Fair and Equitable Treatment in Indian International Investment Agreements: An overview

This briefing provides an overview of Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) provisions within 68 Indian International Investment Agreements (IIAs) signed between 1995 and 2010. It categorizes these provisions into three types based on their formulation and examines the extent to which India defines the normative content of FET to guide arbitral interpretation.

• Of the 68 Indian International Investment Agreements (IIAs) studied, 66 contain a Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) principle, meaning India has committed to treating foreign investments from those countries fairly and equitably.
• The India-Turkey and India-Singapore IIAs are the only two agreements among the 68 studied that do not include an FET principle. While Turkish investors may potentially access FET via a Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) provision in their agreement, Singaporean investors cannot because the India-Singapore IIA lacks an MFN clause.
• The majority of Indian IIAs are divided into 'model-IIA' (32 agreements) and 'modified-model IIA' (27 agreements). Both types are characterized by a lack of defined normative content, leaving the interpretation of what constitutes 'unfair' or 'inequitable' treatment to arbitrators.
• Seven 'content-indicative' IIAs provide some guidance on the meaning of FET. Specifically, the India-Korea and India-Mexico agreements link FET to the customary international law minimum standard of treatment of aliens, ensuring that FET does not require treatment beyond this standard.
• The India-Korea and India-Mexico agreements explicitly state that a breach of a specific IIA provision or another international agreement does not automatically establish that a foreign investment was not treated fairly and equitably, a formulation inspired by NAFTA's 2001 interpretative note.
• India's IIA program is extensive, having signed agreements with 75 countries since its first IIA with the U.K. in 1994. However, the document notes there is no evidence that the increase in foreign investment inflows over the last two decades resulted from these IIAs.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (n.d.). Fair and Equitable Treatment in Indian International Investment Agreements: An overview. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/dci_2010_fair_equitable_treatment.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Fair and Equitable Treatment in Indian International Investment Agreements: An overview. n.d. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/dci_2010_fair_equitable_treatment.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Fair and Equitable Treatment in Indian International Investment Agreements: An overview |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/dci_2010_fair_equitable_treatment.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopmentndfair, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Fair and Equitable Treatment in Indian International Investment Agreements: An overview}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/dci_2010_fair_equitable_treatment.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }