But India insisted it has done nothing wrong and hoped to convince the European community that its measures were "bona fide"

The request for WTO consultations concerns 27 anti-dumping measures imposed by India against the EU between 1999 and 2003. The main sectors concerned are chemicals and pharmaceuticals, textiles and steel, said the EU executive.

Brussels cited "growing frustration ... not only at the escalation in the number of measures imposed by India, which has now become the world's largest user of anti-dumping practices, but also at the very low standards applied."

According to Brussels, since 1995 India has imposed a total of 241 anti-dumping measures, compared to only 184 such measures by the EU despite Europe's much lower import tariffs.

"Under a rules based system, it is essential that all players abide by the same rules and India is no exception," said EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy.

"Ensuring fair trade should go hand in hand with clear, transparent and predictable rules. This is the way we prevent abuses of the system. I hope we will now be able to solve this matter amicably," he added.

Quizzed on the anti-dumping complaint by the EU, K.M. Chandrasekhar, India's ambassador to the WTO, said New Delhi was ready to take part in consultations.

"We will try to convince the European community about the bona fides of our measures," he told reporters at the trade body's headquarters in Geneva, adding that he thought India's practices were "absolutely" in line with WTO rules.

The EU decision came after the WTO this month upheld a complaint by India against the European Union, ruling that favourable treatment granted to 12 developing countries fighting drug trafficking fell foul of global trade rules.

It also came after India and the EU last month signed two trade agreements and pledged to patch their WTO differences.

One of the agreements, signed by Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha and EU's Commissioner for External Relations Christopher Patten, paves the way for the implementation of the EU-India Trade and Investment Development Programme.

The other, on customs cooperation, aims at facilitating trade by ensuring the removal of obstacles in the movement of goods between the two sides.

Bilateral trade between India and the EU was 26.96 billion euros in 2002, with the European bloc receiving 26 percent of Indian exports.