In exactly three months, the government has lost two international arbitration cases, this time against energy company Cairn over a retrospective tax claim. India has been told to pay Cairn Rs 8,000 crore. The sum is limited to the revenue lost by Cairn when its assets were impounded and sold by the tax authorities, and its dividends confiscated, alongside interest. This comes after the government lost another arbitration against Vodafone over retrospective taxation in September this year. In the Cairn case, the arbitration Bench — including the arbitrator nominated by the Indian government — unanimously decided that the tax demand violated the bilateral investment treaty between India and the UK.