New Delhi: The Government today (Dec 22, 2003) told the Rajya Sabha that the United States has assured it would not approve opposition to business outsourcing to countries like India brought in through legislation by New Jersey and some other states of the country.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Commerce and Industries Minister Arun Jaitley said both US Government and the industry are in favour of continuing with outsourcing of jobs, of which India is a major beneficiary.

Jaitley said during his talks with US trade representative in June, he was told that Washington totally disapproved of the legislations to curb business process outsourcing.

The Minister said India was able to provide cost-effective and quality services for business houses that was attracting European countries and US.

He said the US industry is also fighting the issue and has contended that curtailing outsourcing could affect its profitability.

Jaitley said India is campaigning hard to ensure outsourcing jobs are not affected and the Indian missions abroad were assisting in these efforts.

He said it was being felt in some quarters in Europe and US that while manufacturing jobs were being cornered by China, the service jobs were being taken away by India.