WASHINGTON – Criticising India’s trade and business policies vis-a-vis America, senior US lawmakers on Saturday said that the New Delhi government was not willing to play by the rules.”When you look at India’s industrial policy, trade barriers, the rampant piracy, the tax discrimination and what appears to be an absolute disregard for our intellectual property rights, you realise that India is a country that is not willing to play by the rules right now,” Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, told at a Congressional hearing.”What’s worse is that they’re trying to gloss over this. And here’s an example. Last week, the Indian Ambassador sent a letter to my office defending their abusive practices that are killing jobs of millions of hardworking Americans,” the Congresswoman said, referring to the letter sent by Indian Ambassador Nirupma Rao.”India’s principles set a disappointing example to the rest of the world. No country that calls itself a friend of the US would celebrate isolationism the way that India is doing,” Ms. Blackburn said.Congressman Peter Olson, also a Republican, also expressed his outrage against the recent Indian trade policies, which the Congressman said were badly hurting the American business.”Like all of you all, my blood boils when I hear that India is revoking and denying patents and granting compulsory licenses for cancer treatments or adopting local content requirements,” said Olson, calling upon the Indian government to reverse the policies.US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed a wide-range of topics including security and bilateral trade during his recent visit to New Delhi.”Our economic partnership is already growing stronger every single day. Annual trade in goods and services between the US and India has grown nearly fivefold just since (the year) 2000 and more than 50 per cent … just during the Obama administration (since 2008). Bilateral foreign direct investment stands at nearly $30 billion,” Kerry said. “Truth is, we also do more here,” said John Kerry.Last year, the bilateral trade between the two countries reached $100 billion but recently India has been complaining against the US immigration reform-efforts, which New Delhi says badly affects the flow of skilled professionals from Indian IT companies such as Infosys Ltd.
