US telecom industry body accuses India of discrimination

June 28, 2013 09:29 am | Updated July 12, 2016 02:09 am IST - Washington

Expressing deep concerns over India’s policy of preferring domestically manufactured information and communication technology (ICT) goods, the apex body of U.S. telecom industry has told legislators that this will have negative impact on exports and economic competitiveness.

“We are deeply concerned over India’s Preferential Market Access (PMA) policy mandating preferences for domestically manufactured ICT goods — which may include software as well as hardware,” the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) said in a letter to U.S. legislators on Thursday.

This policy is harmful to global trade, and may be inconsistent with India’s WTO obligations, TIA said.

“The policy has already been implemented with regard to government procurement, but we understand that the PMA policy may soon be applied to private sector transactions. If so, this would represent a significant level of government interference in commercial activities,” it said.

“Our ability to sell American products and services in India is important for U.S. economic growth and achieving the President’s objective of doubling exports over five years,” said TIA president, Grant E. Seiffert, in the letter.

“Moreover, these policies, if left unchecked, carry with them the potential for a contagion effect, encouraging India to issue similar policies affecting other sectors — and providing a rationale for other countries to mirror this unfortunate behaviour,” Mr. Seiffert added.

“The ICT sector is a vibrant and dynamic one, and such restrictions as India seeks to impose would only deny it access to global technological and product innovations,” Mr. Seiffert said in his letter.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.