AMCHAM organized an interaction with Mr. Brendan Lynch, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South and Central Asia on December 9th at the Boeing office in New Delhi. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM welcomed participants. Mr. Salil Gupte, Immediate Past Chairman, AMCHAM and President, Boeing India & South Asia, set the tone for the meeting. AUSTR Lynch provided an update on U.S.-India trade negotiations. Members shared sector-wise inputs focused on policy changes and updates on ease of doing business for U.S. companies operating in India across the following sectors: agriculture, defense, healthcare, ICT and services. A range of topics were discussed such as IP challenges, feedstock, genetically modified (GM) foods, defense exports, regulatory data protection, trade margin rationalization for pharmaceuticals, market access issues, quality control order (QCO) compliance burden, innovation friendly framework, and various IT certification and testing requirements, among others. U.S. industry shared about the extent and value of R&D in India however noted that when calculating the indigenous content for Make in India, it is not considered.

Mr. Michael Fernandez, Vice Chairman, AMCHAM and India Country Head and South Asia Lead, Lockheed Martin and Mr. Aman Rishi, National Executive Board Member, AMCHAM and Vice President and General Manager, Stryker participated in the session along with representatives from 22 member companies. U.S. government participants included: Ms. Olya Lutchyn, Deputy Assistant USTR for South and Central Asia, USTR, Ms. Amy Schedlbauer, Honorary National Executive Board Member, AMCHAM and Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Mr. Jonathan Heimer, Honorary National Executive Board Member, AMCHAM and Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Mr. Daniel Hall, Deputy Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Ms. Sonia Laul, Trade Officer, U.S. Embassy and Mr. DJ Rao, Senior Economic Policy Advisor, U.S. Embassy.