India needs to adopt new IPR protection norms: US

The US government Monday highlighted the need for India to adopt new norms relating to protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), local sourcing norms and mobility of highly-skilled labour.

The US government's latest stand was pointed out by US Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman at a closed door roundtable held with several leading industry groups here.

Ambassador Froman said that high standards for IPR were being adopted by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and India too needs to look at its current IPR standards.

At the same time, Froman said there is a need to address trade related issues where there is no current agreement yet, said industry lobby Confederation of India Industries (CII), whose members had participated in the roundtable.

Ambassador Froman further spoke of US President Obama's recent executive order on immigration which will benefit Indian H1B visa holders and their spouses.

He expressed the hope that the latest move by the US president will help ease concerns of Indian companies on the movement of high-skill labour in the US.

On the subject of further Indian economic reforms, CII president Ajay Shriram said: "The government is committed to opening up the Indian economy. We have already seen this with the defence sector and expect the trend to continue in other areas also."