India reversed decision on laptop licensing policy after pressure from US: Report
Govt mulls legal action against Hero Electric, Okinawa, Benling for alleged FAME subsidy fraud. CBI, ED to probe Citing US government emails, the Reuters report stated despite bonhomie that is displayed by both sides in the public, US officials were upset about the Indian laptop licensing policy came "out of the blue", without notice or consultation and was “incredibly problematic" for the business climate.
Soon after the announcement of policy, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai met the Indian commerce minister Piyush Goyal on August 26 in New Delhi. Tai reportedly told her counterpart that US wanted India to “rescind the requirement".
The report also states that US diplomat for trade in New Delhi, Travis Coberly told his USTR collegues about Indian officials conceding that the sudden rollout of the laptop licencing scheme was a mistake. In an email he said that the Indian IT ministry “understands they (India) screwed up.
They admitted as much. American companies here have been hammering them about this," Also Read | Centre notifies Press Information Bureau’s fact check unit under IT rules However, three unnamed Indian officials told Reuters that the Commerce Ministry did not reverse its policy owing to pressure from US but the decision was taken after instead realising that the local manufacturing of laptops and tablets wasn't significant at this stage, The Reuters report while citing US trade officials' emails states that despite the reversal of laptop licensing policy, US officials have remained concerned about the compliance of the Indian government with WTO obligations and new rules that it may issue.
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