US Border Security Act: Does India have a case at WTO?

While trade diplomats in the Indian government are busy looking at ways to take the United States to task on the hiked visa fees issue, lawyers and trade experts maintain it will not be easy for India given the complexities associated with world trade norms.

Nevertheless, experts say india should lodge a complaint at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at the earliest, reports CNBC-TV18's Rituparna Bhyuan and Mehak Kasbekar.

It won't be an open and shut case, for India at the WTO. We spoke to lawyers who have defended India's interest at the WTO, who maintain that the devil lies in the details of the norms prescribed by the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and India can atleast take a shot by lodging a formla complaint

Samir Gandhi, Associate Partner, Economic Law Practice, "GATS has principle and provisions that say that domestic laws and regulations which are administered by the US must be administered in an unfair, transparent and impartial manner. If the US has made a certain commitment at the WTO to liberalise services trade, the effect of those commitments should not be nullified or impaired. By imposing a high visa fees, they are nullifying or impairing the benefit which are available to Indian IT Companies."

Trade experts maintain that India should also explore other options like lobbying through American companies that use services of Indian professionals. In addition, experts also suggest using bilateral forums to negotiate visa related issues for Indian professionals. In the worst case scenario, experts maintain India could retaliate by restricting movement of US businessmen and professionals to India.

Arpita Mukherjee, Professor, ICRIER, "On Its own, India has regulations that limit the presence of US or foreign companies. India has not imposed them. India Can Look in to specific companies where US has strong interest, but leaving aside the IT sector."

A clear picture on India's response to the US legislation will emerge in the coming weeks. But going by the mood amongst Indian trade diplomats, the response could be hard and may impact Indo-US economic ties if the US does not relent.