India will not import power equipment from China: R K Singh amid standoff

Power Minister R K Singh on Friday said that India will not import power equipment from China, commenting as border standoff with  the Communist nation continues.

During a virtual press conference with state counterparts, he also asserted that the equipment import from China and Pakistan would not be permitted especially on the basis of inspection.

He further said state discoms should not give orders for supply of equipment to Chinese firms.

"We manufacture everything here. India imported Rs 71,000 crore worth power equipment including Rs 21,000 crore from China," Singh said in the state energy ministers conference chaired by him this morning in his opening remarks.

He said: "This (huge import of power equipment) is something we cannot tolerate that a country will transgress into our territory....we will not take anything from China and Pakistan."

He further said, "we will not give permission for import from Prior Reference countries. We are affected. There could be malware or trojen horse in those (imports from China) which they can activate remotely (to cripple our power systems).

Singh's comments came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to a forward post in Ladakh this morning and interacted with troops days after the June 15 border clash with China in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed. 

The government on Monday banned 59, mostly Chinese, mobile apps including Bytedance’s TikTok and Tencent’s WeChat in its strongest move yet targeting China in the online space.