US losing interest in India!
The ongoing trade tiff between India and US has reached unprecedented levels. Why?
If you talk on purely economic perspective then Americans are not as bullish about India as they used to be earlier. And this has got to do with your taxation policy, IPR issues and so on. They are having difficulty to work here.
The UPA II regime was marked with large-scale scams. Have these also been responsible for denting the bilateral ties?
The scams here keep making news there and because of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act people are bound to think twice before coming here and looking as to what the government is doing in terms of concrete measures. So the relationship has gone a little backwards.
Are you expecting that a new government will mend the ties?
Well India and US have come a long way. After the nuclear blasts the US had put sanctions on India. But we have a far more strategic relationship. Americans are very practical people. They will come in only when they see that the new government, whichever one comes in puts in place a clear and concise policy. Both sides, I think need to walk that extra mile while there will be hurdles along the side.
Are the Americans also keen to see BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi as the country’s next leader even though the relationship between him and US administration has been mired with controversies?
(Narendra) Modi is practical person. He had got a country to run. If he comes in, he will revive the economy and create jobs. US will also bury the past and align their interests. I think Modi’s focus is going to be infrastructure and energy in both of which US would like to be a partner with India. There is that kind of synergy that exists.
Question: So, US wants BJP to come?
Well, it could be UPA or BJP that comes to power next but all that US wants is action, clarity and transparency. Even if UPA III comes in the leadership is not going to be the same anyway. There has to be policy consistency and not policy paralysis. The ‘Buy India’ concept has to go. I mean the main big markets for US are China, India, Brazil. India has to rise among the BRICS now. You have to welcome investments and not scare them away.
Pharmaceuticals has become a major sore point in Indo-US ties.
Pharma has become a real bone of contention even if that’s concerning just one issue of compulsory licencing. The issue here is that US is concerned that other countries will also follow this, for example, Israel and China have a large generic drugs industry. The national association of manufacturing (NAM) has, on the other hand, made it a very serious case with the Congress voicing their protest alleging that India is following unfair trade practices like what they did with China.
The USTR seems determined in labeling India as worst IPR offender in its Special 301 Report. This way our trade ties will suffer a body blow.
There is no doubt about that. Special 301, if it takes unilateral action against India, then bilateral ties will definitely be hard hit, especially when both sides are looking to increase trade to $500 billion in near future. This will be horrible for industry as far as industry perception is concerned. We are asking them to step back and let things settle here and then find common grounds.
USINPA is the political voice of 2.7 million Indian-Americans, thus, do you advise the US Congress on these matters?
We provide a sort of reality check to the Congress there that the relationship is close achieving $100 billion trade which can even be scaled up to $500 bn. We also bring industry delegations here. In June we will bring a delegation of private equity players to do infrastructure funding. But the signals have got to be right. We do information sharing and it is up to them to decide what to do. But sometimes they do take us seriously.
Lastly, there is widespread perception here that the next US ambassador is going to be an Indian-American.
Next US ambassador to India will be somebody who has direct access to President Obama, having strong trade background, defence or energy and somebody who has had a political background too then some of the diplomatic tiffs we had could have been better handled.
