Form and contents of arbitral award
Section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 deals with form and contents of arbitral award. An arbitral award shall be made in writing and shall be signed by the members of the arbitral tribunal. The Act came into force on 22 Aug 1996.
(1) An arbitral award shall be made in writing and shall be signed by the members of the arbitral tribunal.
(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), in arbitral proceedings with more than one arbitrator, the signatures of the majority of all the members of the arbitral tribunal shall be sufficient so long as the reason for any omitted signature is stated.
(3) The arbitral award shall state the reasons upon which it is based, unless—
(a) the parties have agreed that no reasons are to be given, or
(b) the award is an arbitral award on agreed terms under section 30.
(4) The arbitral award shall state its date and the place of arbitration as determined in accordance with section 20 and the award shall be deemed to have been made at that place.
(5) After the arbitral award is made, a signed copy shall be delivered to each party.
(6) The arbitral tribunal may, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, make an interim arbitral award on any matter with respect to which it may make a final arbitral award.
(7) (a) Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, where and in so far as an arbitral award is for the payment of money, the arbitral tribunal may include in the sum for which the award is made interest, at such rate as it deems reasonable, on the whole or any part of the money, for the whole or any part of the period between the date on which the cause of action arose and the date on which the award is made.
1[(b) A sum directed to be paid by an arbitral award shall, unless the award otherwise directs, carry interest at the rate of two per cent. higher than the current rate of interest prevalent on the date of award, from the date of award to the date of payment.
Explanation.—The expression "current rate of interest" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it under clause (b) of section 2 of the Interest Act, 1978 (14 of 1978).]
2[(8) The costs of an arbitration shall be fixed by the arbitral tribunal in accordance with section 31A.]
Explanation.—For the purpose of clause (a), "costs" means reasonable costs relating to—
(i) the fees and expenses of the arbitrators and witnesses,
(ii) legal fees and expenses,
(iii) any administration fees of the institution supervising the arbitration, and
(iv) any other expenses incurred in connection with the arbitral proceedings and the arbitral award.
Section 31, The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Act 26 of 1996).
Cross-references
Extracted from the operative text of the enactments themselves. Every destination below exists in our corpus.
Related judgements & precedents
These are some judgments that construed this section, and hold precedence value. They hold authority on how to read, interpret and use this section.
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Dyna Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. Crompton Greaves Ltd.
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
Section 31(3) requires a reasoned arbitral award unless parties agree otherwise or the award is on agreed terms under s.30. A reasoned award must be proper, intelligible and adequate; unintelligible awards are ordinarily set aside, while mere inadequacy of reasons is not to be treated cavalierly and may be cured under s.34(4). Want of reasons is not an empty formality. DATE-VERIFIED Judgement order-21.pdf 2019-12-18 (end-marker NEW DELHI; DECEMBER 18, 2019; auto WRONG-DOC false positive from contract/HC fact dates disregarded).
On this section: s.31(3) — mandatory default duty to state reasons upon which the award is based; defines the quality of those reasons (proper, intelligible, adequate).
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Som Datt Builders Ltd. v. State of Kerala
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
Section 31(3) makes stating reasons essential; mere noticing of submissions or document references is no substitute for reasons that reflect the tribunal's thought process. Want of reasons makes the award legally flawed. Where reasons are missing, the court under s.34(4) ought ordinarily to remit to the tribunal to supply reasons rather than finally set aside without that opportunity. DATE-VERIFIED Judgement order-10.pdf 2009-09-17 (end-marker New Delhi September 17, 2009).
On this section: s.31(3) — reasons mandate is not an empty formality; awards lacking reasons are legally flawed; pairs with s.34(4) remittal to cure.
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Ntpc Limited vs Afcons R. N. Shetty and Co. Pvt. LTD Jv
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
Arbitrators do not have unilateral power to determine their own fees. Where parties have fixed fees by agreement or court has fixed fees by order, arbitrators are bound by such fees. Where no agreement or court order exists, arbitrators may fix reasonable fees only after transparent consultation with parties at preliminary stage, and such fees are subject to court review for reasonableness under Section 39. The Fourth Schedule is binding on ad hoc arbitrations post-Amendment Act 2019. The term 'sum in dispute' in Fourth Schedule refers to aggregate of claim and counter-claim. The ceiling of Rs. 30 lakhs in Serial No. 6 applies to total fee, not just variable component. The fee is per individual arbitrator, not per tribunal. Arbitrators cannot charge separate fees for claims and counter-claims; they must charge single fee based on aggregate sum in dispute.
On this section: Costs of arbitration to be fixed by tribunal in accordance with Section 31A; originally allowed party agreement but amended to remove this exception
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State of Chhattisgarh vs Sal Udyog(p) LTD through Managing Director
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
When an arbitrator fails to decide in accordance with the express terms of a contract governing the parties, such failure amounts to patent illegality appearing on the face of the award which goes to the root of the matter and warrants judicial interference. Specifically, when clear contractual provisions stipulating recovery of supervision charges are completely ignored by an arbitrator without addressing the contractual terms or relevant governmental circulars implementing those terms, such ignoring constitutes gross contravention of Section 28(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which mandates the Arbitral Tribunal to decide in accordance with the terms of the contract. Additionally, grounds constituting patent illegality can be invoked by courts suo moto under Section 34(2-A) in an appeal under Section 37, even if such grounds were not explicitly specified in the original Section 34 petition, provided the issue was raised before the Arbitrator and noted in the High Court order.
On this section: Requires arbitrator to give reasons for award. Court noted failure to give reasons would constitute patent illegality.
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National Highway Authority of India General Manager (tech) Rananjay Singh vs Gayatri Jhansi Raodways Limited Authorized Signatory
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
When parties have agreed upon a specific fee structure for arbitrators in their contract, such contractually agreed fees will govern the arbitration, and the Fourth Schedule of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (as amended in 2015) is not mandatory. The deletion of 'unless otherwise agreed by the parties' from Section 31A relates only to 'costs' awarded as part of the arbitral award and does not override contractual fee agreements. Arbitrators do not become de jure unable to perform their functions by following statutory law, and an application under Section 14 to terminate their mandate cannot succeed merely on the ground that they initially followed a statutory interpretation regarding fees.
On this section: Relates to costs of arbitration; Court distinguished between 'costs' (which are awarded as part of the award) and 'arbitrator fees' (which are compensation for arbitrators' services)
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Kinnari Mullick vs Ghanshyam Das Damani
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
The power vested in courts under Section 34(4) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is limited to adjourning proceedings before setting aside an arbitral award upon written request by a party to the arbitration, to allow the arbitral tribunal an opportunity to resume proceedings or take curative action. Courts possess no power to remand or relegate matters to the arbitral tribunal after the award has been set aside, and any such remand cannot be ordered suo moto.
On this section: Cited by Division Bench for requirement that arbitrator assign reasons for award; lack of reasons was ground for setting aside.
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P. Radha Bai vs P. Ashok Kumar
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
Section 17 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is expressly excluded from application to Section 34(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The express exclusion is inferred from the language of Section 34(3), particularly the phrase 'but not thereafter' which creates an absolute outer boundary of 120 days for challenging arbitral awards. This exclusion is also necessarily implied from the scheme and object of the Arbitration Act, which is to provide speedy dispute resolution with finality and certainty of awards. Once a party receives an arbitral award, the three-month limitation period commences, and subsequent fraud or mistake by the other party cannot defer the commencement of this period or extend the outer 120-day boundary. The principle of 'unbreakability' of the limitation period, enshrined in the UNCITRAL Model Law, precludes any extension beyond the prescribed period.
On this section: Delivery of arbitral award; must be effective receipt to trigger limitation period
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Narayan Prasad Lohia vs Nikunj Kumar Lohia
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
Where an appellate court has considered only some of the grounds on which a lower court invalidated an award or order, and other substantial grounds remain unexplored, the Supreme Court will remit the matter to the appellate court for full consideration of all grounds in the interest of justice, rather than deciding the remaining grounds without the benefit of the appellate court's reasoning and findings. Additionally, where parties fail to raise statutory objections within prescribed procedures, they waive their right to challenge on those grounds subsequently.
On this section: Requirement for arbitrators to record reasons for their award; court addressed whether lack of reasons makes award invalid
The holding above is the ratio decidendi as extracted from the judgment by eCourts India, reproduced unaltered — it is a rendering of the court's reasoning, not a substitute for its words. Read the order itself before relying on it.
Judgments citing this section
These may be obiter dicta or a precedent, for you to study. These are the judgments where this section is quoted.
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… has been further submitted that in the award learned Arbitrator has not left any ambiguity in regard to the grant of interest at the rate of 18% p.a. and has given detailed reasoning for the O.M.P. (COMM) 157/2024 Page 4 of 15 same on the basis of Section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act as well taking into account the settled law and the covenants of the agreement between the parties. - 11. Learned senior counsel has further submitted that the learned Arbitrator has granted the pre-assured return in terms of Clause-4 of the MOU dated 04.10.2017. Learned …
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… Considering the length of the time elapsed, the value of money has shrunk to negligible. Another factor to be taken into consideration is clause 1. 2.07(a) on page 33 of the contract agreement wherein it can be seen that both parties have agreed to a simple interest @14% per annum. Further the provisions of section 31(7) (a) of the Arbitration and Conciliation act 1996 provides that where the award is for payment of money then interest can be awarded at such rate as may be deemed reasonable by the Arbitral Tribunal from the date of cause of action till date of payment or for such part period as the case may be. Therefore, in …
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… Issues framed in A.S.No.3/2001 are as under: - 1. Whether the petitioner proves that the award passed by the Arbitrator is against the provisions of Section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and against the public policy ? - 2. What order or decree ? On appreciation of the material evidence, answered Issue No.1 in the affirmative and issue No.2 as per final order recorded therein, setting aside the arbitral award with respect to claim Nos.1, 7 and 13 and …
Questions about Section 31
What have the courts held on Section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act?
Dyna Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. Crompton Greaves Ltd. (18 Dec 2019) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below: s.31(3) — mandatory default duty to state reasons upon which the award is based; defines the quality of those reasons (proper, intelligible, adequate). Another 7 judgments on this section are set out below, all of them from the Supreme Court. They run from 2003 to 2022.
How do I find court cases under Section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act?
In judgments and charge sheets this section is written several ways, and each form finds a different set of orders. These search the full text of every order eCourtsIndia holds, best matches first: Arbitration Act 31, section 31 Arbitration Act, section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. People searching for it also type arbitration act 31 7 and arbitration act 31 7 b. Each opens the full list of orders on eCourtsIndia, where it can be narrowed by court, year and outcome. 8 reported judgments on this section are set out on this page, beginning with Dyna Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. Crompton Greaves Ltd. (18 Dec 2019).
What should I read with Section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, and has it changed?
Its own text turns on section 20 (Place of arbitration), section 30 (Settlement), section 31A (Regime for costs), Interest Act 2 (Definitions), so none of them can safely be read on its own. 3 other provisions in this corpus refer back to it.
When did Section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act come into force?
Section 31 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, cited as Arbitration Act 31, came into force on 22 Aug 1996, having been enacted on 16 Aug 1996. It is in force as at the date shown on this page.
Other sections of this Act
- 8. Power to refer parties to arbitration where there is an arbitration agreement1029 words
- 11. Appointment of arbitrators1027 words
- 34. Application for setting aside arbitral awards861 words
- 2. Definitions732 words
- 29A. Time limit for arbitral award635 words
- 57. Conditions for enforcement of foreign awards519 words
Source and method. Compiled from the enactments of Parliament and of the State legislatures as published on India Code, and republished together with commentary and other original matter under section 52(1)(q)(ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Structured, cross-referenced and maintained by eCourtsIndia. Text as in force on 15 Oct 2026. This page is not a substitute for legal advice.