India-US FTA Talks: US to Push India on Trade, Patents & Data Rules

Chennai: As India prepares for bilateral talks on FTA with the US, the latter is expected to demand opening up government procurement, reduction of agricultural subsidies, weakening of patent protections and unrestricted data flows.

The US has been raising a few demands in several multilateral fora, including WTO, and it is expected that during the FTA talks, these demands will be brought up.

Though the US multinational tech companies like Google are allowed to collect and use data, the government has the authority to bring in conditions to this free flow. However, the US has been insisting on taking away this authority from the government, said Ajay Srivastava, founder, GTRI.

Similarly, weakening patent protections could make evergreening of patented drugs possible. This would disallow the Indian pharmaceutical industry from coming up with cheaper generic drugs as the patents can be extended through minor additions.

Despite the US being a large subsidizer of agriculture, it has been asking India to stop subsidizing farm inputs. India has received special concessions from the WTO on farm subsidies as a measure to support the poor engaged in farming.

The US also has been clamouring for opening up of procurement of goods and services by PSUs, government departments and defence sector. Currently, the government has the prerogative to buy them from agencies and countries as per the demand. However, opening up will provide rights to other countries and companies to participate in the bidding process.

“Instead of buckling under pressure, India can offer tariff lines where it already allows duty-free imports under existing FTAs,” he said.