India raises objections on protectionist policies with US

NEW DELHI: The government today said it has raised issues relating to American policies that are hurting the Indian IT industry with the US government.

" India has raised issues relating to US policies impacting Indian industry, including IT and IT-enabled services industry at various levels with the US government," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Scindia was replying to a question whether the government has raised objections with the World Trade Organisation ( WTO) and the American authorities about the policy on outsourcing and other protectionist policies being followed by the US.

He said the Indian government has raised the issue at commerce secretary-level commercial dialogue, at ministerial-level trade policy forum and on the sidelines of WTO meetings.

On the response of WTO and the American government, he said: "The government of USA has not reversed such policies, so far."

Replying to an another query, Scindia said that negotiations across various sectors including cars are ongoing on India-EU Free Trade agreement.

"The government of India is negotiating a bilateral Broad-Based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) with the European Union in which so far 13 rounds of negotiations have been held," he said.

He was replying to a query that whether the import duty relaxation for luxury cars from the EU under the proposed FTA proposed to have some riders, including a cap on the number of cars allowed to enter the Indian markets from Europe by using the low tariff regime.