India should reduce import tariffs: USTR

Neha Dewan | @TheDollarBiz

USA is a top export destination for India and accounts for around 8% of India's total trade

  The US Trade Representative (USTR), Ambassador Michael Froman, has urged the Indian government to review its Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) as concerns over IPR violations threaten to disrupt India’s exports to USA. Ambassador Froman is in India for the US-India Trade Policy Forum which he co-chaired with India’s Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on November 25, 2014. During the forum, Ambassador Froman urged the Indian government to reduce import tariffs for off-patent drugs, and allow US companies to participate in India’s public solar energy and health insurance programmes. Last month, the USTR had initiated an Out-of-Cycle Review (OCR) of India for its 301 paper which has India on a “Priority Watch List” on issues concerning protection of US IPR in India. However, India had refused to participate in the process and called it a unilateral measure by USA. It is expected that Ambassador Froman will discuss the 301 OCR with Indian officials during this visit.

Source - Ministry of Commerce, India

Speaking on the sidelines of a closed door round table CII conference, Froman highlighted various issues on IPR protection, local sourcing norms, regulatory challenges and mobility of high skilled labour. Stressing on the high standards for IPR being adopted by the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, Ambassador Froman emphasised that India as an innovative economy should look more closely at IPR norms. He added that collaborative and creative solutions should be explored by both countries to resolve issues where there is no agreement. Ambassador Froman also spoke of US President Obama’s recent executive order on immigration which would benefit H1B workers and their spouses. He expressed hope that the President’s action would help ease concerns of Indian companies with respect to challenges in high skill labour mobility with USA. Industry representatives from India, which included leaders from different sectors such as pharmaceuticals, technology, financial services, engineering and automotive services, said that there are several hurdles in doing business with and in USA. They said that the lapse of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) has hurt Indian SMEs, and USFDA norms continue to raise obstacles for Indian pharmaceutical companies. For India, USA remains a top trading partner and one of the countries with which India has a trade surplus. In FY2013-14, India’s exports to USA stood at around $39.1 billion, compared to imports worth $22.5 billion in the year.

This article was published on November 26, 2014.