To some extent it will depend on what kind of disputes work you want to do/your team does. Disputes teams in India do everything from civil/commercial litigation, domestic arbitration, arbitration-related litigation (including setting-aside proceedings and enforcement) and international commercial arbitration. Not all teams do ICA, either they don't have the requisite expertise or can't get the clients, but yes, it is a field that is fast growing in India.
In general, it's a good idea to cover all basics. But just to give you a starting point: 1. A&C Act (obviously): Be familiar with the bare act, fundamental concepts and jurisprudence, recent developments (ex: Vidya Drolia, vvv important). The greater command you can develop over this, the better.
2. CPC: A vast and complicated subject. There are two parts to it: substantive principles (res judicata etc) and procedural rules. Make sure you have a working idea of the principles, don't necessarily need to go into too much detail. The rules, I honestly can't tell you what to focus on. I've been told it only comes with practise. Hopefully someone else can pitch in here. IMO, try to study the lifecycle of an arbitration and see at what points can it lead to litigation (suit for submitting a dispute to arbitration, dispute over existence of arb agreement, appointment of arbitrator, challenge to an appointed arbitrator, application for setting aside etc), then study the procedures related to that.
3. ICA: basic concepts, schools of thought, international instruments, application in India. (if relevant).
Beyond that, it's still a good idea to study all commercial laws well, because they'll form the subject matter of the dispute. Contracts always comes in handy, TPA, Corp and IBC (if your team handles NCLT/NCALT appearances) etc. Heard of a disputes team doing an IP matter once, but I don't think that's v common.
In general, it's a good idea to cover all basics. But just to give you a starting point:
1. A&C Act (obviously): Be familiar with the bare act, fundamental concepts and jurisprudence, recent developments (ex: Vidya Drolia, vvv important). The greater command you can develop over this, the better.
2. CPC: A vast and complicated subject. There are two parts to it: substantive principles (res judicata etc) and procedural rules. Make sure you have a working idea of the principles, don't necessarily need to go into too much detail. The rules, I honestly can't tell you what to focus on. I've been told it only comes with practise. Hopefully someone else can pitch in here. IMO, try to study the lifecycle of an arbitration and see at what points can it lead to litigation (suit for submitting a dispute to arbitration, dispute over existence of arb agreement, appointment of arbitrator, challenge to an appointed arbitrator, application for setting aside etc), then study the procedures related to that.
3. ICA: basic concepts, schools of thought, international instruments, application in India. (if relevant).
Beyond that, it's still a good idea to study all commercial laws well, because they'll form the subject matter of the dispute. Contracts always comes in handy, TPA, Corp and IBC (if your team handles NCLT/NCALT appearances) etc. Heard of a disputes team doing an IP matter once, but I don't think that's v common.
Good luck!