New Delhi: In a major setback for India in the Antrix-Devas case, the Netherlands Supreme Court, last week, upheld the enforcement of a $111 million International Court of Arbitration award to Devas (Devas Multimedia America Inc) in the 2005-era satellite (S-band) dispute with Isro‘s commercial arm Antrix – effectively setting aside the 2022 Delhi High Court and Supreme Court orders that annulled the award.
Dismissing the appeal by government-owned Antrix, the March 6 order by the Hoge Raad allows “DMAI leave to execute the ICC judgement of September 14, 2015, rendered between Devas and Antrix,” and asks Antrix to “pay the costs of the proceedings in cassation, which up to and including this ruling are estimated at e905 in disbursements and e1,800 in fees on the side of DMAI, increased by the statutory interest on these costs if Antrix has not paid them within fourteen days of today,” the official English translation of the Dutch SC order, accessed by ET shows.
In 2022, the Delhi HC set aside the ICC tribunal’s $562.5 m award of 2015, ruling that the 2005-era Antrix-Devas contract was fraudulent and violated India’s “public policy.” In January 2022, the Supreme Court affirmed the liquidation/winding up of Devas Multimedia on similar grounds, and in 2023 it also dismissed an appeal filed against the decision.
While the Dutch SC order has an immediate impact on Indian interests in the Netherlands – as it opens the door for Devas to target India’s sovereign assets in the Dutch territory for recovery of the award – it is also likely to affect the ongoing litigation over the deal, including in the US.
According to Antrix, as detailed in the court order, the “enforcement of the ICC judgement would result in legal consequences being attached to a contract concluded through fraud.”
“This is contrary to public policy, which, according to Article V, paragraph 2(b) of the New York Convention, requires that enforcement be refused,” India argued. However, the Hague-based Hoge Raad held that the grounds on which the Supreme Court of India and the NCLT rejected Devas’ request for the “cross-examination” of Antrix witnesses, and the subsequent winding-up proceedings, “did not meet the requirements of due process and sufficient safeguards.”
On the other “fraud allegation” raised by Antrix – regarding the Devas agreement allegedly being withheld from relevant government agencies – the order stated that judges “failed to give Devas the opportunity to refute Antrix’s arguments on this crucial point.” It added that this “violates due process requirements: it disproportionately restricts Devas’ opportunity to substantiate its arguments on a very crucial point. On this point, Devas’ right to a fair hearing has been violated.”
“This means not only that the powers of the appointed liquidator have no legal effect in the Netherlands, but also that the judgement that fraud has occurred cannot be recognised in the Netherlands,” the March 6 order reads.
The latest Dutch order adds to a series of unfavourable rulings on the matter in foreign courts.
This is the second major setback within a month and the third within ten months for India over the controversial deal between Isro‘s commercial arm Antrix and Devas, which was terminated in 2011.
On February 2, a UK Commercial Court ruling in the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT-2) arbitration – initiated by Devas’ Mauritius shareholders – also dealt a blow, ruling in favour of Devas in a dispute over who had the authority to represent the Devas entities: the court-appointed liquidator in India or the original directors.
The UK court allowed the original shareholders to continue their legal fight against India in London despite Devas being legally dissolved in India.
Earlier, in June 2025, the US Supreme Court removed a major protective shield India had against the seizure of Indian assets.
