A Singapore-based maritime and commodities business, with a claim against an Indian counterparty, needed an answer to the question most foreign claimants eventually ask: does the counterparty hold anything in India worth pursuing, and in what form?
“Litigation and credit histories were pulled for what they showed about existing charges and competing claimants.”
The engagement, carried out during my tenure at a global investigations firm, was a standalone India asset search: corporate registries worked for directorships, shareholdings, and related entities; property-linked records pursued; litigation and credit histories pulled for what they revealed about existing encumbrances and competing claimants; and the findings assembled into an evidence file built to support whatever route counsel chose next.
In my observation, foreign claimants are often told that recovery in India is not worth attempting. The accurate answer depends on what the trace finds, and on whether the claim is a judgment, an award or a debt still to be litigated, because each is enforced differently in India. The trace gives the claimant the facts to decide on.