Setback For Anil Ambani—SC Orders Reliance Infra Arm To Refund Rs 3,300 Crore In Delhi Metro Case

In a setback back to Anil Ambani, the Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a Rs 8,000 crore arbitral award that was granted in favour of Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt., or DAMEPL. The dispute arising out of a ‘concession agreement’ that was entered into between Ambani firm DAMEPL and Delhi Metro Rail Corp. in 2008.

As a result, the top court instructed Delhi Airport Metro to refund all sums previously paid by the Delhi Metro Rail in accordance with the arbitral award. DMRC had paid Rs 3,300 crore to the Reliance Infrastructure arm, which now needs to be refunded.

DMRC had earlier contested the arbitral award, demanding payment of approximately Rs 8,000 crore from Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt. Ltd., or DAMEPL.

The arbitral awarded to Delhi Airport Metro Express was in regard with the dispute over the agreement between the two to construct, operate and maintain the Delhi Airport Metro Express Line.

DAMEPL had in 2012 terminated the agreement after claiming that DMRC had not fixed some structural defects it had identified.

In 2017, an arbitral tribunal held that the company’s decision to terminate its concession agreement for the Delhi Airport Metro Express Line project four years ago was valid, and it won an arbitral award to the tune of Rs 2,950 crore with interest.

Thereafter, the parties went through multiple litigations, and the award achieved finality by virtue of the apex courts’ decision in 2021.

The arbitral amount, along with interest, had swelled to around Rs 8,000 crore last year. The net recoverable amount currently stands at over Rs 4,700 crore.

Shares of Reliance Infrastructure tumbled and were locked in 20% lower circuit of Rs Rs 227.60 apiece, the lowest level since March 15. This compares with 0.32% gains in the benchmark BSE Sensex.

The stock has risen 44.47% in the last 12 months and 8.48% year to date.