Government invites Chinese FDI to cut bilateral trade deficit

Various measures are being taken to address India's trade deficit with China by encouraging China's investment in building manufacturing capacities in India, the government said Wednesday.

"A Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation on industrial parks in India was signed on 30th June 2014 with the objective to expand the scope of bilateral trade and investment cooperation, and promote cooperation between Chinese and Indian enterprises including the development of industrial parks, Special Economic Zone (SEZ), National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) etc. in India, which in turn has a potential to positively affect our trade deficit," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The minister said the issue of India's trade deficit with China has been periodically raised with Chinese authorities at the highest level.

The government is also pursuing issues of market access for products with strong export potential to tackle non-tariff barriers in the Chinese market at different fora.

"Issue of market access for various Indian products has consistently been pursued at different fora including the India-China JEG at the ministerial level which discussed the issue of market access for Indian products including agro-products," Sitharaman said.

Limited market access to Indian products in China is one of the major reasons for the widening deficit.

"Cooperation in pharma sector and to boost pharma exports to China has constantly been pursued with the Chinese authorities," she added.