NEW DELHI, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- India Wednesday charged that a U.S. law banning subcontracting of government contract jobs overseas trampled global free trade norms.
"It is true that in terms of value, U.S. government contracts that are being outsourced to India are not very significant," India's Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said. "But we do believe that the move sends a very wrong signal for a variety of reasons, particularly as far as multilateral trade talks are concerned."
The U.S. Senate last week passed a bill banning U.S. companies from shipping government contracts overseas. Indian officials say it was a major blow to India's outsourcing industry.
"The United States has always been a strong proponent of free trade and they are now indulging in market denial measures themselves. We will certainly be conveying our reaction to the appropriate U.S. authorities," Jaitley said while unveiling India's export-import policy.
India is considered a prime outsourcing market due to its vast English-speaking manpower.
