As India seeks to strengthen its position as a global investment and business destination, the efficiency, predictability and cost of commercial dispute resolution are emerging as increasingly important components of the country’s economic infrastructure.
Against this backdrop, the ETLegalWorld Commercial Dispute Conclave 2026, to be held on September 11 in New Delhi, will bring together senior general counsels, lawyers, arbitrators, policymakers and judges to examine how India can build greater trust, speed and certainty into its commercial justice ecosystem.
The fifth edition of the conclave, themed “Building Trust, Speed & Certainty in India’s Commercial Justice Ecosystem,” will bring together stakeholders across sectors including infrastructure, energy, technology, financial services and international business to discuss the changing nature of commercial disputes and the reforms required to make dispute resolution more efficient.
The conclave will open with an address by Dr. Lalit Bhasin, President, Society of Indian Law Firms, followed by the inaugural address by Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India.
A key feature of the conclave will be the launch of the EY-Aarna Law study, “The Next Era of ADR: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities.” The study will be launched by Arpinder Singh, India & Emerging Markets Leader, EY Forensic & Integrity Services, and Yogen Vaidya, Partner, EY Forensic & Integrity Services.
Commercial justice as economic infrastructure
The opening panel, “Dispute Resolution as a Pillar of India’s Economic Infrastructure,” will examine the relationship between commercial justice and economic growth, including the need to reduce pendency, improve ease of doing business and strengthen investor confidence.The discussion will bring together corporate legal leaders and practitioners, including Amar Sundram, General Counsel, Senior VP (Legal) & Chief Compliance Officer, NEC Corporation India; Amitabh Lal Das, Senior General counsel and Business Leader, Hyundai Motor Company; Dinesh Sharma, Senior Intellectual Property Policy Advisor for India, USPTO; Pratibha Jain, Head of Strategy & Group General Counsel, Everstone and Manu Kulkarni, Head of Dispute Resolution Practice and Partner, Poovayya & Co..
The panel will be moderated by Arpinder Singh.
The conclave will then turn to infrastructure disputes, an area of growing significance as India undertakes large-scale investments across power, transport, energy and other critical infrastructure sectors.
The session, “Building India: Law, Policy & Dispute Resolution in Infrastructure,” will focus on disputes arising from mega infrastructure projects, public-private partnerships, government contracts and regulatory interventions, besides examining how arbitration can provide greater certainty in infrastructure projects.
The session will be moderated by Shri Venkatesh , Founding Partner, SKV Law Offices
The panelists of this session include Ajay Kapoor, Chief(Legal, Regulatory and Advocacy), Tata Power Company Limited; Dr. Sunil Kumar Mittal, Group General Counsel, Kalpatru; Rajarshi Sen, General Counsel, Siemens Energy India Limited; Ashish Pandey, Head – Governance, Compliance and Company Secretary, Hero Future Energies and Gaurav Khanna, Head of litigations & Advisor on Sustainability, Nestle India Limited
Arbitration at a crossroads
Arbitration will remain a central theme through the day, with industry leaders and arbitration specialists examining whether a mechanism traditionally associated with speed and flexibility is becoming increasingly expensive and time-consuming.
The spotlight session, “Arbitration in India’s Shift from Speedy Remedy to Luxury Litigation: Restoring Efficiency and Trust,” will look at rising costs and timelines, institutional versus ad hoc arbitration, technology-enabled case management and reform priorities.
The session will be moderated by Amit Meharia, Managing Partner, MCO Legals (Meharia & Company) and will feature Vineet Vij, General Counsel & Chief Legal Officer, Tech Mahindra; Basudeb Biswas, General Counsel, TARC Limited & Group Companies; Prashant Agarwal, General Counsel, SAR Group; Mahesh Agarwal, Managing Partner, Agarwal Law Associates; and Devna Arora, Deputy Head (South Asia), SIAC.
A separate session on “Energy Disputes: The Case for Sector-Specific Arbitration” will examine the dispute-resolution challenges emerging across renewable energy, oil and gas, power purchase agreements and the broader energy transition.
The session will be moderated by Shryeshth Ramesh Sharma, Senior Partner , SKV Law Office and the list of panelists include Sandeep Chowdhury, Group General Counsel, Suzlon Energy Ltd, Preet Sethi, Deputy General Counsel, Vedanta, Kumar Ankit, General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer – Senior Vice President, Shree Cements and Vineet Bose, Head Legal, Ambuja Cements Limited and ACC Limited (Adani Group Cement Business).
With energy projects often involving long-term contracts, regulatory dependencies and substantial capital commitments, the session will explore whether greater sector-specific expertise and arbitration mechanisms could improve outcomes.
AI, ODR and the changing legal function
Technology will form another major strand of the conclave. A fireside chat titled “General Counsel Playbook: Traditional Practice to AI-Enabled Legal Function” will examine how artificial intelligence is changing the way corporate legal departments operate, with Amit Sethi, Senior Solution Consultant, Thomson Reuters, moderating a discussion with Abhishek Sharma, Regional Counsel, Thomson Reuters.
The conclave will also examine the future of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) in a dedicated panel, “ODR: The Digital Future of Commercial Justice.”
The discussion will explore AI-enabled dispute resolution, the potential of ODR for MSMEs and digital commerce, smart contracts and blockchain-related disputes, and the possibility of integrating digital dispute resolution mechanisms with courts and arbitration.
The panel will be moderated by Pranjal Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO of Sama, and will feature legal leaders including Rajbeer Sachdeva, President, Group Legal, JK Organisation; Rituu Aggarwal, General Counsel, Air India SATS Airport Services; Ashit Garg, Director, Head of Global Legal Operations & Company Secretary, Ramboll; Srijit Mukherjee, General Legal Counsel, Kocho; Satyajit Gupta, VP (L2) – Associate GC and Head of India Legal, Global CSR Head, EXL; and Prarabdha R Jaipuriar, General Counsel – Indian Subcontinent, SUEZ.
Another discussion in the conclave will be based around managing commercial risks and financial impact in high-value M&A and technology transactions
The list of speakers include Anubhav Kapoor, General Counsel and Sr Vice President (COSA) at Samvardhana Motherson Group; Dr. Mukul Shastry, Group General Counsel, Cube Highways; Suparna Bhattacharyya, Chief Financial Officer, YANMAR India; Niti Mittal, General Counsel, Coforge; Ajay Bagri, Chief Financial Officer, SEIL Energy India Limited and Jogendra Singh, President, Group CFO and Board Member of Hero Enterprise
Cross-border disputes and global uncertainty
The conclave will also address the increasing complexity of disputes involving international investments and global trade.
The panel “Navigating Global Trade Tensions and Investor-State Disputes”, moderated by Karuna Nundy, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, will examine the impact of geopolitical uncertainty, bilateral investment treaties, international arbitration, protection of Indian investments abroad and the enforcement of arbitral awards across jurisdictions.
The discussion will bring together Campbell Jackson, EY Global Claims and Disputes Leader; Varun Singh, Founder & Managing Partner, Foresight Law Offices; Saurabh Malhotra, General Counsel and Head – Legal Risk & Compliance (South Asia), Intertek; Jonathan Rodrigues, Mediator & Founder, The PACT and Avaneesh Singh, Chief Legal Officer, Senior VP – Legal, Navitas Life Sciences.
The conclave will conclude with a fireside chat featuring Gopal Subramanium, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, moderated by Chitra Rentala, Partner, Trilegal, followed by a valedictory address by Justice Madan B Lokur, former Judge, Supreme Court of India.
The discussions come at a time when the commercial justice system is being increasingly viewed not merely as a mechanism for resolving disputes after they arise, but as an important factor in investment decisions, contractual certainty and India’s broader economic competitiveness.
The ETLegalWorld Commercial Dispute Conclave 2026 will seek to bring these perspectives together around a central question: how can India build a commercial dispute-resolution framework that is faster, more predictable and trusted by businesses and investors?
