Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma took up the visa issue with US commerce secretary John Bryson in a bilateral meeting on Monday.
"There have been concerns over the high rate of rejection. Last year, number of visas declined by 28%. We had a very frank discussion, including some of the issues on which US has concerns," Sharma said.
India expressed concern over the rejection of visas in both H1B and L1 categories for Indians, while it has gone up for other countries. H1B is work permit for temporary workers, while L1 visas are issued for intracompany transfers that allow companies to relocate qualified employees to US offices.
Rate of rejection of visa application of Indian professional in L1 category rose to 28% in 2011 as compared to 2.8%. There was a sharp increase in rejection in H1B category as well. Bryson is on six-day official visit to India leading a group of representatives from 16 US infrastructure firms and senior government officials.
The US, too, had its own set of complaints and termed the Indian import duties as "too high". India should lower its tariffs as high rates "could harm" the bilateral trade and economic ties, Bryson said addressing Indian industry at an event organised by industry chamber Ficci.
Bryson said India should ease restrictions on imports of products like medical equipment, fruits and capital goods.
"It would be a miss, if I would not mention about the barriers which still exist in building our economic relationship. For example, there are many tariffs on American products which are still too high," he said.
The US also asked India to sign the government procurement agreement of the WTO, which is a pact between small group of countries.
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