The Indian government has launched a protest with the US about an increasing rate of rejection of US visas for Indian professionals.

The have been a sharp decline in the number of visas that were issued to Indians in the previous year. Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma has voiced his concerns on the issue with the US commerce secretary John Bryson during a meeting on Monday.

"There have been concerns over the high rate of rejection. Last year, number of visas declined by 28 per cent. We had a very frank discussion, including some of the issues on which US has concerns," Sharma said.

He said that the government is concerned over the rejection of visas in both H-1B and L-1 categories for the Indian citizens, in the same time when it went up for other countries. The rejection of visa application of Indian professional in L-1 category increased 28 per cent in 2011 as compared to 2.8 per cent. There was also a rise in H-1B category.

Bryson is on a 6-day visit to India He is leading a group of representatives from 16 US infrastructure firms and senior government officials.