US Court Upholds $1.2 Billion Award for Devas, Major Setback for ISRO's Antrix

A US appeals court has delivered a significant blow to ISRO commercial arm, Antrix Corp, upholding a prior court order that confirmed a $565.2 million arbitration award for the Indian startup Devas Multimedia. With accrued interest, the total amount owed now sits at over $1.2 billion, with some sources claiming it has even surpassed $2 billion. This decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirms that US courts have the power to enforce such international awards, rejecting Antrix's attempts to dismiss the case. The heart of this long-running dispute goes back to a 2005 agreement where Antrix was to provide satellites and S-band spectrum for Devas's communication services. When Antrix terminated the deal in 2011, citing a change in government policy for spectrum use, Devas initiated arbitration. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) found Antrix at fault in 2015, leading to the initial award. Antrix's argument that it should be immune from US courts as a government-owned entity was rejected, with the court citing the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) arbitration exception. However, the legal saga isn't fully closed. While US jurisdiction and the award's confirmation stand, the appeals court has sent a key issue back to the district court: the impact of Indian court rulings that annulled the arbitration award and ordered Devas's liquidation due to alleged fraud. This means that while Devas has won a major legal battle in the US, the path to actually seizing Antrix's assets remains complicated and will depend on how the district court considers the conflicting Indian judgments. All eyes are now on the next phase of this complex international legal entanglement.