The Indian Law and Justice Minister M.Veerappa Moily has recently released a booklet, "Innovating for Tomorrow - Giving wings to Tomorrow's dreams", summarising the reforms his Ministry has introduced and the vision for the future. Key aims include reducing the backlog of cases in the Indian Courts and reducing the average duration of arbitration proceedings from fifteen years to three years. The Minister wants to improve efficiency by ensuring that alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is the preferred method of dispute resolution in India in the future.

The Law Minister recently inaugurated the International Conference on Alternative Dispute Resolution organised by the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution in New Delhi, at which he stated that ADR would be a key tool in reducing the number of pending cases in the Indian courts. He also spoke at the inauguration of the New International Arbitration Centre in Goa on 24 January 2011, at which he stated that the Centre would help in making Goa India's most attractive destination for domestic as well as international arbitrations (see Legal update, New international arbitration centre for Goa).

These developments demonstrate progress and further changes are expected as the Ministry continues with its plans to make widespread changes to the India Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. The Ministry also released a Consultation Paper in April 2010 which has received widespread support from the legal and business communities during the course of the year (see Article, India: round up 2010/2011). The Minister has said that national consultations are being undertaken by the Ministry with the key stakeholders, including judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court, advocates and representatives from all the arbitration institutions. Such changes will take time, but can only benefit India in coming closer to its aim of becoming a hub for international arbitration.

ADR is certainly growing in popularity in India, and the Law Minister's enthusiasm is catching on. One hopes that this will continue and is supported by the anticipated reforms.