Sun, Orchid spend tens of thousands dollars on US lobbying

Sun Pharma and Orchid have been paying tens of thousands of dollars on lobbying with lawmakers and government departments in the US.

Sun Pharma, one of India’s leading generic companies, paid about USD 75,000 since 2008 on lobbying in US. Whereas, the Chennai-based Orchid Chemicals has been paying USD 10,000 every quarter since second quarter of 2008, as per the disclosure reports filed by lobbyists firms in US with the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Lobbying is a concerted effort designed to achieve some result, from government authorities and elected officials. On issues ranging from immigrant visas to bilateral trade and individual business ventures, Indian companies, including top corporate entity RIL and industry body Nasscom, are paying thousands of dollars on lobbying with lawmakers and government departments in the US.

According to the report, just four Indian companies — Reliance Industries (RIL), Nasscom, Sun Pharma and Orchid Chemicals — have together paid close to USD 2,75,000 (about Rs 1.4 crore) towards lobbying their causes during the first three months of 2009.

However, the payment made by Sun Pharma in Q1 2009 for US lobbying fell below USD 5,000. Sun Pharma’s lobbying issues have been related to the citizens’ petitions and FDA reforms. Orchid Chemicals has paid USD 10,000 for lobbying on issues related to the US drug regulator FDA’s policies.

RIL has paid USD 1,90,000 to BGR Holding, a high-profile lobbyist group that has many Fortune 500 firms and foreign governments as its clients, for providing “strategic counsel on issues related to trade.” There are no past disclosures about RIL’s lobbying attempts

Nasscom (National Association of Software Companies) has paid USD 70,000 to the same lobbyist, BGR, in the first quarter of 2009 for lobbying on international technology and immigration issues.

However, Nasscom, Sun Pharma and Orchid have been quite active on this front in the past.

As per the disclosures, Nasscom made a total payment of USD 340,000 towards lobbying on issues like technology and immigration during 2008, while the figures for the previous years are USD 280,000 each in 2007 and 2006, USD 100,000 in 2005, USD 180,000 in 2004 and USD 200,000 in the year 2003.Besides, there are also disclosures about lobbying by companies like Larsen & Toubro and industry body CII in the past.

Currently, the US Congress and House of Representatives are considering new legislations to penalise, including a ban from doing business in the US, the companies that supply petroleum products to Iran, which includes RIL.