The government is likely to come up with a new IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) Policy by the month end, said Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India.
Delivering the keynote address at the conference on "Strengthening the US-India Partnership: Fostering Innovation and Expanding Healthcare Access Worldwide", organised by Observer Research Foundation here on Thursday, Kant said the Task Force, appointed by the government, has already submitted its report.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would also announce a new programme for the startup business in January next year.
Pointing out that India has jumped 12 positions in the ease-of-doing-business ranking, Kant said, "We are expecting to jump up at least by 40-42 positions by next year."
Another major policy expected is in the area of defence procurement. Saying lots of cleaning up is necessary in this field, Kant said the government is to bring in a new defence procurement policy also very soon. He said this policy is going to be a key driver with a huge potential to bring in new technology, lots of jobs and high growth.
Kant said the above policies would help strengthen the government's Make-in-India and Digital India programmes considerably.
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He said the government brought in a paradigm shift in the FDI policy, opening up virtually all the sectors, including defence and railways. The government has also made the FDI route easier, making it automatic, single window through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
He said already, there has been a 40 percent jump in the FDI while the world over FDI flow has been on the decline.
US Ambassador to India, Richard Verma, earlier in his address described the strengthening US-India relations as an "alliance for global prosperity". Pointing out that India and the US have more similarities than most other countries, he said the relations are progressing on a "solid, decidedly expanding trajectory".
Elaborating on the progress made in the last two years, Verma said the bilateral trade has progress from 35 billion dollars to 105 billion dollars while the number of US companies in India has galloped from 2000 to 5000 now.
He hoped that the trade target of 500 billion dollars would be achieved very soon.
"On the trade and investment front, we have been taking up the ease of doing business factors that sometimes can deter the US companies and investors such as tax and legal certainty and easing regulatory burdens," he said.
The Ambassador said now the US and India have come closer to seeing the world through the lens of each other.
The day-long conference on healthcare was attended by policymakers, experts and practitioners.