India has signed Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPA) with 83 countries, of which 72 are currently in force. The salient features of these Agreements include assurance of fair and equitable treatment, most favoured nation status, national treatment status and mechanism for dispute resolution. These Agreements are intended to promote foreign investment.

The Government has constituted a Working Group to review the Model text of BIPA so as to incorporate the experiences gained in the working of these Agreements over the last 20 years and international best practices. The Working Group is considering the opinions and reservations expressed by various stakeholders regarding the provisions of Model Text.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Bilateral investment protections reaffirm fair treatment and dispute resolution, with a government review to update the model agreement. Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements provide fair and equitable treatment, most favoured nation and national treatment protections and a dispute resolution mechanism to promote foreign investment. A Government Working Group has been constituted to review and update the Model BIPA text, incorporating twenty years of implementation experience, international best practices, and stakeholder opinions and reservations to recalibrate substantive protections and procedural clauses.