Modi, Obama bilateral meet to focus on tough issues on Monday

Narendra Modi would be sitting for his third bilateral meet with US President Barack Obama, even as both sides would be eyeing a tough agenda

After a hectic schedule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to end his visit to the US on a high note on Monday. He would be sitting for his third bilateral meet with President Barack Obama, even as both sides would be eyeing a tough agenda.

In the span of a year, both leaders have held dialogues thrice. However, this time India would play its card rather cautiously, with US heading for presidential elections in 2016.

Matters related to trade and investment is expected to dominate the agenda for the meeting. The visa row between India and US is on the top of Modi's agenda. It has been learnt that India would be making a strong case in front of the US to bring down the cost of H-1B professional visa fees, of which the Indian IT industry is the biggest beneficiary. The H-1B and L-1 visas cost $2,000 and $2,250 respectively.

According to a report released by the minister of commerce and industry, Nirmala Sitharaman, during the US-India Strategic and Commercial held last week in Washington, the revenue generated from H-1B and L-1 fees is utilised in paying for healthcare compensation.

Besides, according to sources, Modi might also directly ask the US president to sign the long pending Totalisation Agreement. Both sides have been discussing the pact for over a decade now. Due to the absence of this agreement, Indians working in US are unable to claim their social security contribution at the end of their stay there.

US on the other hand, is going to discuss India's preparedness in coming out with a robust IPR policy, a long-standing complaint of the American firms working here. US is also planning to urge India to begin negotiations for a free trade agreement between the two.

Recently, the Alliance for Fair Trade with India (AFTI), a grouping created by some of the leading US business chambers, wrote a letter to Obama.

In the letter, AFTI has stated that India imposes barriers like forced localisation measures, excessively high tariffs, unnecessary regulations that "discourage globally competitive U.S. industries from participating fully in India's economy, which would enable these sectors to spur domestic growth."

On the PM's Digital India programme, the US industry has said in order to make it a successful campaign, India should revise policies that discourage broadband investment like tariffs and onerous testing requirements on imported information and communication technology products.

India and the US have decided to take the two-way trade in goods and services to $500 billion by 2020 from $100 billion now.