India said it may lodge a complaint against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization over legislation that may double visa costs, threatening to erode the competitiveness of Indian software-services companies.
The increase in visa fees is “WTO-incompatible,” Indian Trade Secretary Rahul Khullar, the top bureaucrat in the Department of Commerce, told reporters in New Delhi today. “If the U.S. wishes to put up its protectionist barriers to hurt itself, let them do it. But where a measure is specifically targeting my commercial interest, I cannot keep quiet.” He didn’t say when India planned to approach the Geneva-based WTO.
