Arbitral Award: Reliance Infra Wins $632 Million Against Delhi Metro, Shares Gain

The Supreme Court has maintained an arbitral ruling in favor of the debt-ridden Reliance Group, ADAG, led by Anil Ambani, in a huge victory for the embattled group.

The Supreme Court affirmed Reliance Infrastructure's Rs 2800 crore arbitral award on September 9, ordering DMRC to pay Rs 2800 crore in damages plus interest to Reliance Infrastructure.

On Thursday, a two-judge panel of the Supreme Court upheld Anil Ambani's unit's 2017 arbitration award. According to Reliance Infrastructure's annual report, the arbitration tribunal award is worth about 46.6 billion rupees ($632 million) including interest.

The decision is a significant win for Ambani, whose telecom companies have gone bankrupt and he is fighting a personal insolvency lawsuit filed by the country's top lender. Following the court judgment, Reliance Infra's stock rose by the daily limit of 5%.

During the case proceedings, Reliance's lawyers stated that the money will be used to pay lenders. As a result, the top court banned banks from classifying the company's accounts as non-performing assets. The court's limitation on lenders is also lifted as a result of the final verdict in the case.

In 2008, Reliance Infrastructure signed a contract with Delhi Metro to operate the country's first private city rail project until 2038. Following disagreements over fees and operations in 2012, Ambani's company ceased operations of the capital's airport metro project and filed an arbitration complaint against Delhi Metro, alleging contract violations and seeking a termination fee.

Shares of the company rose by 4.95% to Rs 74.20 on NSE at 11.35 am IST.