United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce & Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu discussed the state of bilateral trade ties between the two countries in a conference call last week pushing aside bitterness over contentious issues such as the on-going spat over US tariffs on Indian steel and aluminium.

“The call was very positive,” Prabhu said in an interaction with the media on Wednesday, adding that India wanted to develop good relations with all whether it is the US, the EU, the ASEAN or China.

App for exporters

Prabhu, who launched a mobile app for exporters -- `Niryat Mitra’ -- developed by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, said his Ministry was ready with the strategy for increasing India’s exports by $100 billion. “We have done market research on potential items and destinations,” Prabhu said, adding that the focus would be on diversification.

The app could help the users find out details on India’s export policy for a product, the available export benefits, the import tariff and the preferential tariff of the product in the destination country, rules of origin and quality standards and requirements.

India threatened the US with retaliatory duties on import of 29 items after Washington imposed penal duties of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium from the country. New Delhi recently put off the date of implementation of the retaliatory duties by 45 days and the two sides are in talks to sort out the issue.

The Minister also said that India was engaged positively with China on the trade front and Beijing had taken steps to deliver on the promise of importing rice and pharmaceuticals in order to bridge the growing trade deficit that crossed $160 billion last fiscal.

“We are also looking at the possibility of exporting sugar and milk powder to China,” he said.

The Minister said that it was heartening that India’s export growth was on a positive track but the country had to be cautious as other countries were growing protectionist.

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