- The government of India has already subjected investments from China to additional checks
- Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was part of a video conference between IT ministers of various states on challenges and opportunities, during the pandemic
Union Minister of ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has said that electronic imports from China will be subject to security and audit verfication. It is to be noted here that a lot of companies in India depend on electronic components and good sourced from China.
The minister had recently appealed to states to supplement three recent schemes announced by the central government. Aimed towards electronics manufacturing in India, these three schemes are estimated to be worth Rs 50,000 crore
India has already tightened its FDI policy for China
The government of India has recently announced its new FDI policy for neighbouring countries. This policy states that any investments from neighbouring countries of India would be subject to clarifications from the central government.
“The Government of India has reviewed the extant Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) policy for curbing opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions of Indian companies due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and amended para 3.1.1 of extant FDI policy as contained in Consolidated FDI Policy, 2017,” read an official press note.
It continued, “A non-resident entity can invest in India, subject to the FDI Policy except in those sectors/activities which are prohibited. However, an entity of a country, which shares land border with India or where the beneficial owner of an investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country, can invest only under the Government route.”
According to India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Chinese FDI from April 2000 to December 2019, in India has totaled $2.3 billion. According to a study by Gateway House, 18 out of 30 Indian unicorn companies have significant Chinese investment.
