(a) whether some cases of trade disputes of India with other countries are pending with the dispute settlement body of World Trade Organisation;
(b) if so, the details of such disputes and negotiations made in this regard;
(c) the steps taken by the Government to ensure that the decision of settlement body should be in favour of India; and
(d) the extent to which the Government achieved the success by these initiatives?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY)
(a) There have been thirty cases of trade disputes under the Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO) involving India either as a complaining country or the country complained against. While some of these cases have been decided by the Dispute Settlement Body based on Panel and Appellate Body reports, certain others have been amicably settled.
(b) There are at present five cases of ongoing disputes in which India is the complaining country. Separate panels have been established in two of these cases for examining India`s claims. There are four cases of ongoing disputes in which India is the country complained against.
(c) The Government has been pursuing WTO disputes in coordination with concerned administrative ministries, Department of Legal Affairs and the legal experts engaged for the disputes. For each dispute a lawyer, where necessary an experienced foreign lawyer, is appointed with the prior approval of Department of Legal Affairs.
(d) India has won eight cases at the WTO and has lost five cases. In certain other cases, negotiations with other countries has resulted in amicable settlement of the dispute.