'Revised PMA policy gives level playing field to US companies'

The changes made by India on the preferential market access (PMA) policy helps ensure a level playing field to American companies, US technology and consulting firm IBM has said.
At a time when a section of the American businesses have been lobbying before the US Congress and the Obama Administration against India's PMA policy, the IBM submission in this regard to US International Trade Commission (USITC) assumes significance.
IBM submitted its views to USITC, a quasi-judicial federal agency, currently investigating the impact of Indian policies on American businesses.
In the submission, Christopher A Padilla, vice president, Governmental Programmes IBM said that last year, IBM and other US technology companies faced a major challenge when the Indian government published the Preferential Market Access (PMA) Policy, which imposed certain local content requirements for government and private sector procurements of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products and services.

"The PMA Policy threatened to put at risk significant business opportunities for IBM in a number of critical industry sectors, including telecommunications, banking and financial services and infrastructure," Padilla said.
Working with other ICT companies, IBM directly engaged the Indian government to raise concerns with the policy and seek revisions that would excise those discriminatory provisions that were inconsistent with World Trade Organisation rules, he wrote.

"In response, the Prime Minister's Office entered into a constructive dialogue with US technology companies to consider our concerns. As a result, last year the government announced a revised version of the Policy that rescinds the application to private sector procurements," Padilla said.

"This important change, reached by the Government of India after careful consideration of all views and a balancing of important interests, will help ensure that US firms can continue to compete in India on a level playing field," Padilla told USITC chairman Irving Williamson in his letter.
"This process serves as a positive example of the Government of India's willingness to constructively engage foreign companies on important policy matters. In this case, the Government recognised the concerns of foreign ICT companies with the PMA Policy and agreed to important revisions," said the IBM official.
IBM is not the only American company to have come openly in support of the Indian government policies at a time when there is a concerted anti-India campaign by a group. Last week, Boeing told the USITC that India has strong legal framework to protect intellectual property.

"In Boeing's experience, India has a legal framework that is adequate to protect IP with no known cases of IP violation involving Boeing's activities in the defence and aerospace sector," Boeing said in remarks submitted to USITC, that conducted a hearing this week.