India making constant efforts to gain inroads into Chinese market: Prabhu

India is making constant efforts to gain market access in China for various commodities and an agreement was signed in November for the export of fish products, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said Monday.

The government has been consistently making efforts to obtain market access for various Indian agricultural products, animal feeds, oil seeds, milk and milk products, pharmaceutical products, IT and IT-enabled services, etc, in light of the potential of these products and services in the Chinese market, Prabhu said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

He was responding to a question on commodities selected by the government to make inroads into the Chinese market.

"In the last few years, various protocols have been signed to facilitate export of Indian rice, rapeseed meal and fishmeal-fish oil," he said.

The minister said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between India and China in May 2013 on cooperation related to import and export trade of fishery products.

"Pursuant to the MoU, protocol for hygiene and inspection requirements for the export of fish meal/fish oil from India to China has been signed on November 28, 2018.

"The MoU defines procedures to be followed for processing, storage, transportation, use of additives in the exported fish meal and fish oil," Prabhu said.

In 2017, the bilateral trade between India and China had peaked to a historical level of USD 84.44 billion. This was up by 18.63 per cent from a year ago.

According to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs, the bilateral trade between the two nations witnessed 40 per cent rise of Indian exports to China at USD 16.34 billion which otherwise is dominated by Chinese exports to India.

Meanwhile, replying to a separate question, the minister said a new industrial policy, which would be a road map for all business enterprises in the country, was being formulated.

"In view of the rapidly changing landscape of manufacturing and services, as well as in the light of the new technologies and business models which are prevalent now, the need for a new industrial policy to address the existing challenges and take advantage of the future opportunities has been felt," Prabhu said.

"In this regard, consultations have been held with stakeholders to get their ideas and feedback. Keeping in view all such inputs, a new industrial policy is under consideration of the government," Prabhu said.

The existing industrial policy was formulated in the year 1991, Prabhu added.

Meanwhile, he said the value of India's merchandise exports in October 2018 was USD 26.98 billion, up by 17.88 per cent from USD 22.89 billion in year ago same period.

During the current financial year (Apr-Oct 2018), merchandise exports have grown by 13.13 per cent over the same period of the last year, he said.