Habitual residence as a distinct jurisdictional test brought the dispute within international commercial arbitration and barred Section 11 relief.

Section 2(1)(f)(i) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 treats nationality outside India or habitual residence outside India as separate, disjunctive tests for an international commercial arbitration. Habitual residence is distinct from domicile and depends on actual, bona fide residence with settled continuity, assessed from the quality, purpose and duration of residence. On the record, the applicant had lived and worked in Dubai for years, held residential status there, and the agreements and notices reflected that position; his family's residence in India did not negate that status. The disputes were therefore an international commercial arbitration, and the Section 11 applications were not maintainable before the High Court.

---

---

Issues: Whether the applicant was habitually resident in a country other than India so that the proposed arbitration qualified as an international commercial arbitration and the Section 11 applications were maintainable before the High Court.

Analysis: The expression "national of, or habitually resident in, any country other than India" in Section 2(1)(f)(i) was held to be disjunctive, so that either nationality outside India or habitual residence outside India is sufficient. "Habitually resident" was treated as a distinct concept from domicile, requiring actual and bona fide residence with some degree of settled continuity, assessed from the quality, purpose and duration of residence. On the materials on record, the applicant had lived and worked in Dubai for years, received remuneration there, held residential status there, and the agreements and notices themselves reflected that status. His family's residence in India did not negate habitual residence in Dubai.

Conclusion: The applicant was habitually resident in Dubai, the disputes constituted an international commercial arbitration, and the Section 11 applications were not maintainable before the High Court.

Ratio Decidendi: For Section 2(1)(f)(i) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, habitual residence is a distinct jurisdictional test from domicile and is satisfied by actual, bona fide, and settled residence of sufficient continuity, even if the person remains an Indian national.

---