International Investment Law and India’s New Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) of 2023–24: Implications for Sovereignty
Abstract
International investment law has long balanced the twin imperatives of attracting foreign
capital and preserving the host state’s regulatory sovereignty. India’s re-calibration of its
Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) framework in 2023–24 represents the most consequential
overhaul of its investment-protection regime since independence. This research critically
analyses the content, rationale, and implications of India’s new generation BITs for sovereign
autonomy within the broader evolution of international economic governance. The study
contextualises the reform in light of global backlash against investor–state dispute-settlement
(ISDS) mechanisms and India’s own experience of costly arbitral claims during the 2000s and
2010s. By combining doctrinal legal analysis with empirical and comparative evaluation, the
paper explores whether India’s post-2023 BIT model achieves a sustainable equilibrium
between investor confidence and the democratic right of the state to regulate for public welfare.
The abstract establishes four analytical pillars. First, it traces the historical trajectory of
international investment law, from the 1959 Germany–Pakistan treaty to the proliferation of
BITs in the 1990s, demonstrating how investor-centred norms gradually constrained host-state
discretion. Second, it examines India’s treaty practice—from early pro-investor texts modelled
on European templates to the assertive 2016 Model BIT that reclaimed policy space. Third, it
interprets the 2023–24 revisions as an attempt to modernise the Model BIT by embedding
clarity, transparency, and calibrated consent to arbitration. Fourth, it assesses the implications
for sovereignty through constitutional, economic, and international-relations lenses.
capital and preserving the host state’s regulatory sovereignty. India’s re-calibration of its
Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) framework in 2023–24 represents the most consequential
overhaul of its investment-protection regime since independence. This research critically
analyses the content, rationale, and implications of India’s new generation BITs for sovereign
autonomy within the broader evolution of international economic governance. The study
contextualises the reform in light of global backlash against investor–state dispute-settlement
(ISDS) mechanisms and India’s own experience of costly arbitral claims during the 2000s and
2010s. By combining doctrinal legal analysis with empirical and comparative evaluation, the
paper explores whether India’s post-2023 BIT model achieves a sustainable equilibrium
between investor confidence and the democratic right of the state to regulate for public welfare.
The abstract establishes four analytical pillars. First, it traces the historical trajectory of
international investment law, from the 1959 Germany–Pakistan treaty to the proliferation of
BITs in the 1990s, demonstrating how investor-centred norms gradually constrained host-state
discretion. Second, it examines India’s treaty practice—from early pro-investor texts modelled
on European templates to the assertive 2016 Model BIT that reclaimed policy space. Third, it
interprets the 2023–24 revisions as an attempt to modernise the Model BIT by embedding
clarity, transparency, and calibrated consent to arbitration. Fourth, it assesses the implications
for sovereignty through constitutional, economic, and international-relations lenses.