U.S Exports to and Investment in India Would be Significantly Higher Without Barriers
U.S. exports to and investment in India would be significantly higher if not for Indian policy barriers, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its report Trade, Investment, and Industrial Policies in India: Effects on the U.S. Economy.
The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, fact finding federal agency, prepared the report at the request of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance. The Report says:
• The share of U.S. companies substantially adversely affected by restrictive Indian policies rose from 18.8 percent to 26.1 percent between 2007 and 2013. Shares for individual sectors in 2013 ranged from 7.7 percent to 44.1 percent.
• Over 60 percent of the affected companies have made strategic changes in response to these barriers, most often directing fewer resources to the Indian market.
• Policies in two areas - tariffs and customs procedures, and taxes and financial regulations - have the heaviest effects on U.S. companies. Other issues, including investment and intellectual property policies, have large negative effects on specific industries.
• If tariff and investment restrictions were fully eliminated and standards of IP protection were made comparable to U.S. and Western European levels, Commission model results indicate that U.S. exports to India would rise by two-thirds, and U.S. investment in India would roughly double.