The District Court granted confirmation of a Swiss award rendered in arbitration proceedings initiated under the Germany-India BIT. The Court found that India did not have sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, because the FSIA arbitration exception applied: there was an arbitration agreement because of India’s general offer to arbitrate in the BIT, and it was undisputed that there was an award, as well as a treaty governing the award – the New York Convention. India’s argument that the BIT did not apply, because the petitioner was not itself an investor and had conducted its activities through a subsidiary, failed. This argument, the Court explained, concerned the scope of the arbitration agreement and was not a jurisdictional question under the FSIA.

THIS DECISION WAS REVERSED BY THE US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT ON 3 OCTOBER 2025, see USA 3 October 2025 Deutsche Telekom