Arbitration costs, whether in ad hoc or Institutional arbitrations, can be very substantial and sometimes prohibitive. Typically, arbitration costs include administrative and secretarial fees, arbitrators' fees, counsel fees, venue rental, expert fees, witness costs, and even catering costs. A significant contributor to the escalation of arbitration costs is inefficient hearing management. Adjudication of arbitration costs involves, therefore, basically two stages i.e (i) quantifying the costs of arbitration (ii) determining the liability of a party/ apportionment of the costs. Unless arbitration costs are meaningfully awarded, arbitration will remain an expensive alternative to litigation rather than the efficient dispute resolution mechanism it was intended to be.