How long does it take to enforce a court decree in India? This paper seeks to answer this question for civil and commercial litigation and arbitration awards. We measure the duration and mode of disposal of about 20,000 applications filed before the Bombay High Court for the enforcement of court decrees during an eight year period. We find that it takes close to two years to enforce a decree in India. While this finding aligns with anecdotal estimates, we dig deeper to find how such application proceedings are disposed of. We find that a bulk of the execution applications are dismissed by the court not on merit but for reasons of non-prosecution. We offer plausible explanations for such poor enforcement outcomes.
Citation:
What comes after Judgement Day: A survey of decree enforcement proceedings in India, Pavithra Manivannan, Gokul K. Sunoj, Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah, XKDR Forum Working Paper 46, December 2025.
