India reviews preferential policy for local electronic goods
India reviewed a policy that gave locally made electronics goods preference against foreign made products. The government said Monday last that it would use local electronics products for procurement in the government and private sector. This was after protests were raised by trade groups that represented global companies including Apple Inc.
Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma will be in Washington this week. The visit was due to a meeting with Jack Lew, US Treasury Secretary and Trade representative Michael Froman.
Last year, the policy was approved by the federal cabinet of India. The policy is known as the preferential market access (PMA).
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a US based trade group said last week that the proposed plan was inconsistent with World Trade Organization rules. The group said that the policy was designed to protect local manufacturing firms.
ITI represented 52 companies that included Apple Inc, IBM, Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp.
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