India will ask the US for 15 months time to implement the World Trade Organisation (WTO) decision against its ban on poultry products from that country. This is the maximum time allowed under the WTO for implementation of a dispute ruling, but can be fixed only with the permission of the country that won the case.

“We allowed the US 15 months to implement the WTO verdict against countervailing duties imposed by it against Indian steel. We expect it to be equally generous towards us,” a Commerce Ministry official told BusinessLine .

It is important for India to get as much time as possible for implementing the decision because the move is expected to result in a flood of cheap chicken legs from the US which will hit the domestic poultry industry.

Official discussions between India and the US on implementation of the ruling will take place in Geneva soon.

Earlier this year, the WTO’s appellate body, which is the top decision making authority of the organisation, had ruled in favour of a WTO panel’s decision that had said that India’s ban on poultry products from the US due to fears of avian influenza (bird flu) were not based on relevant international standard or on a scientific risk assessment. India’s animal husbandry department has to now come up with a notification withdrawing the ban.

Poultry organisations have now been asked by the Government to examine other science-based reasons, including the genetically modified feed given to chicken in the US and the long-time effects of such poultry being put in the deep freezer, to see if other restrictions could be imposed.

India’s over four lakh poultry farmers, producing about 3.5 million tonnes of chicken every year, could lose up to 40 per cent of their market once the US products start flowing in, according to industry estimates.

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