The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in India, Madanlal Khurana, says he regrets any confusion caused by remarks over a patents bill.

On Wednesday, Mr Khurana had said that the bill couldn't be passed in the lower house of parliament becaue it hadn't secured the approval of President K.R.Narayanan.

But the President's office said yesterday that the bill hadn't yet come to Mr Narayan for approval.

Mr Kharuna says he's written to the President saying that his remarks were unintended and were due to what he called a technical error.