India, EU working to end row over generic drugs

New Delhi

INDIA and the European Union are taking steps to end a trade row sparked by an EU ban on Indian pharmaceutical products that New Delhi responded to by cancelling talks on a free trade accord with its largest trading partner, officials said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office wrote to the EU Trade Commissioner to intervene when the ban on around 700 pharmaceutical products was formalised in May, two government sources in New Delhi said. There was no response, so the government cancelled an Aug 28 meeting to discuss restarting talks on the free trade accord that stalled in 2012, the sources said.