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India is likely to sign bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with Switzerland, Oman and the Maldives by December, as it steps up efforts to strengthen investor confidence and attract long-term capital to support economic growth, sources said.
“We have completed negotiations with Oman, the Maldives is close, and Switzerland is next,” a senior official said.
India has already signed new investment protection agreements with several countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel. These agreements depart from the 2015 BIT model by introducing more targeted provisions and reducing the time investors must spend exhausting domestic legal remedies before initiating international arbitration.
Last week, India signed a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement with Saudi Arabia, allowing investors to initiate international arbitration after exhausting domestic remedies for two years. The agreements with the UAE and Israel provide for three years for domestic dispute resolution.
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The five-year requirement to exhaust local legal remedies was introduced under India’s 2015 BIT model, largely in response to investor-state disputes over taxation. However, the Centre is now overhauling the restrictive framework to make India a more attractive investment destination amid weakening net capital inflows since 2023.
Depending on negotiations, the domestic dispute resolution is either two or three years in new BITs. The window can even drop to one year, subject to mutual understanding between the partner countries.
A new BIT template is expected to receive Cabinet approval shortly. Meanwhile, India has continued negotiations with several countries, including Canada and Russia, incorporating provisions envisaged under the proposed framework. An investment protection agreement with Canada could also be concluded by December or early 2027.
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“A BIT with the EU is on the table, but there are more issues to resolve,” the official said.
Beyond dispute resolution, the overhaul seeks to revise several other provisions, drawing on lessons from recent agreements. The pacts with the UAE and Israel, for instance, expand the scope of protection to portfolio investments in shares, bonds and other financial assets, which were excluded under the earlier framework.
Attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) remains a key government priority, particularly as India’s rapidly expanding infrastructure sector requires large-scale private capital. Gross FDI inflows rose 17.3% to $94.5 billion in FY26, from $80.6 billion a year earlier. However, net FDI inflows increased to $7.7 billion from around $1 billion in the previous fiscal year, remaining modest relative to gross inflows.
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