New Delhi is ready with a positive narrative of the contribution of Indian companies to employment and revenue generation in the United States, besides the supply of affordable medicines, all of which its officials will discuss with the Donald Trump administration, which takes charge on Friday.

“It is important for us to first establish the relevance of Indian companies for the US economy before we make a case for easier visa rules and other industry-friendly dispensations. We plan to do so with facts and numbers when we meet the new US team of officials,” a Commerce Ministry official told BusinessLine .

India has decided to wait for all appointments to be made, especially at the mid-level, before making its move.

“While the new President has appointed top officials, including the Secretaries of Commerce and Health, we don’t know much about middle-level appointments yet. We will wait for these appointments to take place as we have to explain our points of view to them first,” the Commerce Ministry official said.

Job generator The Indian industry has generated a large number of jobs in the US and contributed a substantial amount in taxes. The Information Technology industry alone has generated more than 4.11 lakh jobs, of which 3 lakh have gone to US citizens and permanent residents.

“The US has traditionally focussed on attracting the best talents to the country. We are hoping that once we have outlined the importance of the Indian industry and the supporting workforce, we can convince the new regime to roll back the increase in visa fee for Indian professionals,” the official said.

In December 2015, the Barack Obama regime had introduced an additional fee of $4,000 and $4,500 for certain categories of H1B and L1 visas (both non-immigrant visas), respectively, for some categories of workers.

As per estimates made by IT industry lobby Nasscom, the move would set the Indian IT industry back by an estimated $400 million a year.

“The narrative will also focus on the positive role played by Indian generic medicines in the US, making access to essential medication cheaper for Americans and also helping the US government in expanding its public health network,” the official said, adding that India was hopeful that action against its pharmaceutical companies would decline. Other areas of focus would be CSR activities being done by Indian companies in the US, such as the Tata group funding programmes in American universities. The US is India’s largest export partner, accounting for more than $40 billion of its exports in 2015-16.

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