New Delhi, May 1
India has defended its intellectual property rights (IPR) regime and said it will not take part in any unilateral investigation by the United States.

The US Trade Representative (USTR) yesterday kept India out of the Priority Foreign Country list, the worst classification for countries considered to have inadequate intellectual property laws.

“It appears to be a wise decision on the part of the US to not hasten to take any decision which could have impacted bilateral trade, particularly when India is in the process of political transition,” Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said.

Kher said India was ready to discuss any issue related to trade and IPR only at the India-US Trade Policy Forum. The USTR Special 301 report was “a unilateral measure and the government of India has not agreed to be party to any such investigations,” he told reporters here.

The Commerce Secretary reiterated that India's IPR laws were fully compliant with all international laws and World Trade Organisation norms. “Each side has to recognise the constraints. The US has to understand India's situation. India is not in violation of any of its bilateral, multilateral agreements on any platform,” he said. Kher said he would meet Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler in June or early July to discuss trade-related issues. On compulsory licensing, he said it was a flexibility and policy tool available to all WTO members.

Compulsory licensing is when a government allows production of a patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner.

The industry body, Ficci, said it was glad to note that India had not been given the priority country status as this could have had serious ramifications on economic, political and trade sanctions.

Ficci said despite vehement and exhaustive submissions arraying the strength of the Indian IP regime, India continued to be on the watch list along with China, Russia Algeria, Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand and Venezuela in the United States Trade Representative (USTR) report.

The US Chamber of Commerce said it was encouraged by the USTR report on India. The US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Centre (GIPC) Executive vice-president Mark Elliot said, “We are encouraged that the USTR recognises the growing concerns with India’s deteriorating IP environment and supports the decision to initiate an ‘out-of-cycle’ review of India. We hope that the step will generate much-needed dialogue for the US and Indian governments to address the concerns identified in the report.”

New Delhi, May 1
India's economy is likely to recover and achieve 6 per cent growth in 2014-15 on the back of sound economic policies and a pick-up in investment, finance minister P Chidambaram said today.

"If investments pick up, I think it's possible to aim and achieve a growth rate of 6 per cent in 2014-15 even while I recognise that the international situation remains very tepid," he told mediapersons at the Congress party headquarters in New Delhi.

He said if the new government "followed sound policies" and the 10-point agenda outlined in the interim Budget, 2014-15 would be considerably better than 2013-14.

After growing at almost 9 per cent in 2009-10, India's economic expansion eased to 6.7 per cent in 2011-12 and to a decade-low of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13. The economy is expected to grow at a slightly higher pace of 4.9 per cent in the year ended March.

Chidambaram also hit out at senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, saying his performance as a finance minister was such that he had to demit the office on July 1, 2002.

"I may point out that 2000-01 and 2002-03 were the worst years since liberalisation in terms of growth and Prime Minister Vajpayee was forced to replace the finance minister," he said.

He said people did not want to accept a slowdown after witnessing a high GDP growth even though India’s economy was expanding at a pace faster than in many other countries.

Listing out achievements of the 10-year rule of the United Progressive Alliance, Chidambaram said good economics was good politics.

"I would be very unhappy if somebody goes out with a message that good economics is not good politics because the opposite is the frightening thought that bad economics is good politics," he said.

Asked why there was resentment against the UPA, Chidambaram said: "I think people recognise that the UPA government has done remarkably good work, yet it is possible that some sections of people want a change." He also said India had emerged as the world's third-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. —PTI

New Delhi, May 1
Revving up sales continues to remain a major issue for the car manufacturers in the country. With the market sentiment down, major carmakers, including Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), Toyota Kirloskar Motor and General Motors India all reported decline in domestic sales in April.

Country’s second largest car-maker Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) also reported a fall of 11.8 per cent in its total sales for April at 50,222 units from 56,953 units in the corresponding month of last year.

However, the company said its domestic sales during the month under review grew by 8.8 per cent and stood at 35,248 units, up from 32,403 units sold in the corresponding month of 2013.

The company's exports last month crashed by 39 per cent at 14,974 units, down from 24,550 units shipped out during the corresponding month of last year.

Other manufacturers- Honda Cars India and Ford- however, reported an increase in April sales on the back of their new models.

The MSIL reported 12.6 per cent decline in its April sales during the month at 79,119 units.

Sales of the mini cars comprising M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR declined by 25.4 per cent to 26,043 units, while those of premium compact cars consisting of Swift, Estilo, Ritz rose by 9.9 per cent to 23,659 units in April.

The company said sales of its popular compact sedan Dzire declined 17.7 per cent during the month under review to 16,008 units, while sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga, also declined by 5.8 per cent to 5,011 units in April.

Similarly, homegrown Mahindra & Mahindra also saw its domestic sales dropping by 15 per cent at 34,107 units as against 39,902 in the same month previous year.

The company expects that post the general elections, sentiments would improve, leading to a better economic situation and hence, increased demand, he said.

General Motors India also reported a 35.30 per cent decline in April sales at 5,302 units.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor also saw its domestic sales decline by 16.04 per cent at 7,562 units in the month. The company, which saw labour unrest at its Bangalore facility, said it resumed normal production from April 22.

Honda Cars India reported a 30 per cent increase in the domestic sales at 11,040 units in April. The company had sold 8,488 units in the same month of the previous year.

During April, the company sold 578 units of its small car Brio, 3,355 units of sedan Amaze and 7,044 units of the premium sedan City.

Besides, the company sold 63 units of sports utility vehicle CRV.

In addition, the company exported a total of 402 units during the month.

New Delhi, May 1
In his sharpest attack on critics of the gas price hike decision, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily today accused CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta and his accomplices in the petroleum ministry of carrying out a malicious campaign for vested interests.

Moily, who for the past year faced the embarrassing situation of his official notes finding their way into the hands of Dasgupta and other opponents of the hike in gas prices within hours of signing them, released an angry statement alleging a nexus between some within his ministry and those outside working to stall the move.

Denying any mala fide in his decision making, Moily refused to name the so-called accomplices even though it was widely believed he was hinting at officials in the ministry's exploration division.

"Dasgupta has been making false, baseless and misleading allegations against me frequently in the past and all those have been convincingly rebutted by me," he said in a signed statement.

"The present allegation (of attempts to circumvent an Election Commission ban on raising gas prices) is also one in the series of such malicious campaign for the reasons best known to Gurudas Dasgupta and his accomplices, both inside and outside the ministry," Moily said.

Moily said he asked his ministry to notify the revised price for April-June based on the formula approved by the Cabinet and notified on January 10, soon after the general elections ends and the model code of conduct is lifted.

"Therefore, the allegation that this order on the file note sheet is in contravention to the Election Commission directive to favour any individual operator is completely baseless, malicious and misleading and is denied in toto," he said.

The statement came a day after Dasgupta wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath for "openly defying" the poll watchdog's directive to hold back the gas price revision until completion of the Lok Sabha elections. —PTI 

New Delhi, May 1
The CBI today quizzed former Coal Secretary PC Parakh for hours on alleged charges of his abusing official position for favouring Odisha-based company Hindalco for getting Talabira- II coal block allocated.

He entered the CBI headquarters at 10.30 am and was quizzed even after 6 pm. Sources said he would be called tomorrow also for questioning.

Sources further said Parakh was shown all the record of the coal block before his questioning was started, keeping in view that he might not remember all the records of coal block. He was given sufficient time to reexamine the files.

He was questioned by Superintendent of Police-level officer under the supervision of the Joint Director of the CBI.

He was earlier summoned for questioning on April 25, but he sought time from the CBI due to certain reasons. Again he was summoned for today’s questioning.

Hindalco is owned by Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla.

Sources said he had been grilled that led to the decision of the Screening Committee being changed. The Screening Committee had allotted the Talabira-II coal block to the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Neyveli Lignite Limited, but the decision was allegedly changed by Parakh after he had received a request sent by the Birla Group chairman from Prime Minister's Office for the reconsideration of the decision.

The CBI had last year registered a case against Parakh, Birla, besides unknown officials of Hindalco and Coal Ministry. 

London, May 1
A British minister has sought action against scientists in India and China who are allegedly producing dangerous new medicines called "legal highs" to be sold on UK streets.

Norman Baker, a UK Home Office minister, said that scientists in India and China are creating new drugs on a "weekly basis" and the UK government needs to find new ways to deal with them.

"We are in a race against the chemists of new substances being produced almost on a weekly basis in places like China and India," Baker told the BBC.

"They then come here and are inaccurately and unhelpfully called 'legal highs'. Some of them are actually illegal. They are certainly not necessarily safe and the word legal implies that they are safe. People are consuming them and last year 68 persons died from the ingestion of these substances, according to coroners reports.

"My objective is to minimise the harm from these substances to the public at large," Baker said.

The number of deaths from drugs known as "legal highs", such as mephedrone, known as "Miaow Miaow", reached the highest number ever recorded last year.

"We are dealing with a situation where there's already a vast array of substances being sold on our streets, shops and that is what we have to deal with. Many of these are actually quite dangerous," he warned.

The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) said deaths linked with the psychoactive substances jumped from 29 in 2011 to 52 in 2012, an 80 per cent rise.

Many of the so-called legal highs, which give the user euphoric sensations similar to the drug ecstasy, have been made illegal by the Home Office but the law struggles to keep pace with a proliferation of different drug types. —PTI