India may become member of a multilateral agreement under which it will have to subject government purchases to WTO scrutiny, a senior commerce ministry official indicated today.
"Sometime in the future, on the basis of consultations, India may decide to become a full-fledged member of the WTO committee on government procurement agreement (GPA)," Commerce Joint Secretary Amarendra Khatua told an Assocham event here.
Khatua, however, added the country will not become a GPA signatory till it is prepared to take the benefits that the US and EU markets offer. "I think all of us must prepare ourselves through sharing of experience, developing our own regulatory framework and inter-ministerial consultations," Khatua said.
GPA is a pact that deals with the issues relating to government purchases. In February, New Delhi had joined the GPA as an observer and once it becomes a full GPA member, foreign players too will become eligible to participate in government purchase programmes, estimated at about $127 billion a year.
Khatua said the country too will have access to the huge opportunities in the West.The GPA has 14 members now including the US and the EU, while about 20 nations are observers.
Government procurement is an important aspect of international trade, given its considerable size, which is often 10-15 per cent of GDP. This is the only legally binding pact in the WTO focusing on government procurements.