How to Pay DIAC Fees and What Happens If You Miss a Deposit

How does paying DIAC actually work?

DIAC wants its money up front. The Delhi International Arbitration Centre doesn't send you a bill at the end. It asks before the work is done, and it holds the money. Rule 4(ii) of the DIAC (Administrative Costs and Arbitrators' Fees) Rules, 2018 (the Fee Rules) says the fees, costs and expenses the Centre fixes are payable entirely in advance. And Rule 33.7 of the DIAC (Arbitration Proceedings) Rules, 2023 (the DIAC Rules) says every deposit is made to and held by DIAC. You don't pay the arbitrator directly.

You pay at two points. The first is when you file. A claimant has to confirm in its Request for Arbitration that the administrative charges have been paid (Rule 4.1(m)). A respondent has to do the same in its Response (Rule 5.1(g)). Leave that out and your Request is incomplete, and under Rule 4.2 an incomplete Request isn't treated as valid. The second point comes later. Once the claim and any counter claim are on record and the tribunal is in place, the Centre fixes deposits for the arbitrators' fees and miscellaneous expenses under Rule 33.1. Normally that's 50 percent from the claimant and 50 percent from the respondent.

The deposit stage is where things go wrong. Under Rule 33.5, if a party doesn't make a deposit within 30 days from the date it falls due, the Centre may terminate the arbitration, or tell the tribunal to, for the claim or counter claim whose deposit wasn't made. It's without prejudice to bringing the claim again elsewhere as the law allows. In real life, though, it can cost you the forum, months of work and sometimes your limitation period. We'll go through each payment below, how to make it cleanly, and what to do if a date slips.

The rules behind DIAC deposits

What will DIAC ask you to pay, and when?

It's a sequence, not one bill. The claimant pays administrative charges on the Schedule A band for its claim when it files the Request. The respondent pays its own administrative charges with the Response, which under Rule 5.1 is due within 30 days of receiving the Request. For domestic cases these are fixed amounts tied to the sum in dispute. International cases have a separate scale. Our guide to what DIAC charges and who pays it has the current bands and a worked calculation, so we won't repeat the figures here.

Next, once the tribunal is constituted and the amounts in dispute are known, the Centre works out the arbitrators' fees. It uses Schedule B (or the lower Schedule C for small summary matters) on the claim and counter claim added together, adds miscellaneous expenses fixed under Rule 5 of the Fee Rules, and sends a demand to each side. In our experience that demand usually arrives in the first few months, around the tribunal's first procedural meeting. It depends on how quickly pleadings are filed and quantified.

More demands follow events. Amend your claim upwards and the Centre can ask for more under Rule 33.4. Same if the respondent files a late counter claim, or if an unquantified relief that got a provisional estimate under Rule 33.3 is later given a value. A few other payments come up only in particular situations. The emergency arbitrator's fee has to go in with an application under Rule 14 (our guide on the DIAC emergency arbitrator process covers it). A challenge to an arbitrator under Rule 10 needs a processing deposit of Rs 10,000. And an adjournment application filed less than 15 days before a hearing carries a fee of Rs 3,000 under Rule 21.4. Each is due when you file, not afterwards.

How to pay a DIAC demand, step by step

We follow this on every demand, whether it's Rs 20,000 or several lakh.

1. Read the demand the day it comes in

   Note the case reference, how much each party has to pay, whether the assessment is on claim and counter claim combined or separately, and the due date. Put two dates in your diary. The due date, and the date 30 days after it. The second one is the Rule 33.5 date. Treat the first as your real deadline.

2. Check the number

   Run the sum in dispute through the current schedule, or through the fee calculator on DIAC's e-filing portal. Does the Centre's figure match yours? If not, find out why before you pay. Maybe there's a counter claim you forgot, interest being counted as a separate claim, or a provisional value put on a non-money relief. Write to the Coordinator about any error well before the due date.

3. Start the approval the same day

   Don't wait for your lawyer to chase. Forward the demand to whoever signs payments that very day, with one line on the due date and what happens if it's missed. PSUs and listed companies should build in extra time for sanction.

4. Pay only the way DIAC tells you to

   DIAC has taken online remittances since 2020, and its website and e-filing portal carry payment links and instructions. Use the account or link the Centre itself gives you. Quote the case reference. Where you can, pay from the account of the party named in the arbitration. Check the current instructions every time.

5. Send DIAC proof of payment

   Email or upload the transaction details (date, amount, UTR or reference number, paying account, case number) the way the Centre asks, and copy the tribunal and your own counsel. If DIAC can't match a payment to your case, it may as well not have arrived.

6. Get the receipt and keep it

   Ask for DIAC's receipt or acknowledgment and file it with the demand letter. You'll need both when you claim costs at the end. You'll need them again if anyone ever disputes the payment.

7. Keep an eye out for the next demand

   Diary any filing that could change the sum in dispute, like a counter claim or an amendment. A fresh demand under Rule 33.4 deserves the same urgency as the first one.

Want to see where your case stands, including whether DIAC has logged your payment? Our guide on following a DIAC file and its hearing dates shows how.

DIAC payments at a glance: when, how much, and what if you don't

None of this includes lawyers' fees, which DIAC doesn't set. We talk about ours at the first meeting and agree them in writing, stage by stage.

Getting the payment itself right

Pay from the right account. If a group company, a director or a sister concern pays for the party named in the arbitration, DIAC may not be able to match the money. And the other side may later argue about who really bore the cost. If somebody else has to pay, say so in the covering email. Name the party it's paid for, the case number and what the payment is for. Do the same when you pay the other side's share under Rule 33.2. Record in writing that it's their share, paid under protest, so you can claim it back as costs.

Get bank details from the Centre, directly. The fake-email trick, where a message turns up with 'updated' account details, is everywhere in Delhi NCR business disputes. Arbitration deposits are a tempting target. The sums are big and the deadline makes people hurry. Never act on bank details forwarded by the other side or by someone you don't know. Take them from DIAC's own website or portal, or from a message you've confirmed by phoning the Centre.

Foreign parties pay in rupees. Under the Fee Rules, deposits in international matters are made in Indian rupees at the conversion rate on the day of deposit. So leave time for the inward remittance and your bank's own compliance checks. A foreign respondent that leaves it to the last week often misses the date for reasons that have nothing to do with being willing to pay. Our guide on whether a foreign company can arbitrate at DIAC covers the wider issues.

When Advocate B.K. Singh's team picks up a DIAC file halfway through, he doesn't ask for the statement of claim first. He asks for the fee ledger. Every demand, every receipt, every due date. You'd be surprised how often receipts are missing, or a payment was never matched to the case. Both are far easier to sort out before a termination notice than after. We keep that ledger from day one on every matter handled through our DIAC arbitration practice.

GST, TDS and what to tell your accountant

The Fee Rules say nothing about GST or tax deduction, and the Centre's demand is usually just a number. That doesn't make the tax questions go away. Services of an arbitral tribunal to a business entity have long been treated under GST as falling under the reverse charge mechanism. So your accounts team may have to account for tax on the arbitrators' fee even though the money goes through DIAC. Whether that applies to your case, and how, is a question for your chartered accountant. Ask before you pay. Not at the year-end audit.

On TDS, the Income-tax Act, 2025 has been in force since 1 April 2026, and the section numbers have changed from the 1961 Act. Don't assume last year's practice still holds. Get your accountant to check the current provision before you deduct anything from a DIAC deposit. A short payment caused by a deduction you didn't need to make is still a short payment. Rule 33.5 doesn't care whether you paid nothing or paid Rs 50,000 less than the demand.

Book the deposit properly, too. It's an advance against costs, and some of it may come back through a costs award, so your accountant may treat it differently from an ordinary expense. Keep the demand, the receipt and any costs order together. Your auditors will thank you.

What happens if you miss a DIAC deposit?

On the due date itself, nothing much. Rule 33.5 gives a 30-day window after the deposit falls due. During that window the Centre or the tribunal may remind you. The other side may also pay your share to keep the case moving, which Rule 33.2 allows. But if the 30 days run out and nobody has paid the deposit for a particular claim or counter claim, the Centre may terminate the arbitration, or tell the tribunal to, for that claim or counter claim.

Termination hits one claim at a time. Say the claimant hasn't paid, but the respondent has funded its counter claim. The counter claim can carry on while the claim is terminated. That's an ugly turnaround. You started the case to recover money, and you end up only defending. Before the tribunal is constituted, the Centre can terminate the arbitration as a whole. And Section 38(2) of the Act gives the tribunal the same power to suspend or terminate. So this isn't some DIAC quirk. Any arbitral tribunal in India can stop work on a claim nobody has paid for.

Termination isn't a ruling on the merits. Rule 33.5 says it's without prejudice to the claim being brought again in other proceedings as the law permits. Don't treat that as a safety net. Your arbitration clause still binds you, so if you file a suit, expect a Section 8 application asking the court to send it back to arbitration. And limitation doesn't stop running in the meantime. More on that below.

The Delhi High Court has made it clear the Centre can't be forced to keep an unfunded claim going. In Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd v. Delhi International Arbitration Centre (W.P.(C) 3440/2026, 18 March 2026), the Court upheld the Coordinator's separate assessment of claim and counter claim where the respondent had refused to pay its share. It noted that the Centre can't compel payment, but that Rule 33.5 allows termination of whichever claim or counter claim is left unfunded.

Can you ask for more time, instalments or a waiver?

More time, sometimes. A waiver, no. If you know you can't pay by the due date, write to the Coordinator before that date. Give the reason. Attach whatever shows it's genuine, such as a board approval that's pending, a sanction file, or a bank holding up an inward remittance. Propose a specific date, and copy the tribunal and the other side. Rule 33.5 says 'may', so termination is a discretion. It isn't automatic. A party that asked early with a real reason stands far better than one that kept quiet.

Instalments aren't in the Rules at all. They're up to the Centre. If the sum's large, you can ask whether part now and the rest by a fixed date would be accepted. Don't assume it will be. And don't treat a part payment as compliance unless DIAC confirms that in writing.

Hardship won't get you an exemption. In September 2026, in Rajesh Kumar v. Union of India (W.P.(C) 13882/2026, with a connected petition), the Delhi High Court reportedly dismissed petitions from parties whose claim and counter claim had been terminated at DIAC for non-payment. They'd asked for the fees to be waived or deferred because they were indigent. The Court held that Section 38 of the Act has no exception for financial incapacity, that a tribunal can't ordinarily be made to carry on with an unfunded claim, and that a scheme for indigent parties is a policy matter for the legislature. If money's the problem, your real choices are settlement talks, a partner who'll fund the claim, or another forum where the law allows one. Not a waiver application.

If the other side won't pay its share

Respondents refusing to fund the arbitration is an old tactic in recovery claims. You can pay their share and claim it back as costs. Or, if there's a counter claim, you can ask the Centre to assess claim and counter claim separately under the proviso to Rule 3(ii) of the Fee Rules, so each side pays for its own. We explain both options, and the Samsung ruling upholding separate assessment, in our guide on what to do when the other side won't pay its DIAC fees.

For now, one point. The 30-day clock under Rule 33.5 runs against the claim. Not against whoever refused to pay. If it's your claim that'll be terminated, you're the one who has to act. Their bad behaviour is something to raise when costs are argued. It's no reason to let your own deadline go.

After a Rule 33 termination at DIAC: can the claim come back?

Rule 33 says nothing about restoring a claim once it's been terminated. If you pay shortly after the termination order, you can write to the Centre or the tribunal asking for recall and explaining the delay. Whether they'll entertain it is uncertain, and depends on the facts and the stage. Plan as though termination is final for that proceeding.

The bigger worry is limitation. The Limitation Act, 1963 applies to arbitrations (Section 43 of the Act), and an arbitration counts as commenced when the respondent received the notice invoking it (Section 21). Once your claim's terminated, a new proceeding needs a new start. Whether the time spent in the terminated arbitration can be excluded is open to argument. Take an invented run of dates. Invoices from mid-2023, a notice invoking arbitration in early 2025, termination for non-payment in late 2026. A fresh notice may well land outside three years from the invoices. Our guide on the limitation period for recovering money explains the three-year rule, and how written acknowledgments and part payments restart it.

When a deposit problem reaches Advocate B.K. Singh after the date has already passed, his first question is simple. If this arbitration doesn't survive, how close is the claim to running out of limitation? If it's already outside, everything goes into recall and payment. If there's still time, the advice might be different. Either way, that answer decides what you do next. Work it out first.

What to keep on file for every DIAC payment

• The DIAC demand letter or email, with the date you got it and the due date marked on it
• Any revised assessment or Coordinator's order on valuation, separate assessment orders included
• Your own fee working on the current schedule or DIAC's calculator, clipped to the demand
• The board resolution, approval note or sanction that cleared the payment
• The bank advice with the UTR or transaction reference, date, amount and the account it went from
• The covering email or portal upload that sent proof of payment to DIAC, quoting the case reference
• DIAC's receipt or acknowledgment, one for every payment
• Letters showing anything you paid on the other side's behalf was paid under protest
• Any request you made for more time, and what the Centre or tribunal said back
• A running ledger of every deposit and charge, for your costs submission at the end

Mistakes that cost people their claim at DIAC

• Thinking the 30 days are the deadline. They aren't. The deposit's due on the due date. The 30 days are a grace period, after which termination becomes possible, and bank or approval delays can swallow them fast.
• Paying and not telling DIAC. Money that arrives without a case reference or a covering email can sit unidentified in the Centre's account while your termination date creeps up.
• Paying short. Knock off tax, bank charges or a part you dispute, and the deposit is unpaid. Pay the full demand and fight the point separately.
• Waiting on the other side. If it's your claim at risk, their refusal doesn't pause your clock.
• Forgetting the later demands. People remember the first one. The demand after an amendment or a counter claim slips by. Rule 33.4 demands carry exactly the same consequence.
• Hoping for a waiver. The Delhi High Court has refused to order DIAC fees waived for financial hardship. Sort out funding at the start.
• Trusting bank details that came by email. Take payment details only from DIAC's own website or portal, or from a message you've verified.

How paying DIAC plays out for different businesses

• Suppliers and service firms bringing a claim. You want a decision, so budget for both halves from the first day in case the buyer won't pay. You'll only see that money again through a costs award and actual recovery. Think of it as part of what collection costs.
• MSMEs. If you're a registered micro or small supplier, compare DIAC with a reference to the MSME Facilitation Council under Section 18 of the MSMED Act, 2006. The costs work differently there. Parts of the 2026 amendment to that Act aren't yet shown as notified, so check the current position. Our guide on choosing between DIAC and the MSME Council lays the two side by side.
• Startups. The deposit may be the biggest single cheque you write in the whole case. Ask for a sole arbitrator. See whether the other side will agree to fast track, which shortens the timetable even though the fee schedule still applies.
• Large companies and PSUs. Your problem is paperwork, not money. Open the sanction file the day the demand arrives, and tell the Centre in writing if you'll need more time.
• Respondents with a counter claim. Pay only on your counter claim and you invite separate assessment. Pay nothing and your counter claim is at risk while you go on defending the claim.
• Foreign parties. Send rupees, and allow for compliance checks at both ends. Ask the Centre early for written payment instructions.

What you get back if the case ends early

Administrative charges and miscellaneous expenses aren't refundable in any event (Rule 7(iv) of the Fee Rules). The arbitrators' fee works differently, because DIAC releases it to the tribunal in stages under Schedule F. That's 20 percent on framing of issues (or on disposal of an application under Section 16 or 17 of the Act, if that comes first), 20 percent after the claimant's evidence, 20 percent after the respondent's evidence and 40 percent after the award. If the case settles before the claimant's evidence is over, the tribunal still gets at least one third of its total fee. On withdrawal, settlement or termination, the Coordinator fixes, with the Chairperson, what the tribunal is paid for work done. Section 38(3) of the Act requires the unspent balance to be accounted for and returned.

So settling early does save money. A termination for non-payment usually leaves the party who did pay with the tribunal's fee for the stage reached, and nothing to show for it. Our guides on settling partway through a DIAC arbitration and on withdrawing from or ending a DIAC case explain how refunds work in each situation.

What to do this week

Go through your file and pull out every DIAC demand. List each one with its due date, the amount, whether it's been paid and where the receipt is. Anything unpaid? Start the approval today, and write to the Coordinator if you need a few more days. If you're about to file a Request or a Response, make sure the administrative charges are paid first, so the filing is complete.

Budgeting for a dispute that hasn't started yet? Our page on how we handle DIAC arbitrations explains how the firm runs claims and defences at the Centre, and how we diary fee demands from the first day. It also walks through how a case moves from notice to award, so you can see roughly when each payment will fall due.

If you'd like a DIAC fee demand, a termination warning or your payment trail checked before a date runs out, or want updates on how the Centre and the Delhi High Court are applying Rule 33, you can send your papers to Advocate B.K. Singh's team through our contact page.