The move is aimed at creating reciprocity in trade with India’s partners — an issue that Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has raised on several occasions.

Countries that block Indian companies from participating in their public procurement processes will soon see retaliation in the form of similar treatment for their firms in government tenders here, according to amendments to the 2017 Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order. The move is aimed at creating reciprocity in trade with India’s partners — an issue that Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has raised on several occasions.

As per the amendments, nodal ministries and departments have also been given powers to demand that the products supplied for their tenders be made using a “higher” proportion of local content. Earlier, the requirement for Class-I & Class-II local suppliers was fixed at 50 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.

Entities of countries which do not allow Indian companies to participate in their government procurement for any item shall not be allowed to participate in government procurement in India “for all items related to that nodal ministry or department,” the government said in a release about the move. The only exception is for entities supplying a list of items published by the ministry or department allowing their participation in such circumstances, according to it.

“Specifying foreign certifications/unreasonable technical specifications/brands/models in the bid document is restrictive and discriminatory practice against local suppliers. Foreign certification, if required, shall be stipulated only with the approval of the Secretary of the Department concerned,” the Commerce Ministry added in its statement.

All administrative ministries or departments whose procurement exceeds Rs 1,000 crore per annum shall notify their procurement projections for the next five years on their respective website, it stated.

“An upper threshold value of procurement beyond which foreign companies shall enter into a joint venture with an Indian company to participate in government tenders shall be notified,” the statment said.

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