The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) opened its Delhi Liaison Office on 25 July 2026, its seventh overseas office and third representative office in India after Mumbai and GIFT City.
The launch ceremony was held in Delhi as part of the SIAC Annual India Conference 2026, in the presence of Justice Surya Kant, Chief Justice of India; Edwin Tong SC, Singapore’s Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs; Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law & Justice and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Government of India; Justice Tejas Karia, Judge, High Court of Delhi; and R. Venkataramani, Attorney General for India and Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.
At the inauguration, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal called the Delhi office a significant milestone, one that signals the confidence a leading global arbitral institution places in India's legal ecosystem. He said the move aligns with India's broader push, through legislative reform, institutional development, and judicial support, to position itself as a preferred seat for international commercial arbitration.
SIAC said the new office reflects sustained engagement with Indian users, who have ranked among its top three foreign users for over a decade. The Delhi office is expected to work alongside SIAC's Mumbai and GIFT City offices on outreach, training programmes, seminars, and engagement with arbitration practitioners, in-house counsel, and institutional partners in India. With Delhi added, SIAC's overseas network now spans India, South Korea, China (Shanghai and Beijing), and the United States.
The office will be led by Shwetha Bidhuri, Director & Head (South Asia), SIAC, with Devna Arora as Deputy Head (South Asia) and Steffi Mary Punnose as Strategy & Development Manager (South Asia).
Commenting on the development, SIAC Chairman Davinder Singh SC said “Indian parties and lawyers have for many years played a very important role in SIAC’s growth. In addition to consistently being among its top users, they have contributed a great deal to SIAC as Board directors, Court members and in other capacities. The establishment of the Delhi Liaison Office is both a recognition of India’s importance to SIAC and a desire to better serve the Indian legal and business community.”
Lucy Reed, President of the SIAC Court of Arbitration, noted that “Indian parties have been among SIAC’s top three foreign users over the past decade, and the new office will enable closer engagement with users and stakeholders in India while enhancing understanding of SIAC’s world-class arbitration services.”
SIAC CEO Gloria Lim said: “The opening of our Delhi Liaison Office reinforces SIAC’s longstanding commitment to the business and legal community in India and marks an important step in our global journey. This office will allow SIAC to better support its users, strengthen outreach efforts, and contribute to the continued development of international arbitration practice in the region.”
A liaison office works differently from marketing an institution to a jurisdiction from abroad. A Delhi address lowers the friction of choosing SIAC: Indian counsel can walk into a room, attend a training session, or raise a query with someone physically present, while the arbitration itself, if SIAC-administered, is still very likely to be seated in Singapore. It is not "come to us." It is "we have come to you, but the destination has not moved." For parties weighing seat selection, this does not change anything about substantive law, enforceability considerations, or the underlying appeal of Singapore as a seat. It changes how easy SIAC is to reach while a party works through those questions.
This pattern is not unique to SIAC. It reflects a broader trend of established arbitral institutions treating India as a jurisdiction worth a physical footprint rather than a market to be served remotely, deepening the relationship between global institutions and the counsel, in-house teams, and chambers that generate the disputes they administer.