{"id":30520,"date":"2026-08-17T11:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/?p=30520"},"modified":"2026-08-17T11:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:45:00","slug":"group-of-companies-doctrine-arbitration-non-signatories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/group-of-companies-doctrine-arbitration-non-signatories\/","title":{"rendered":"Binding the Unwilling: The Group of Companies Doctrine and Enforcement Against Non-Signatories in Indian Arbitration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 id=\"h-the-problem-of-consent\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Problem_of_Consent\"><\/span>The Problem of Consent<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arbitration rests on consent. A tribunal&#8217;s authority to decide a dispute flows from an agreement between the parties to submit that dispute to arbitration rather than to a court. Section 7 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, codifies this by requiring an arbitration agreement to be in writing, either as a clause within a contract or as a standalone agreement. On a plain reading, only those who signed such an agreement, or who are named within it, should be bound by it.<\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/group-of-companies-doctrine-arbitration-non-signatories\/#The_Problem_of_Consent\" >The Problem of Consent<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/group-of-companies-doctrine-arbitration-non-signatories\/#The_Foundational_Framework_Cheran_Properties\" >The Foundational Framework: Cheran Properties<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/group-of-companies-doctrine-arbitration-non-signatories\/#Refining_the_Test_Adavya_Projects\" >Refining the Test: Adavya Projects<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/group-of-companies-doctrine-arbitration-non-signatories\/#Factors_Relevant_to_Binding_a_Non-Signatory\" >Factors Relevant to Binding a Non-Signatory<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/group-of-companies-doctrine-arbitration-non-signatories\/#The_Outer_Limit_Tomorrow_Sales_Agency\" >The Outer Limit: Tomorrow Sales Agency<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/group-of-companies-doctrine-arbitration-non-signatories\/#The_Boundary_Of_The_Group_Of_Companies_Doctrine\" >The Boundary Of The Group Of Companies Doctrine<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/group-of-companies-doctrine-arbitration-non-signatories\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet commercial reality rarely respects this neatness. Modern transactions are frequently structured through layers of related entities: parent companies, subsidiaries, nominees, and special purpose vehicles that together execute a single commercial design even though only one or two of them physically sign the contract. When disputes arise, a signatory may attempt to escape liability by hiding behind a non-signatory affiliate, or a claimant may find that the entity actually responsible for a breach never put its name to the arbitration clause. Indian courts, drawing on English and international jurisprudence, have developed the &#8220;group of companies&#8221; doctrine to address this gap. Three decisions \u2014 two of the Supreme Court and one of the Delhi High Court \u2014 illustrate both the doctrine&#8217;s reach and its limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-the-foundational-framework-cheran-properties\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Foundational_Framework_Cheran_Properties\"><\/span>The Foundational Framework: Cheran Properties<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Cheran Properties Ltd. v. Kasturi &amp; Sons Ltd.<\/em> (2018) 16 SCC 413 remains the starting point for understanding how a non-signatory can be bound after an award has already been made. The dispute arose from a 2004 agreement under which K.C. Palanisamy agreed to purchase shares of Sporting Pastime India Ltd. from Kasturi &amp; Sons Ltd., with the shares eventually registered in the name of Cheran Properties, a nominee company. When the underlying transaction collapsed and an arbitral tribunal ordered the shares returned, Cheran Properties argued that, never having signed the arbitration agreement, it could not be bound by the resulting award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Supreme Court rejected this defense. It explained that English law&#8217;s group of companies doctrine allows an arbitration agreement signed by one company within a corporate group to bind non-signatory affiliates where the circumstances show a mutual intention to bind both signatories and non-signatories. Relevant indicators include the relationship between the non-signatory and a signatory party, the commonality of subject matter, and whether the transaction forms a single composite whole. Two distinct legal bases were identified for reaching a non-signatory: consensual theories such as agency, assignment, and implied consent, and non-consensual theories such as alter ego and estoppel. The group of companies doctrine belongs to the first category\u2014it does not pierce the corporate veil but instead infers, from conduct and documentary record, that the non-signatory always intended to be bound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Importantly, the Court also relied on Section 35 of the Act, which makes an award binding not only on the parties but also on &#8220;persons claiming under them.&#8221; Because Cheran Properties had taken its shares as an express nominee under the very agreement containing the arbitration clause and had itself invoked that agreement in correspondence, it was found to be claiming under a party and was therefore bound by the award, even without ever appearing before the tribunal. The judgment also confirmed that such an award, having the character of a civil court decree under Section 36, could be enforced through appropriate proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal for rectification of the share register.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-refining-the-test-adavya-projects\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Refining_the_Test_Adavya_Projects\"><\/span>Refining the Test: Adavya Projects<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If <em>Cheran Properties<\/em> dealt with enforcement after an award, <em>Adavya Projects (P) Ltd. v. Vishal Structurals (P) Ltd.<\/em>, (2025) 9 SCC 686, addressed the procedural mechanics of bringing a non-signatory into the arbitration in the first place. The appellant and the first respondent had formed a limited liability partnership to execute oil and gas projects, and a dispute arose over a specific project executed through that LLP. When the appellant sought to implead the LLP and its CEO\u2014both non-signatories to the original partnership agreement, though bound by its terms through their conduct\u2014the arbitral tribunal and the High Court held that because they had not been served a notice invoking arbitration under Section 21 and had not been made parties in the Section 11 application for appointment of an arbitrator, they could never be brought into the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Supreme Court disagreed and clarified the correct sequence of inquiry. A Section 21 notice is mandatory in the sense that it fixes the date of commencement of arbitration for limitation purposes, but its non-service on a particular person does not strip the tribunal of jurisdiction to implead that person later. Similarly, a Section 11 court undertakes only a prima facie, limited examination of whether an arbitration agreement exists; it does not conclusively decide who is bound by that agreement. The real and final determination of whether a non-signatory is a party to the arbitration agreement belongs to the arbitral tribunal itself, under Section 16, which embodies the principle of kompetenz-kompetenz\u2014the tribunal&#8217;s competence to rule on its own jurisdiction, including who is bound by the underlying agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Applying the factors distilled by the Constitution Bench in <em>Cox &amp; Kings Ltd. v. SAP India (P) Ltd.<\/em>, (2024) 4 SCC 1 \u2014 mutual intent, the relationship between signatory and non-signatory, commonality of subject matter, composite nature of the transaction, and conduct in performance of the contract \u2014 the Court found that the LLP and its CEO had, through their conduct in executing the project, consented to be bound by the arbitration clause and could therefore be impleaded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-factors-relevant-to-binding-a-non-signatory\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Factors_Relevant_to_Binding_a_Non-Signatory\"><\/span>Factors Relevant to Binding a Non-Signatory<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mutual intent of the parties.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The relationship between the signatory and non-signatory.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Commonality of subject matter.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The composite nature of the transaction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Conduct in performance of the contract.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-the-outer-limit-tomorrow-sales-agency\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Outer_Limit_Tomorrow_Sales_Agency\"><\/span>The Outer Limit: Tomorrow Sales Agency<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Delhi High Court&#8217;s decision in <em>Tomorrow Sales Agency (P) Ltd. v. SBS Holdings Inc.<\/em>, 2023 SCC OnLine Del 3191, illustrates the doctrine&#8217;s boundary. There, a third-party litigation funder, TSA, had financed the claimants in an SIAC arbitration in exchange for a share of any recovery. The claimants lost, and the tribunal awarded costs against them in favor of SBS, the successful respondent. SBS then sought to enforce that costs award against TSA itself, arguing that having funded and substantially controlled the arbitration, TSA was the &#8220;real party&#8221; and should bear the consequences of its financial choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Division Bench firmly rejected this reasoning. It distinguished between two conceptually separate questions: whether a non-signatory can be bound by an arbitration agreement and whether a person who was never made a party to the arbitral proceedings can be forced to satisfy an award rendered against someone else. TSA was never joined as a party under the SIAC Rules, was never compelled to arbitrate, and the award itself was not directed against it. A third party may be bound by an award only if it was first compelled to arbitrate and became a party to the proceedings; merely benefiting from litigation funding, or exercising commercial control over the funded claim, does not by itself create that status. The Court also noted the important public interest in third-party funding as a means of ensuring access to justice, cautioning that mulcting funders with unagreed liability would deter such support altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-the-boundary-of-the-group-of-companies-doctrine\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Boundary_Of_The_Group_Of_Companies_Doctrine\"><\/span>The Boundary Of The Group Of Companies Doctrine<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A non-signatory must have a demonstrable relationship with the underlying agreement and its performance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Conduct and surrounding circumstances must reveal a genuine mutual intention to be bound.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A person who was never made a party to the arbitral proceedings cannot ordinarily be forced to satisfy an award rendered against someone else.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Merely funding or exercising commercial control over arbitration does not, by itself, make a third party a party to the arbitration agreement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-conclusion\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read together, these decisions map a coherent structure. The group of companies doctrine allows courts and tribunals to bind non-signatories to an arbitration agreement where conduct and circumstance reveal a genuine mutual intention to that effect, and Section 35 extends an award&#8217;s reach to those who claim under a party. Procedurally, the tribunal\u2014not the referral court\u2014is the appropriate forum to finally decide such questions, and the absence of an initial notice or joinder is not fatal. But the doctrine has a firm outer edge: it binds only those with a demonstrable relationship to the underlying agreement and its performance, and it cannot be stretched to capture outsiders, such as funders, who never assumed the obligation to arbitrate and were never made parties to the proceedings that produced the award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-related-links yoast-seo-related-links\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/the-new-york-convention-and-the-global-enforcement-of-arbitral-awards\/\">The New York Convention and the Global Enforcement of Arbitral Awards<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/arbitration-and-judicial-intervention-a-comparative-analysis\/\">Arbitration and Judicial Intervention\u2014A Comparative Analysis<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/indian-supreme-court-arbitration-act-interpretation\/\">A Layman\u2019s Guide to Arbitration Under the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/international-commercial-arbitration-foundations-and-legal-framework\/\">Understanding International Commercial Arbitration: Foundations and Legal Framework<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/ourts-ignoring-cited-case-laws-natural-justice-article-141-binding-precedents\/\">Silence Is Not An Option: The Court&#8217;s Mandatory Judicial Obligation To Deal With, Address, Follow, Or Distinguish Case Laws Cited At The Bar<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Problem of Consent Arbitration rests on consent. A tribunal&#8217;s authority to decide a dispute flows from an agreement between the parties to submit that dispute to arbitration rather than to a court. Section 7 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, codifies this by requiring an arbitration agreement to be in writing, either as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1766,"featured_media":30531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"two_page_speed":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[330,28],"class_list":["post-30520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arbitration-law","tag-arbitration","tag-top-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - 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