India-US trade framework includes electronics, IP discussions: Vaishnaw

The Indian government is closely engaged with the US for electronics and IP-related matters, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday, as the two nations announced that they have finalised a framework for an interim trade agreement.

The US-India joint statement on the interim agreement for trade deal has called for addressing non-tariff barriers that affect bilateral trade.

It specifically mentions barriers related to the trade in US medical devices, US Information and Communication Technology (ICT) goods.

Asked about views on the statement and its expected impact, Vaishnaw said the commerce ministry is the nodal body to share details but as far as electronics is concerned India is closely engaged in the discussion.

 

"We are very closely engaged from our side as far as electronics and IP is concerned. We believe in co-development, co-creation, we believe in IP, respecting IP. We believe that India has a lot to offer to the entire world in terms of new products, new ideas, new technologies and that journey is progressing at a very rapid measure, good pace," the minister said.

The joint statement calls for working towards a positive outcome, within six months of the agreement getting into force on whether US-developed or international standards, including testing requirements, are acceptable for the purposes of US exports entering the Indian market in identified sectors.

As per the statement, India and the US will significantly increase trade in technology products, including Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and other goods used in data centers, and expand joint technology cooperation.

Sharing his views on the GPU agreement, Vaishnaw said data centres are going to be a major growth journey in the coming years.

He said that under the India AI mission, the country has procured over 34,000 GPUs as part of the common compute facility and very soon about 20,000 more will be added.

"So far we have committed investments of USD 70 billion, if we add the other announcements, it is about USD 90 billion. I expect that in the coming months, this number will go beyond USD 200 billion. That is the general expectation which is coming up and that will generate new opportunities for our service providers, for the young startups who can provide new solutions," Vaishnaw said.

During October-December, Google announced an investment of USD 15 billion, Microsoft USD 17 billion, Amazon USD 35 billion and Digital Connexion USD 11 billion.

Vaishnaw said that the investments in data centres will create that strength which is needed in all the five layers of the AI architecture, AI stack.

"Many of our startups will be very keen on having more and more compute facilities available in our country through these data centres, so that they can use it for developing solutions and also providing the solutions to the world," Vaishnaw said.