Best Recover Your Money Under an Arbitration Award (Execution) Lawyer

Winning an arbitration is only half the job if the other side will not pay. Section 36 of the Arbitration Act says an award can be enforced in the same way as a decree of a civil court. That means you can file an execution petition and ask the court to attach the losing party's bank accounts, property, receivables and other assets until the award is satisfied.

This page is for award holders: suppliers, contractors, investors, lenders and companies who have an award in hand and nothing in the bank. You can start execution once the time for challenging the award has passed without a challenge, or if a challenge has been filed but no stay has been granted. You do not need to wait for the challenge to be decided.

Execution is detailed, practical work. It depends on finding assets, getting the right orders quickly, and dealing with objections. A good execution strategy often recovers money faster than the arbitration itself took.

Is this your situation?

What execution can reach

When you can start

Section 36(1) says that once the time for making a Section 34 application has expired, the award can be enforced as a decree. The time is three months from receipt of the award, plus up to 30 days if the court allows a late petition. So, in a simple case, you can file execution after about three months and 30 days.

If the other side files a Section 34 petition in time, that does not by itself stop you. Since the 2015 amendment, Section 36(2) says filing a challenge does not make the award unenforceable unless the court grants a stay on a separate application. In BCCI v Kochi Cricket (2018) and Hindustan Construction Company v Union of India (2019), the Supreme Court confirmed that this applies even to challenges filed before the amendment. If there is no stay order, you can file execution.

If a stay has been granted on condition that the debtor deposits money or furnishes security, ask the court to release the deposit to you against your own security, or to let you withdraw it. This is often the fastest way to see some money while the challenge is pending.

Where to file

You do not have to file in the court of the seat. In Sundaram Finance v Abdul Samad (2018), the Supreme Court held that an award can be executed anywhere in India where the debtor's assets are, without first getting a transfer of the decree from another court. This is a major practical advantage. If the debtor is registered in Gurugram but has a bank account in Delhi and a warehouse in Noida, you can choose where to start.

The court you file in must have pecuniary and territorial jurisdiction. For commercial awards, that usually means the commercial court or the High Court's commercial division, depending on the value. For a Delhi award above ₹2 crore with assets in Delhi, the Delhi High Court's original side hears execution.

If assets are in several places, you can file in one court and seek orders against assets elsewhere, or file separate petitions. We map the debtor's assets before choosing.

How we execute an award

Time and typical cost range

Our fees are agreed in writing at the start, stage by stage, and are not linked to the outcome.

Documents needed

Where to file execution

Objections debtors raise, and how courts deal with them

"The award is a nullity." An executing court cannot go behind the decree, but a narrow exception exists for awards that are void from the start, for example because the arbitrator was ineligible under Section 12(5). Several High Courts, including Delhi, have refused to execute awards passed by unilaterally appointed arbitrators on this ground. If you are an award holder in that situation, your award may be at risk; if you are a debtor, this may be your strongest point.

"We have filed Section 34." Without a stay order, this is no answer to execution.

"The assets belong to someone else." Third parties can object to attachment under Order 21 Rule 58, and the court decides who owns the asset. Transfers made to defeat creditors can be challenged.

"We are a company; the directors are not liable." True, a company's directors are not personally liable just because the company owes money. But they can be ordered to disclose company assets, and in rare cases of fraud or misuse of the company form, courts have looked behind it.

"We are in insolvency." If the debtor is a company admitted into insolvency, the moratorium under Section 14 of the IBC stops execution. You would then file a claim with the resolution professional. An unpaid award can also be the basis of an insolvency petition by you, if the amount and conditions are met. See insolvency petition.

Interest after the award

Many award holders forget post-award interest. Section 31(7)(b) says the sum awarded carries interest from the date of the award to the date of payment at 2% higher than the current rate of interest prevailing on the date of the award, unless the award says otherwise. "Current rate" refers to the rate under the Interest Act, 1978, which is linked to the highest rate banks pay on deposits.

If the award fixes its own post-award rate, that rate applies. The court may modify the post-award rate in limited circumstances, as the Supreme Court said in Union of India v Larsen & Toubro (2026). In long executions, post-award interest can add a substantial amount to the claim, so we calculate it afresh each time we seek an order.

Laws that apply

How we work

We are a litigation and advisory practice led by Advocate BK Singh, with offices in Dwarka (New Delhi) and Vaishali (Ghaziabad). This is what you can expect:

• Asset-first strategy: we find what can be attached before we file.
• Right court choice: we file where the assets are, not just where the award was made.
• Persistent follow-up: execution needs repeated applications; we keep at it.
• Settlement leverage: we use attachment orders to bring debtors to the table.
• Written fee terms: agreed stage by stage, never linked to the outcome.

Mistakes that slow recovery

Enforcing against government bodies and PSUs

Awards against government departments and public sector companies raise their own problems. Government bodies often file Section 34 petitions as a matter of routine and then seek a stay. In Pam Developments v State of West Bengal (2019), the Supreme Court held that the government is not entitled to special treatment: the court considering a stay of a money award should apply the same principles that govern stays of money decrees under the Code of Civil Procedure, which usually means a deposit or security. Government bodies cannot claim an automatic stay just because they are the government.

Once the award is enforceable, attachment of government bank accounts is possible, though courts are slower to order it and often first direct the department to pay within a fixed time. In practice, a firm order to deposit the awarded amount, followed by an application to withdraw it, is the usual route. Many government contracts also contain clauses about payment through budget allocations, which do not override a court's order to pay.

Since 2016, the Union government has issued guidelines on paying a portion of arbitral awards to contractors during pending challenges, against a bank guarantee, in certain categories of contracts. Ask the department whether such a payment is available; it can ease cash flow while the challenge runs. See government contract arbitration.

When the debtor plays for time

Some debtors use every procedural step to delay: they seek adjournments, file objections in stages, transfer assets to relatives or group companies, or start a new business under another name. Courts can deal with most of this if it is brought to their attention with evidence.

Useful steps include seeking an order under Order 21 Rule 41 directing the debtor, and in the case of a company its directors or principal officers, to attend court and be examined on oath about the company's assets. A truthful answer often leads to assets. A false answer creates personal consequences for the person giving it. Transfers made with the intention of defeating creditors can be challenged under Section 53 of the Transfer of Property Act. Where a company is plainly unable to pay, an IBC demand notice or insolvency petition based on the unpaid award can change the debtor's priorities quickly, provided the amount is at least ₹1 crore.

Sometimes the most effective step is not legal at all. A short letter to the debtor's bankers or major customers, informing them of the court's attachment order, can bring a settlement call within days. We use such steps carefully and only where the court's orders support them.

If you are the debtor

If an execution petition has been filed against you, your options depend on where your challenge stands. If you filed a Section 34 petition in time, apply for a stay without delay, offering reasonable security. If you did not challenge the award, your room to resist is narrow: you can object that the award is a nullity, that the amount claimed is wrong, that payments already made have not been credited, or that particular assets are exempt from attachment under Section 60 of the CPC.

If you genuinely cannot pay the full amount at once, propose a structured settlement backed by security. Courts often encourage this, and award holders frequently prefer certain money in instalments to an uncertain auction.