India and US held trade talks on Monday, with America seeking lower tariffs and higher market access, while New Delhi raised concerns over expensive visas for its IT professionals who go on short-term contracts to that country.
Visiting US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who is leading a 24-member business delegation, said India was low on World Bank's ranking of 'ease of doing business' because of its limits on FDI in key sectors and high import tariff.
US wants India to allow FDI in multi-brand retail and increase FDI cap of 26 per cent in defence production.
After a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, Locke said import duties in India on civil aircraft, X-Ray films, apples and pistachio ranged from 19-50 per cent.
He said non-tariff barriers in the country include limits on foreign direct investment (FDI) in key areas, mandatory technology transfer requirement for telecom equipment and inadequate reduction of intellectual property rights (IPRs).
"These measures explain why India is still ranked only 134 out of 183 countries on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Report," Locke said.
India, on its part, reiterated concerns on fee hike in certain category of visas, affecting mostly the Indian IT professionals who go on short-term contracts and work on-site for US companies.
"We hope that there will not be any measures which negatively impact on the movement of professionals between the two countries, particularly our IT professionals in the US," Sharma said.
On protectionist noises in the US against outsourcing, Locke said the "historical experience of the US and recent experience of India proves that those fears are unfounded."
He conceded that foreign companies, including from India have employed more than 5 million Americans in the US.
Locke is also slated to visit Mumbai and Bangalore.
The Indo-US trade was USD 50 billion in 2010.