India will have to find ways to reduce India Inc’s over-reliance on a belligerent neighbour
business strategies that involve imports of crucial raw materials and machinery from China. Last week, S Jaishankar obliquely questioned the patriotism of firms that source material from China that could be bought or manufactured locally.
'If peace and tranquillity in border areas are disturbed, would you do business with someone who has just barged into your drawing room and is trying to make a mess of your house fencing? It's common sense that if a country has gone back on written agreements and is doing something on our borders, how can we then say that the business world will continue as normal and other things won't,' the foreign minister said at the CII annual business summit in New Delhi last Friday.
The timing of this statement is significant for two reasons. One, it comes just 17 days before EC is due to announce the results of the ongoing parliamentary elections that will lead to the formation of the next government. Two, China has just emerged as India's biggest trading partner surpassing the US, according to figures released by Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).
The numbers show that Indian exporters contributed just 14% in the total India-China trade amounting to $118.4 bn, with Chinese sellers taking up the rest. The GTRI figures show that India's exports were worth $16.67 bn and imports $101.7 bn in FY24.
For decades, Indian politicians and officials have been complaining that China has not been doing enough to increase purchases from India and reduce the trade deficit. But this is a rare
