From Paper Files to Platforms: A Structural Comparison of Traditional and Online-Administered Dispute Resolution in India

Harmeet Grewal

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.87158

From Paper Files to Platforms: A Structural Comparison of Traditional and Online-Administered Dispute Resolution in India

Author(s)	Ms. Harmeet Grewal
Country	India
Abstract	Currently, India's dispute resolution system has two parallel administrative models. There is a legacy paper-based model that is used in the majority of litigation and institutional arbitration. SEBI's SMART ODR is a model of ODR (online dispute resolution) that is based on a platform. This paper carries out a more detailed analysis of the two models. Instead of measuring the models based on how quickly and cheaply ODR administration is assumed to be, this paper assesses what limited Indian data allows. The author determined that the Reserve Bank of India's information on the average cost of banking ombudsman complaint administration decreased by 33.5 percent after digitalization. The author presents this number as a genuine efficiency measure, but also indicates that this is a single, sector-specific measure that has been overgeneralized in the literature on ODR. Analyzing the timelines mandated by SEBI's platform and the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 and cross referencing that with data on pendency provided by the National Judicial Data Grid reveals that a significant portion of the perceived speed advantage of ODR is caused by the comparison of different types of disputes, as opposed to a like for like redefinition of the process. The author suggests that the real improvement of the administration of disputes using a platform is primarily in the field of logistics and is not in the process of adjudication, which is restrained by the same requirements of reasoning and enforcement under either model. Paper-file administration and platform administration share a similar enforcement gap. Awards or settlements, produced without the hassle of paper filing, will still have to depend on the same unorganized, largely undigitized court execution machinery. The best solution is to focus legal and technical interventions on this enforcement gap
Keywords	Online Dispute Resolution; Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996; National Judicial Data Grid; Enforcement Gap; Cost-per-Case
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On	2026-09-04
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.87158

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From Paper Files to Platforms: A Structural Comparison of Traditional and Online-Administered Dispute Resolution in India

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