Kriti Agrawal
Cairn Energy (CNE.L) sued India’s flagship carrier Air India to enforce the $1.2 billion arbitration award it received in a tax dispute with India.
The decision puts pressure on India’s government to pay the $1.2 billion-plus interest and expenses that the British firm Cairn was granted in December by an arbitration tribunal.
The body found that India had broken an investment contract with Britain and that New Delhi was responsible for compensation.
Cairn filed the case in the United States District Court, seeking to hold Air India accountable for the Judgment.
According to the suit, the carrier is legally indistinct from the state itself because it is a state-owned enterprise.
The complaint stated, “The ostensible separation between India and Air India is false and serves primarily to benefit India in unjustly hiding its assets from creditors like (Cairn).”
Air India and the Indian government did not reply instantly to requests seeking comments.
Therefore, Cairn filed a separate petition in the US Court in February to recognize and confirm the arbitration Judgment, which included payments owed since 2014 and interest compounded semi-annually.