As the US and India count down to the second high profile summit in less than six months, expectations are running high. There is confidence that President Obama and Prime Minister Modi will operationalise and further the commitments made in September 2014 in Washington DC.
The US Ambassador to India Richard Verma says President Obama's Republic Day visit goes well beyond symbolic gestures and reflects the commitment to deepen the India-US partnership.
Pomp and ceremony aside, President Obama and PM Modi will try to find new ways to strengthen the trade mechanisms which were put in place when USTR Michael Froman visited India last year. What will this indispensible partnership of the 21st century mean for trade and investments? Will both sides move forward on the contentious IPR issues and will pragmatism prevail? Will the US give in to India’s demand for a Totalisation pact to make repatriation of social security contributions by visa holders possible? Can we become global partners meeting global challenges as articulated by the President?
An eminent panel comprising Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, member of the India- US forum; Pratibha Singh, member of the IPR Committee; R Chandrashekhar, president, Nasscom; and Subir Gokarn Director-Research, Brookings India, come together to discuss all of this.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan Mazumdar-Shaw said she expects some policy announcements in near-future as both India and the US are seeing revival in their economies. She hopes India-US CEO forum will realise some action plan.
According to Mazumdar-Shaw, India is facing perception problem and that the IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) and quality issues need to be addressed.
“The first good thing is that this government is at least talking to US on IRP issue to the US. There is proper synergy in exchanging information and the government is trying to change the perception,” said Pratibha Singh, who is a member of IPR committee.
She said the IPR think tank is looking at the policy as a whole and not just Section 3D or incremental innovation. Singh feels there are various other issues that need to be dealt within IPR like the overall administration of IP, setting up of patent benches to decide on patent cases and creating a larger pool of IPR- savvy judges and lawyers to help the innovative industry.
Subir Gokarn expects to see more constructive engagement in the high-level working group, but feels that business interests of both the countries need to be satisfied.
R Chandrashekhar expects to see some movement on repatriation and totalisation pact. And that the Indian IT sector will also get an assurance that there will be no restrictive or discriminatory provisions going forward.
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