US seeks more clarity on India's FDI stance in e-commerce, defence

NEW DELHI: Making a pitch for foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail and ecommerce sectors, the US said it expected India to show more progress on these issues.

"There has not been progress in FDI in multi-channel retail as well as web-based retailing in which we hope to see more progress on," US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Stefan M Selig said on Wednesday.

"In particular, even in those areas in which we have seen increase in investment caps, there is still hope that we can have some more clarification on what those caps will ultimately mean to the business and investors community," he told reporters here.

Selig was replying to a question about India’s FDI rules. Although the current foreign investment policy permits 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, the BJP government is not keen on promoting foreign investment in the segment.



Selig said he would take up the matter of FDI in retail with commerce ministry officials.

Asked about concerns of Indian IT firms over the American visa regime, he said the US provides more visas to people from India than any other country in the world. He said as much as "65-66 per cent of all short-term visas that the US government issues are for Indian citizens".

He said the US would continue to work with the Indian government to meet the demand for the US visas and "I think we are making a lot of progress on it".

Selig is in India to meet Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Secretary Rita Teaotia to prepare for the Indo-US strategic and commercial dialogue to be held in Washington DC in the next 6-7 weeks.

He said these dialogues will revolve around four areas — ease of doing business; innovation and entrepreneurship; smart cities with a specific focus on renewable energy, and harmonisation of standards to increase trade.

On the issue of intellectual property rights, Selig said it was in "the best interests of India to become an important global player".

The Indo-US dialogue will examine "how achieving our commercial goals can advance our strategic, Indo-Pacific interests, including those under President Obama’s Rebalance to Asia, and Prime Minister Modi’s Act East policy".

He said the first goal is to increase bilateral trade five-fold, from $100 billion now to $500 billion annually. Selig said achievements of the Modi government after 12 months in power have been significant. He said "decisions have to be taken to allow progress and we need to have short term deliveries to reinforce that benefit".