Chinese dumping after yuan devaluation will be prevented: Sitharaman

The Indian government and the industry were watching the impact of devaluation of the Chinese yuan and will not allow indiscriminate imports, union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters at Mamallapuram near here, Sitharaman said the government and the industry were watching the situation keenly and wherever it was possible to establish that goods were dumped, then anti-dumping safeguards were put in place.

She said the government will ensure that indiscriminate imports from China do not happen.

Queried about the fall in industrial output, she said month-on-month data comparison has several aspects to be considered.

She said there were some months where the number of working days were less, so one has give a big margin to understand the actual situation and that manufacturing should be given more attention.

According to data on index of industrial production (IIP) released by the Central Statistics Office, the country's factory output declined by 3.19 percent in November, due mainly to a 4.4 percent drop in manufacturing activity.

On the e-commerce sector, she said it was becoming complex as brick and mortar companies were also moving to the online space.

Sitharaman said the dividing line between pure play e-commerce players and the traditional players moving to online space was thin.

She said the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has not dropped its efforts to define marketplace and it would happen.