Washington, DC – The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has launched an investigation into significant changes in India’s trade and investment policies by that country’s newly-elected government.

The decision by the agency comes in response to a request made in a September 25 letter sent jointly from the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Committee on Finance.

“Given the recent national elections in India and the formation of a new Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, and our interest in receiving the most comprehensive and up-to-date information possible,” the letter read, “we now request that the Commission conduct a second investigation concerning India’s industrial policies that discriminate against US trade and investment since the first ITC investigation.”

As requested, the ITC said it will “provide information about any significant changes by the new Indian government to the trade and investment policies identified in the Commission’s ongoing investigation.”

The agency said it “will also include information on any new relevant trade and investment policies and practices in India, focusing on the period from mid-2014.”

It added that the agency expects to deliver the report to the committees by September 24, 2015, the official statement said, adding that it will hold a public hearing in connection with this investigation on April 7, 2015.

The new investigation is the ITC’s second probe regarding India’s trade and investment policies requested by the two committees.

In 2013, the committees jointly asked the agency to investigate Indian policies that restrict US trade and investment.

The ITC is expected to submit its report in that investigation – Trade, Investment, and Industrial Policies in India: Effects on the US Economy – to both the House and Senate committees on December 15.

10/29/2014