A US federal agency has launched a probe into Indian trade and industrial policies that allegedly discriminate against American companies.
The US International Trade Commission, which describes itself as an independent, non-partisan federal agency, said earlier this week that it “will enumerate restrictive trade and investment policies that India maintains or has recently adopted, determine which sectors of the US economy are most affected by these policies, and describe the competitiveness of Indian firms in these sectors”.
The commission said it has launched the probe at the request of the senate committee on finance and the House committee on ways and means.
US lawmakers had earlier written to the Obama administration seeking its intervention on Indian trade and industrial policies that they believe are hostile to their interests.
India has aggressively defended some of those policies and dropped a few --- such as the preferred market access clause for electronic goods.
The USITC plans to submit its report by November, 2014.