Commerce minister: India fully-compliant with WTO

India’s intellectual property framework is fully-compliant with the World Trade Organization, commerce minister Nirmala Sitaharaman said in a recent telecast.

Intellectual property rights have been a sticking point in India-US relations, dating back at least to a September 2014 meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama in Washington.

According to a White House statement released at the time, the two leaders agreed to establish an annual high-level intellectual property working group with appropriate decision-making and technical-level meetings as part of the Trade Policy Forum.

Mr Modi has expressed a strong commitment to improving the business environment and has made known that the government will come out with a comprehensive IP policy in the next few months. Whether this policy will fully address issues raised by Western nations is debatable, for Mr Modi is unlikely to be in a position to ignore domestic compulsions.