New Delhi: India may move the Dispute Settlement Body of WTO in the face of the adamant posture of European Union not to consider New Delhi's demand to extend the concessions given to Pakistan under Generalised System of Preferences.

This follows the failure of the negotiations between India and EU in Geneva last week, official sources told reporters.

The meeting was not able to break any ground as EU rejected India's plea saying it would not be possible for it to grant similar concessions to New Delhi.

India has been seeking enhanced access to the EU either through the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) or otherwise to negate the adverse impact of EU's GSP regime on India's textile exports.

Under the GSP scheme, EU had last year granted zero duty benefits to exports from Pakistan for all products including textile articles on grounds of the country effectively combating drug trafficking.

Bilateral discussions between the two countries began on February 6, 2002 with India seeking compensation for an estimated loss of around 225-250 million US Dollars worth of textile exports on account of preferential treatment to Pakistan and other countries by the European Union.

Sources said the Textiles Ministry had fowarded its recommendations for moving the DSB to the Commerce Ministry but added that India would attempt to flag the issue at the meeting of the India-EU trade sub-committee in the capital next week before firming up its stand.

PTI