Forty years in business taught me one thing about disputes.

The cost is never just financial.

It is the months you spend distracted from your actual work. The energy that goes into phone calls with lawyers instead of calls with clients. The reputation that quietly takes a hit in the market. And most painfully — the relationship that simply cannot be put back together, no matter how the case eventually ends.

I have watched partnerships collapse. Not because the business failed, but because one conversation never happened at the right time.

**How Most Disputes Actually Begin**

In my experience across industries — construction, hospitality, interior design, turnkey projects — disputes rarely begin with a dramatic falling out. They begin quietly.

An expectation was never written down. A promise that both sides remembered slightly differently. A silence that one party read as agreement and the other read as nothing at all.

Months pass. Resentment builds. And by the time anyone picks up the phone to call a lawyer, the relationship is already over. What remains is not a conversation — it is a fight. And fights are expensive.

The tragedy is not the dispute itself. It is that most disputes of this kind are entirely preventable.

**What Indian Businesses Get Wrong About Dispute Resolution**

India’s courts are overburdened. A commercial case that enters litigation today may not see a final resolution for years — sometimes decades. The emotional and financial toll of that journey on a business owner, a partnership, or a family enterprise is enormous.

And yet, most business contracts are signed with barely a glance at the dispute resolution clause. It is treated as boilerplate. Fine print. Something that will never actually matter.

Until it does.

Arbitration and mediation exist precisely to fill this gap. They are faster, confidential, and far less adversarial than court litigation. But — and this is the part most people miss — they work best when chosen early. Not as a last resort when all else has failed, but as a deliberate first choice, made while both sides still respect each other and trust is still intact.

**The Conversation That Changes Everything**

The smartest business relationships I have seen — the ones that survived disagreements and came out stronger — had one thing in common. Both parties had, at some point early in the relationship, sat down and agreed on what would happen if things went wrong.

Not because they expected things to go wrong. But because they respected each other enough to plan for the possibility.

That one conversation — structured, calm, and held at the right time — can save everything that comes after. It can save the business relationship, the financial investment, the years of trust that were built together.

It is, in my view, one of the most underrated acts of good faith between business partners.

**A Question Worth Sitting With**

If you are reading this, chances are you have at least one significant business relationship — a partnership, a joint venture, a long-term contract, a supplier or client you depend on.

Here is the question I would ask you:

Do both sides actually agree on what happens if things go wrong?

Not in theory. Not vaguely. But specifically — is there a clear, agreed mechanism in place that both parties understand and would actually use?

If the answer is uncertain, that conversation is worth having. Sooner rather than later. And ideally, before the first sign of trouble appears on the horizon.

If you would like to talk through how arbitration or mediation could work for your situation — or simply want to understand your options — feel free to get in touch.

Pulak Ranjan Shukla

Advocate | Professional Commercial Arbitrator