Major victory for Anil Ambani as Supreme Court upholds arbitral award in favour of Reliance Infra

In a major victory for the debt-laden Reliance Group, ADAG, led By Anil Ambani, the Supreme Court has upheld an arbitral award that went in favour of the beleaguered group.

The amount totaling over Rs 4,600 crore including interest will help the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group to pare its debt. A two judge bench of the Supreme Court dismissed a plea by DMRC and held the 2017 arbitral award to be valid.

Anil Ambani is facing personal insolvency in a case filed by SBI even as the bankruptcy proceedings against his telecom firm R-Com are underway.


Anil Ambani's firm had initiated an arbitration case against DMRC alleging violation of contract in running of the airport metro and sought a termination fee.

The arbitral tribunal in its May 2017 award had accepted airport metro operator's claim that the running of operations on the line was not viable due reasons such as structural defects.

The Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd, part of Reliance Infra, as per its lawyers' submissions during the hearings in the case, will use the money to pay lenders.

DAMEPL, in 2008, had entered into a contract with DMRC for running the airport metro line till 2038.

As disputes arose between the parties, DAMEPL stopped operating the metro on the airport line and invoked arbitration clause against DMRC alleging violation of contract and sought a termination fee.

(With inputs from PTI)