IBM, Boeing, 22 others continue India-specific lobbying in US

Washington: At least two dozen Americancompanies and industry groups are lobbying hard with the USlawmakers on issues related to their Indian business interestsand bilateral trade issues between the two countries, even asretail giant Walmart has halted such activities.

According to latest lobbying disclosure reports filed withthe US Senate and the House of Representatives, Pfizer, IBM,

Boeing, Dow Chemicals, Yum Brands and Colgate Palmolive areamong the major companies that lobbied with the US lawmakersin the second quarter on issues related to India.

Besides, a host of business chambers and industry bodiesincluding those representing US companies in sectors like

pharma, telecom, information technology and dairy, have alsodisclosed having lobbied on India-related issues.

Reuters

The lobbying issues for these companies and groups in thelast quarter included issues related to intellectual property,patent, market access, trade and investment issues related totheir individual businesses, as also the bilateral treatiesand trade issues between the US and India.

While many of these entities have been lobbying for manyquarters on Indian issues to seek the support of the USlawmakers on their business interests in India, the world'slargest supermarket chain operator Walmart surprisingly haltedits lobbying on India-focussed issues in the last quarter.

A probe was earlier ordered by Indian government intoWalmart's US lobbying for its India entry and the probe reportis likely to be presented before the Parliament next month.

Lobbying is legal in the US, but the companies and theirregistered lobbyists need to make quarterly disclosures about

such activities within a month of the end of every quarter.

Even some Indian companies, as also Indian government,have hired lobbyists in the US and make similar disclosures.

According to the disclosure made by Indian government'sregistered lobbyist, BGR, it spent an amount of USD 1,80,000

(about Rs 1 crore) as expenses towards discussions on"bilateral US-India relationship" with the US Senate, House of

Representatives, US Trade Representative (USTR), as alsoDepartments of State and Commerce in the second quarter.

The Indian government, which has been lobbying in the USsince 2005, has spent similar amounts in many past quarters

and earlier it had lobbied on the nuclear deal as well.Among other major Indian entities that lobbied in the US

during the last quarter, the lobbyists for Tata group entity,Tata America International, discussed issues like immigrationreforms, high-skilled workforce issues and US-India relations.

It spent at least USD 150,000 on lobbying in the quarter.Software industry body Nasscom also lobbied on

immigration related issues through its two lobbyists, BGR andLande Group, and spent USD 100,000 for the same.

Other Indian entities that lobbied in the last quarterincluded All India Rice Exports Association and Devas

Multimedia, while lobbyists for companies like ONGC Videsh andSterling Biotech reported 'no activity' in their latest

quarter disclosure reports.

Among the US companies, the most active in lobbying onIndia-related issues were drug-maker Pfizer, pharma sector

advocacy group PhRMA and technology giant IBM.

The 'specific lobbying issues' for Pfizer included "Indiatreatment of intellectual property... issues related to India

and intellectual property... trade issues related to India."Besides, pHRMA lobbied on issues including India

treatment of intellectual property and intellectual propertytrade issues related to India.

IBM lobbied on India market access issues, US-India incometax treaty, bilateral trade issues and policy with regard to

India, and "India's preferential market access policy".The Telecom Industry Association of America also lobbied

on India Preferential Market Access (PMA) Policy, while DowChemicals lobbied on market access issues related to India.

Others having lobbied on India-related issues are advocacygroup Business Roundtable (Intellectual property issues withIndia), Applied Materials (India WTO case) and Yum Brands(Agricultural trade issues related to India).

Companies like Boeing, Morgan Stanley and ColgatePalmolive have disclosed lobbying on generic issues like US-

India relations.

The industry chambers that lobbied on India-relatedissues included National Association of Software and Services

Companies, International Intellectual Property Alliance, theUS Chamber of Commerce, Alliance for Fair Trade with India,National Electrical Manufacturers Association, National MilkProducers Federation and Specialty Equipment MarketAssociation.

PTI