writing, a cheque, a bill of exchange or a promissory note, and the amount is fixed (not something the court has to assess), you can file a summary suit under Order XXXVII of the CPC. The defendant has 10 days to enter appearance. After that, it gets 10 days from service of the summons for judgment to ask for leave to defend. No leave? The court can pass a decree without a trial. Our page on the summary suit explains when this route fits.
Thin paperwork doesn't kill a claim. Say the orders came on WhatsApp and the payments went by bank transfer. You can still file a regular recovery suit, and the court will look at the whole course of dealing: ledgers, GST returns, e-way bills, messages, part payments. Interest is claimed under the contract. If the contract is silent, Section 34 of the CPC lets the court, in a commercial transaction, go above 6 percent, though ordinarily not beyond the contract rate or the bank lending rate.
Damages and specific performance: when the deal itself fell apart
If the other side broke the contract and it cost you money, you can sue for damages. We see the same patterns again and again. A supplier stops supplies in the middle of the season and you're forced to buy elsewhere at higher prices. A buyer cancels a confirmed order after you've made the goods to its specification. A service provider just walks off the project. You'll have to prove it, though: the contract, the breach, the loss, and the link between them. Agreed damages written into the contract are enforced up to a reasonable amount under Section 74 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. Even then, the judge will want your figure to bear some relation to what you really lost.
Sometimes money isn't the point. You want the share transfer completed, the commercial property sale closed, the exclusive supply honoured. Before the 2018 amendment to the Specific Relief Act, 1963, specific performance was discretionary and given only where damages weren't enough. That's changed. A court now has to enforce a valid contract, subject to the narrow exceptions in the Act. Frankly, these suits are a far more realistic option today than they were ten years ago.
They're heavier on evidence than a recovery suit. Expect a full trial. There'll be witnesses on how the deal was struck and what was lost. Limitation is generally three years. For compensation for breach of contract it's Article 55 of the Limitation Act, 1963. For specific performance it's Article 54, counted from the date fixed for performance or, if no date was fixed, from when you learnt the other side was refusing.
Injunction cases: making the other side stop
An injunction is a court order telling someone to do something, or not to do it. Businesses ask for them all the time. To stop a former distributor selling stock under their brand. To stop a vendor misusing confidential customer data. To stop a landlord cutting the electricity to a showroom while a lease dispute is pending, or to stop a bank guarantee obtained by fraud from being encashed. Most of these cases begin with an application for a temporary injunction under Order XXXIX of the CPC, filed along with the plaint. You need protection while the suit is decided, not two years later.
Courts apply three tests. Is there a prima facie case, one that looks good on the papers? Where does the balance of convenience lie, meaning who suffers more if the order is granted or refused? And will you suffer irreparable harm, the kind money can't properly repair? Delay hurts. Badly. If you knew about the copying for a year and then rushed in, expect the judge to ask why it's suddenly urgent. And because a suit that genuinely seeks urgent interim relief can skip Section 12A pre-institution mediation, your plaint has to show that urgency with facts, not adjectives.
Injunctions can be defensive too. If your dealership is being ended unfairly, or the other side is trying to forfeit your security deposit, you can sue for a declaration and an injunction to hold the position. Don't expect too much from it. Courts don't usually force two businesses to stay together once one of them has ended the relationship under the contract. But your money claims arising from the termination stay fully open.
IP cases: trade marks, copyright, designs and patents
IP disputes count as commercial disputes under Section 2(1)(c) of the Act, however small your business is. You can sue for trade mark infringement if someone uses your registered mark, and for passing off if your unregistered brand is being imitated. Copyright covers software, catalogues, packaging artwork and content. A registered product shape is protected through a design suit, and there are patent infringement suits as well. The Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Copyright Act, 1957 say these suits must be filed in a court not lower than a District Court. In Delhi that's the district commercial court or, above Rs 2 crore, the Delhi High Court, which also has an Intellectual Property Division.
IP cases usually open with a request for urgent interim relief. That's an injunction, sometimes with a court-appointed Local Commissioner who visits the infringer's premises to seize or list the goods. So what you collect before filing counts for a lot. Test purchases with invoices. Photographs of the goods and the packaging. Dated screenshots of online listings. Proof of your own sales and advertising. All of it goes into the first filing. Our page on trademark infringement suits shows how these cases are put together.
One tip keeps coming up in Advocate B.K. Singh's files. If your brand isn't registered, apply for registration the day you notice the copying. Then file the passing off suit without waiting for the certificate. The suit protects the goodwill you've built so far, and the application protects what comes next. Waiting for registration before you sue only hands the copier a few more months of sales.
Leases, partnerships, distribution and construction: the long-relationship cases
Plenty of commercial cases in Delhi come out of long relationships rather than one unpaid bill. Leases of shops, offices, warehouses and showrooms used exclusively for trade or commerce are commercial disputes. So claims for unpaid rent, mesne profits (compensation for staying on after the lease ends), return of a security deposit and possession can go to a Commercial Court. There's a Delhi catch, though. Premises covered by the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, which applies to older tenancies at lower rents, go to the Rent Controller for eviction, not the Commercial Court. Our page on commercial lease disputes explains how to tell which side of the line your lease falls on.
In a lease file, Advocate B.K. Singh usually asks for two papers before anyone argues about rent: the property tax assessment and the user clause in the lease. Why? If the property is assessed as mixed use, or the tenant lives on the floor above, the word 'exclusively' in the Act isn't satisfied. Then it's an ordinary civil suit, with different timelines. You don't want to discover that after filing. It can cost months.
Partnership and shareholder disputes are commercial when they come out of a partnership deed, an LLP agreement, a shareholders' agreement or a joint venture agreement. Think of claims for accounts, return of capital, or breach of a non-compete or exit clause. Oppression and mismanagement in a company, and company insolvency, belong to the NCLT, and we cover those on ncltlawyers.in. Distribution, franchise and agency disputes are commercial as well. So are construction and infrastructure contracts, including the ones with government departments and public sector undertakings. Our construction dispute and partnership dispute pages go into those routes.
Arbitration petitions and other cases that aren't suits
Not every commercial case is a suit. If your contract has an arbitration clause, the arbitrator decides the dispute itself. The courts still have a job, though. Under Section 10 of the Commercial Courts Act, court applications in a domestic arbitration of specified value go to the Commercial Court or, where the Delhi High Court would have had original jurisdiction over the subject matter, to its Commercial Division. In an international commercial arbitration they go to the High Court. We're talking about petitions for interim measures under Section 9, appointment of an arbitrator under Section 11 and challenges to an award under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. That's a field of its own, and we cover it on arbitrationlawyer.in.
Several other proceedings are commercial too, and they run under the same strict rules. Execution petitions to enforce a decree. Appeals under Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act. Applications for summary judgment under Order XIII-A, caveats, and applications to set aside an ex parte decree. If you're holding a decree but haven't seen the money, know this. Execution is a case in its own right, and it's often as hard as the suit was.
Counterclaims belong on this list. Say you've been sued for unpaid invoices but you've got your own grievance against the plaintiff, over defective goods, late delivery or overbilling. Raise it as a counterclaim in the same suit, with your written statement. Keeping it back for a separate case later risks conflicting findings. It also wastes money.
Business disputes that don't go to a Commercial Court
Some problems look commercial but belong somewhere else. Claims below Rs 3 lakh go to the ordinary civil courts. A bank or financial institution recovering a loan of Rs 20 lakh or more goes to the Debts Recovery Tribunal. Company insolvency, and shareholder claims of oppression and mismanagement, go to the NCLT. A cheque bounce complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 is a criminal case before a magistrate. A summary suit on the same cheque can still run alongside it.
Consumer law is a grey area. If your business bought goods or services for its own use, not for resale, it may sometimes count as a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Goods bought for a commercial purpose are generally left out, though. Employee disputes go to labour forums or civil courts, depending on the employee's role. Tax disputes go to the tax authorities and tribunals. And a homebuyer's claim against a builder is a consumer or RERA matter. It isn't a commercial dispute, even though the builder is a business.
Why does this matter? The wrong forum is expensive. A plaint filed in a Commercial Court that has no jurisdiction gets returned or rejected, after you've paid the court fee and lost months. If your case sits on a boundary, our guide on which court will hear your case helps sort it out.
Where do you actually file a commercial case in Delhi?
Two things decide the court: value and territory. A commercial case worth Rs 3 lakh up to Rs 2 crore goes to the District Judge (Commercial Court) in the Delhi district that has territorial jurisdiction. Above Rs 2 crore, it goes to the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court on its original side. Value means the amount claimed with interest up to the date of filing or, for property and intangible rights, their market value, worked out under Section 12 of the Act. Our guide on the specified value of a commercial court case shows the sum. One update. In July 2026 the Full Court of the High Court recommended raising the district courts' limit to Rs 10 crore. That needs a change to the Delhi High Court Act, so check the current limit before you file.
Territory comes from Section 20 of the CPC. You can sue where the defendant lives or carries on business, or where the cause of action arose, wholly or in part. In a lease or other property case, it's usually the court where the property sits. Inside Delhi, the district court complexes at Tis Hazari, Patiala House, Karkardooma, Rohini, Saket and Dwarka each hear commercial cases for their own districts. The defendant's district, or the property's, tells you which complex to walk into.
Turning a dispute into a commercial case, one step at a time
This order fits most commercial cases. Urgent injunction cases are the exception. They skip mediation and go straight to filing.
Say what you want, in one line
The amount you're owed, the conduct you want stopped, or the act you want done. Write it down. That one line decides the kind of case, how it's valued and what evidence you'll need.
Check limitation
Find the date the claim arose, and the latest written acknowledgment or part payment. Most commercial money claims have to be filed within three years. Sections 18 and 19 of the Limitation Act, 1963 restart the clock after a written acknowledgment or a part payment.
Read the contract for arbitration and jurisdiction clauses
An arbitration clause usually sends the main dispute to an arbitrator. A jurisdiction clause only picks between courts that already have jurisdiction. Look at both before you decide where to file.
Send a legal notice
A clear notice puts your claim on record and invites settlement. It often flushes out the other side's defence early, too. That's useful when you prepare the case.
Go through Section 12A mediation, unless you need urgent relief
Mediation runs up to three months, and can be stretched by two more with consent. The time it takes is excluded from limitation. A settlement reached there can be enforced like an arbitral award.
File the plaint with every document
The plaint carries a statement of truth. Under Order XI, every document in your power and possession has to go in with it. Leave one out and the court may not let you bring it in later.
Our guide on when a business should call a commercial lawyer lists the moments when early advice keeps a case out of trouble it didn't need.
Time and costs for the common commercial cases in Delhi
| Type of case | Main costs, leaving out the lawyer's fee | Usual time at trial level (not a promise) |
|---|---|---|
| Summary suit on invoices or a cheque | Ad valorem court fee on the claim, plus a mediation fee if you mediate. Check the current schedule | A few months if leave to defend is refused. One to three years if it's granted |
| Regular recovery suit | Court fee on the claim, mediation fee, process fees | Usually one to three years if the other side contests |
| Damages or specific performance suit | Court fee on the valuation, plus what witnesses and documents cost | Often two to four years, because there's more evidence |
| IP injunction suit | Court fee on how the reliefs are valued, and the Local Commissioner's fee if one is appointed | Interim order in days or weeks. Trial often two to four years, though plenty settle after the interim stage |
| Commercial lease suit | Court fee on the rent or mesne profits claimed, and on possession as valued | One to three years. Orders to deposit rent meanwhile can come earlier |
| Arbitration petition in court | Court fee for the petition as per the schedule | Section 9 orders can come fast. Section 34 challenges often take one to two years |
| Execution of a decree | Process fees, plus attachment and sale costs | Courts are directed to decide these ordinarily within six months, but tracing assets often takes longer |
Papers that help in nearly every commercial case
- The contract itself, whether it's a purchase order, work order, lease, partnership deed or shareholders' agreement. Signed copies, with every annexure
- Invoices, delivery challans, e-way bills, and any completion certificate or email accepting the work
- Your ledger for the account, and the other side's last balance confirmation if you've got one
- Emails, letters and WhatsApp chats about the dispute, with a Section 63 Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam certificate for the electronic records
- Every legal notice sent or received, with the replies
- In an IP case: registration certificates, proof of when you first used the mark, your sales and advertising figures, and whatever shows the infringement
- In a lease case: the lease deed, rent receipts, property tax records, and photos showing how the premises are really used
- Proof that whoever signs is allowed to sign. A board resolution, a partnership authority, or the proprietor signing himself
An invented example: one Bawana moulding unit, four problems, three forums
This one's made up. A plastic moulding unit in Bawana Industrial Area runs into four disputes in a single quarter. A two-wheeler parts maker in Faridabad owes it Rs 38 lakh on invoices. A former sales agent has started a rival firm and is selling identical crates under a name that's almost the unit's own brand. The landlord of a small godown in Narela, who also lives on the first floor of that building, wants more rent. And a Rs 6 lakh cheque from a small trader has bounced.
The invoice claim is a commercial recovery suit. The agreed delivery point and place of payment were in Delhi, so after Section 12A mediation it goes to the Rohini commercial court, which covers North West Delhi. The copied brand is a passing off case now, and a trade mark case too once the unit's pending application is registered. The unit files for an injunction straight away, with test purchase invoices and photographs. It skips mediation, because the relief is urgent. The godown isn't a commercial case at all. The building is partly residential, so the premises aren't used exclusively for trade, and the dispute stays a landlord and tenant matter under ordinary law. The bounced cheque goes to the magistrate under Section 138. That complaint is criminal, not commercial. Since Rs 6 lakh is above the Rs 3 lakh line, a summary suit on the cheque could also be filed in the commercial court if the unit wants its money through the civil side.
Four problems. Three different forums, and one dispute that isn't a court case at all yet. Getting the sorting right at the start keeps the unit from filing the wrong case in the wrong place. Nothing here comes from a real file. It's only meant to show how differently the kinds of commercial cases behave in practice.
How it looks for suppliers, service firms, startups and MSMEs
Traders and manufacturers mostly bring money claims, and more and more brand cases. Service firms, like IT vendors, consultants and agencies, bring fee claims. Those often turn into fights about the quality of the work, so they usually need more evidence than a supply claim. Contractors sue for running bills, extra work and retention money. It's often against a government body or a big developer, and those contracts usually carry arbitration clauses.
Startups tend to bring two kinds of case. One is recovery from large customers who stretch payments for months. The other is an IP or confidentiality case against a former employee or partner. Micro and small enterprises registered under the MSMED Act, 2006 have another option for delayed payments: the MSME Facilitation Council, where interest runs at three times the RBI bank rate. A 2026 amendment to that Act was published in August 2026. Parts were reported in force from 15 October 2026, but the new Sections 18, 18A and 19 hadn't been found notified as of late October 2026. So check the current position before you choose between the Council and a Commercial Court.
Large companies bring all of the above, plus shareholder and joint venture disputes and big-ticket arbitration petitions. Their particular risk is internal. The people who know the facts may have moved on. The documents may be scattered across departments. Get them together early. That's half the case.
Before you file: what to do now
Write down what you want from the case, its value with interest, the date the trouble began, and where the deal was made and carried out. Then gather the contract and the papers on the checklist above. Is someone copying your brand, moving assets or about to encash a guarantee? Act this week. Delay weakens any request for urgent relief. If nothing's that urgent, a legal notice and Section 12A mediation are usually where it starts.
Our commercial court services page explains how we handle these cases from notice to decree. If you'd like advice on which kind of commercial case your papers support, or want to keep up with changes such as Delhi's pecuniary limit or the MSMED amendments, you can reach Advocate B.K. Singh through the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
Can a proprietorship business file a commercial case in Delhi?
Yes. A sole proprietor sues in his or her own name, trading as the business name. For the Commercial Courts Act to apply, the dispute has to come from commercial dealings and be worth Rs 3 lakh or more.
Is a dispute with a government department a commercial case?
It can be. The Act treats a dispute as commercial even when one side is the government or a government body, as long as it arises from a commercial transaction such as a supply or construction contract. Do check the contract for an arbitration clause. They're common in government contracts.
Can I claim money and an injunction in the same commercial suit?
Yes. One suit can ask for recovery, damages and an injunction, if they all come from the same dispute. Plan every relief at the start. Order II Rule 2 of the CPC bars you from suing later for reliefs you could've claimed together.
Is a franchise or dealership termination a commercial case?
Yes. Franchising and distribution agreements are listed in Section 2(1)(c) of the Commercial Courts Act. You can claim money lost through a wrongful termination. What courts rarely do is force a business to carry on a relationship it has ended under the contract.
What commercial cases can be filed without mediation?
Only suits that genuinely need urgent interim relief, like an injunction against copying or an order stopping asset sales. The urgency has to show from the plaint itself. Every other commercial suit goes through Section 12A pre-institution mediation first.
Can a foreign company file a commercial case in Delhi?
Yes, if a Delhi court has jurisdiction because the defendant is in Delhi or the cause of action arose here. The claim must meet the specified value. Many contracts with foreign parties have arbitration clauses. That changes the route.
Are insurance claim disputes heard in the Commercial Court?
They are, when they arise from a commercial insurance contract and meet the value. The Act lists insurance and reinsurance among commercial disputes. Depending on the policy and the claim, you may have other options too, such as the insurer's grievance process.
How many commercial courts are there in Delhi?
Each of Delhi's district court complexes has courts of District Judge (Commercial) for its districts. The Delhi High Court has a Commercial Division for claims above Rs 2 crore. The number of courts changes by notification, so check the current list on the district court websites.
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district and commercial courts in Delhi NCR, and tribunals.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.