New Delhi: The United States on September 2 described as "overreaction" the criticism in India of the attempts in some of its states to ban Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

"People should not overreact to every piece of legislation," Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Shaun Donnelly said, adding that nothing had been legislated so far.

"We are consulting states on the issue. We are aware of our own obligations at the WTO (World Trade Organisation)… We are a democracy and protests on loss of jobs happen in India also," he said.

If people come to streets in India on loss of jobs in agriculture, it could be loss of jobs due to outsourcing in US, he said.

At the same time there was also opposition within US to banning outsourcing, he said adding that the issue should be resolved by having frank bilateral talks on the merits of such protests.

On services negotiations, he said, "We have to see what India is offering before any making any movement forward on the issue."

But the two countries are obviously in negotiations, he said and expressed the hope that there would be push for additional offers at Cancun.

PTI