U.S. and India Collaborate on Standardization

Speaking at a ‘Roundtable on Standards and Conformity Assessment,’Arun  M. Kumar, Assistant Secretary, Global Markets, & Director General, U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, said U.S.-India bilateral trade reached $109 billion in 2015, and that India was among the top 10 growing sources of FDI in the U.S. in 2015, reaching $11.5 billion. Harmonization of product standards will be one of the four major U.S.-India joint policy objectives, he added.

Heather Lanigan, Country Manager – South Asia, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, stressed on the importance of standards across different sectors like energy, telecommunications and infrastructure.

“India is committed to conform to global standards and adopt best case practices to enable a smooth flow of products. Standards are going to be the new norm in bilateral trade,” Additional Secretary in India’s Ministry of Commerce Alok Chaturvedi said.