US trade meet: India to raise outsourcing issue

Indian industrialists would take up the outsourcing issue during the Indo-US Private Sector Advisory Group meeting in Washington on Tuesday, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Rajan Bharati Mittal said.

"Tomorrow (Tuesday), we will take in the PSAG (Private Sector Advisory Group) the outsourcing issue," Mittal said ahead of the trade advisory group meeting on the sidelines of the Trade Policy Forum meeting, co-chaired by the Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and his American counterpart Ron Kirk.

Sharma arrived in Washington from Chicago on Monday evening and soon thereafter had a meeting with the Indian chief executive officers in Washington to attend the PSAG meeting.

"I have already told the Minister (Sharma) that as a industry body we are raising the issue of outsourcing," Mittal said.

"On the one hand they (Americans) are talking about Indo-US partnership in innovation and technology and allowing all services; on the other they are restricting peoples services. That's something which is not acceptable.

"This is a serious issue for India. This is an important issue for us and we will take this us seriously," he said.

Asked what was the response from the United States on the issues raised by India with regard to outsourcing and visa fee hike, he said it was a 'cold response'.

Notably, Sharma is yet to receive the response to the letter he wrote to Kirk on hike of categories of H-1B and L1 visas.

Besides outsourcing, the PSAG would be discussing three important issues logistics and urban development; urban infrastructure and technology and services.

"We have put a paper from Indian side on urban infrastructure and logistics. They have put a paper on technology innovation and services," Mittal said.