India To Curb Cheap, Low-Quality Imports From China

NEW DELHI: After the violent face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the central government planned to boost domestic manufacturing by promoting made in India products, by curbing low-quality shipments, especially from China.

As a part of this, the government has sought product-wise details of all the imports especially those which were available at cheaper rates when compared to domestic prices.

According to reports, a high-level meeting was held in the Prime Minister's office to discuss ways to promote Atma Nirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India), and to cut down the import dependence from China.

This move by the government has gained much significance as there is a huge demand from the public to boycott products from China, after 20 soldiers were killed in a border clash with Chinese troops on Monday night, June 15.

If the government curbs the imports from China, it will have a major impact on their economy, as 14 per cent of India's imports are from China and it is a major supplier of mobiles, plastic toys, telecom and other pharma ingredients.

The government has asked the industry to send suggestions and comments on different goods and raw materials which were being imported from China.

Some of these imports include wristwatches, ampoules, wall clocks, hair cream, glass rods and tubes, hair shampoos, cosmetics like face powder, eye and lip makeup products, printing ink, paints and varnishes, and even some tobacco items.

Government has sought other details of domestic prices of similar goods and import surge data between  2014-15 and 2018-19. Centre has also asked for their domestic capacity and their imports under free trade agreements.

A detailed report with industry views on all those products would be soon sent to the commerce and industry ministry.

The government has recently imposed restrictions over import on tyres. Following COVID-19 pandemic, to restrict Foreign direct investment (FDI) from China to our country, India has also made the prior approval mandatory for all the foreign investments from countries that share a land border with India to curb opportunistic takeovers of domestic firms.

During the period of April 2019 to February 2020, India had imported goods worth USD 62.4 billion, while exports to the neighbouring country stood at USD 15.5 billion.