NHAI Accelerates Arbitration Process with Enhanced Monitoring Measures
NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has recently achieved significant victories in arbitration cases, attributed to improved arbitrator quality, stricter case monitoring, and the implementation of artificial intelligence. Last week, an arbitral tribunal awarded NHAI Rs 1,202 crore in a case against IRB, marking one of the largest awards in the agency’s history. Additionally, a tribunal dismissed claims worth Rs 8,375 crore from Soma-Isolux related to the Panipat-Jalandhar highway project, while awarding NHAI Rs 820 crore on its counter-claims.
NHAI has developed an AI tool named Marg Sarthi, which analyzed 149 arbitral awards from the past decade to identify reasons for adverse rulings. This analysis is enhancing the agency’s preparation for pleadings and strengthening its defense strategies. Currently, NHAI is engaged in 140 arbitration cases, with claims from companies totaling around Rs 1.2 lakh crore, while the authority has filed counterclaims amounting to Rs 65,000 crore.
Between 2002 and 2025, tribunals issued 760 arbitral awards, granting nearly Rs 40,000 crore to highway contractors against claims of approximately Rs 1 lakh crore. NHAI has also settled 321 cases through conciliation, paying about Rs 27,000 crore against claims of Rs 1 lakh crore. A notable victory for NHAI involved a long-standing dispute with IRB over the Tumkur-Chitradurga six-laning project, awarded in 2010-11. The tribunal rejected IRB’s claims for compensation and extended the concession period only by 23 days, while awarding NHAI Rs 1,202 crore for outstanding dues up to June 2026.
Officials indicated that the primary reason for NHAI’s previous losses in arbitration cases, as identified by the AI tool, relates to prolongation and idle-resource claims.
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