Anil Ambani's Reliance Infra wins $632 mn arbitration against Delhi Metro

The verdict is a crucial victory for Anil Ambani as his telecom firms are in bankruptcy and he is contesting a personal insolvency case.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. won a four-year battle for control of money from an arbitration award that it says it needs to repay lenders.

A two-judge panel of the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the 2017 arbitration award in favor of the Anil Ambani’s unit. The arbitration tribunal award is worth over 46.6 billion rupees ($632 million) including interest, according to Reliance Infrastructure’s annual report.

The verdict is a crucial victory for Ambani as his telecom firms are in bankruptcy and he is contesting a personal insolvency case lodged by the country’s largest lender. Reliance Infra shares jumped by the daily limit of 5% after the court order.

Reliance will use the money to pay lenders, the company’s lawyers had said during the case hearings, following which the top court had barred banks from marking the company’s accounts as non-performing assets. The final ruling in the case also lifts the court’s restriction on lenders. 

A detailed copy of the court ruling is awaited.

Reliance Infrastructure’s unit had in 2008 entered into a contract with Delhi Metro for running the country’s first private city rail project till 2038. Following disputes over fee and operations in 2012, Ambani’s firm stopped operating the capital’s airport metro project and initiated an arbitration case against Delhi Metro alleging violation of contract and sought a termination fee.