Standard procedure

Streamlined visa rules for Chinese experts is realistic policy

The Union government is reportedly working to extend a set of standard operating procedures (SOP) it had evolved to streamline visas for Chinese experts and tech workers for its signature production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to other manufacturing units. To this end, the Ministry of Home Affairs is in the final stages of working on a “better, streamlined SOP” that will enable visas to be processed within 10 days. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has been working with the ministries and private stakeholders concerned to smooth the process. This move involves a uniform process, precluding the need for time-consuming Cabinet approvals, and will go a long way towards easing a chronic problem of domestic manufacturing units, enabling them to access the necessary skills to become globally competitive. It reflects a realistic response to the needs of domestic industry, freeing it from the cycle of piecemeal permit systems.

One of the well-known ironies about Indian labour is the simultaneous existence of high unemployment with low employability, especially in the emerging dynamic tech-oriented industries of consumer electronics, semiconductors, electric vehicles, and high-end civic infrastructure. According to the Indian Skills Report, only 49 per cent of the Indian youth are employable. The National Employability Report for Engineering shows 80 per cent of Indian engineers lack the required skills. For years, therefore, Indian companies involved in telecom, power, airport construction, and so on have depended on the vast reserves of skilled workers in China. Such Chinese technicians are considered value-for-money, being well skilled and affordable compared with their counterparts in, say, Taiwan or Japan. The fact that much of India’s new-age industry has benefited from this subaltern cross-border cooperation is one of the untold stories of the country’s economic growth. Since 2020, however, a rapid deterioration in Sino-Indian relations has taken a toll on this exchange. As Chinese soldiers trespassed on Indian territory in Ladakh, the Indian government cracked down on economic cooperation. New Delhi subjected foreign direct investment from entities sharing a land border with India to greater scrutiny, resulting in a sharp drop in approvals and precipitous rise in rejections. At the same time, visas for Chinese workers entered the slow lane. According to the industry, 4,000 to 5,000 visa applications for Chinese experts are awaiting government approval.

The PLI scheme, which covers 14 sectors such as telecom, white goods, automobiles, specialty steels, solar PV modules, advanced chemistry cell battery, drones, and pharma, was one of the early casualties of this go-slow, which the government moved swiftly to fix. But manufacturers outside the PLI rubric have suffered, especially those with investments integral to China plus one strategy. According to some reports, escalating Sino-Indian tensions over the past four years have cost Indian electronics manufacturers $15 billion in production losses and 100,000 jobs. Beyond electronics, investors in textile and leather units have complained that plant and machinery has remained idle for months for want of experts to operationalise them. Given the poor skill levels of the Indian workforce, easing the process for such visas, which typically cover three to six months, has a longer-term benefit in that expertise is transferred to local workers, creating a virtuous chain of training that would be invaluable for the country in the long run.