Possibility of losing to US on exports subsidies issue: Official

Kolkata : India faces the possibility of losing in the trade disputes with the US on its challenge to export subsidies, but the government is working on schemes to make them WTO compliant, an official said here on Thursday.

"We have a whole lot of challenges in World Trade Organization (WTO)... we respond strongly (but) there is a real possibility that we will lose this dispute because India has crossed the income threshold to be able to give direct export linked subsidies," Union Commerce and Industry Secretary Rita Teaotia said while responding to a query on the US challenging India's export subsidies in the WTO.

"What we are now trying to do is WTO compliant," she said at an event organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

Teaotia said that anything which entails a refund of statutory levy is legitimate for the purpose of exports in trade rules while incentive given only for exports is not legitimate.

"Right now, we have an expert group studying to see what are the WTO compliant support and what are the global practices in a transparent way. This exercise is almost complete. In fact, we are having the first round of presentation next week.

"Hopefully, we would have a draft set of schemes for the discussion in a month or so," she said.

The Centre is looking to support for regulatory compliance, she added.