A bill has been introduced in the US House of Representatives to remove high-tech export barriers to India and boost unrestricted export of sensitive technologies to the country. This comes as US President Joe Biden is visiting New Delhi to take part in the G20 Summit. He met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
Following the meeting, a joint statement said that two leaders have vowed to deepen and diversify the bilateral major defense partnership.
On Friday, Congressman Gregory Meeks, who serves as the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Congressman Andy Barr, the vice chair of the House India Caucus, jointly introduced legislation titled the "Technology Exports to India Act," reported PTI. The bill is designed to streamline the process of selling high-performance computers and associated equipment to India, with the goal of enhancing technology cooperation between the two countries.
“As President Biden visits India for the G-20 Summit, we are happy to introduce the ‘Technology Exports to India Act’ to bolster technology cooperation between the United States and India,” the two lawmakers said in a joint statement, as per the news agency.
“This bill removes restrictions on the sale of US products, such as digital computers and electronic assemblies, to India without a Department of Commerce license, thereby enhancing US-India technology trade, linkages between our technology companies, and supply chain resilience for a critical industry,” they wrote.
“In light of the further strengthening of our strategic partnership with India, this legislative change reduces regulatory barriers to technology cooperation,” the statement added.
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The bill says that Congress feels that greater technological and defence cooperation with India is critical to tackling shared geopolitical and security challenges. As such it is important to reduce regulatory barriers to technological cooperation with India in ways that enhance national security and advance strategic priorities.
President Biden providing flexibility to export high-performance computers to India would bolster United States-India technological cooperation and demonstrate Congress’s commitment to India as a strategic partner, it further says.
In this context, the bill asks to remove India from the 'Computer Tier 3' eligible countries listed in section 740.7(d) of title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations would contribute significantly to fortifying the bilateral relationship.
As of now, exporting high-performance computers with certain specifications to India requires authorisation of the United States Government under section 1211 of the National Defence Authorisation Act for Fiscal Year 1998. The bill, once passed by Congress, will grant the US President the authority to remove India from the excluded Computer Tier 3 eligible country list, simplifying the process.