Page 36 - The Indian EYE 021921

Business EYE February 19, 2021 | The Indian Eye 36

india-china trade back

on track soon?

Mainland China has emerged as India’s biggest trade partner in the first half of

financial year 2020-21, pipping the US, which had held that position since 2018-19

Our Bureau some new investment proposals

New Delhi from China in the coming weeks
as frosty relations between
he year 2020 was one of the two neighboring countries
the most complicated for thawed amid an easing in bor-
TIndia-China relations. der tensions, said three govern-
Not only the two Asian coun- ment officials with knowledge
tries had a border tussle in the of the matter.
middle of the pandemic, the The foreign investment rule
trade ties too took a hit. change by the government said
The trend on the trade front investments from an entity in a
may continue, especially on the country that shares a land bor-
supply chain front. der with India would require
In an important develop- government approval, markedly
ment this week, Amazon India slowing investments flows from
said it will start local manufac- China. The rule change had
turing of its devices here, reduc- put in limbo over 150 proposals
ing its dependence on China. India banned many Chinese apps like TikTok during from China worth more than $2
This would give a leg up to the the border crisis with China billion, hurting the plans of Chi-
government’s Make-in-India nese companies in India.
push. The e-commerce major al meeting with Agarwal and of 1 million jobs by 2025. Among the proposals de-
will work with Foxconn’s subsid- other Amazon India leaders, But interestingly, mainland layed was China’s Great Wall
iary Cloud Network Technology also tweeted, saying, “Under China has emerged as India’s Motors’ acquisition of a Gener-
in Chennai to make its Fire TV the leadership of PM @nar- biggest trade partner in the first al Motors’ plant in India. “We’ll
Stick (which helps streaming on endramodi, electronics manu- half of financial year 2020-21, start giving approvals to some
smart TVs). facturing in India has recently pipping the US, which had held greenfield investment propos-
The Chennai facility is ex- attracted some of the biggest that position since 2018-19. In als, but we will only clear those
pected to be operational later investments from global giants. a year that has been ravaged by sectors which are not sensitive
this year. Amazon was largely Happy to share @amazonIN is the pandemic, India’s overall to national security,” one of the
sourcing its Fire TV Stick from the latest to join this success sto- trade with the world outside has officials said.
China and Taiwan for the India ry of India.” suffered a 32.46 per cent drop The government will also
market. Amazon India, in a blog In a series of tweets, Prasad in value terms at $275 billion. look to clear some other brown-
post, said the company is looking also urged Amazon to help take Mainland China has gained field projects - new investments
to make lakhs of devices in In- products made by local artisans over the US by suffering less. in existing projects - that are not
dia every year and will consider and ayurvedic products global Indo-China bilateral trade reg- a risk to national security after
scaling up manufacturing capac- through its e-commerce plat- istered a 15 per cent decline at the first round of clearance to
ity based on domestic demand. form. Last month, Amazon In- nearly $38 billion while trade new investments, the above of-
The Indian government dia announced setting up an ac- with the US dropped 27.5 per ficials said.
recently introduced produc- celerator programme that aims cent at $33.54 billion. Even on The government is also con-
tion-linked incentives (PLIs) to build and boost exports of the large base, India’s trade with sidering allowing some invest-
for various electronic products. locally made consumer brands China has suffered the least as ment from Chinese firms in cer-
“This further reiterates our globally. compared to any other region in tain sectors via the “automatic”
commitment to ‘Make in India’, This is part of its additional the world. route, or without government
contributing directly to the local $1-billion investment for India While India’s overall imports scrutiny, said the officials.
economy, creating jobs & boost- to digitize 10 million small and have dropped nearly 40 per cent The officials said invest-
ing Indian innovation,” Ama- medium businesses, and enable this fiscal at $149.53 billion, im- ments for stakes of up to 20%,
zon India head Amit Agarwal $10 billion in cumulative ex- ports from China have dropped in “non-sensitive” sectors, may
tweeted on Tuesday. ports from India. Amazon CEO by only 24.53 per cent at $27.37 revert to the automatic route for
IT minister Ravi Shankar Jeff Bezos had announced the billion. nations with which India shares
Prasad, who attended a virtu- company wants to create a total Now, India is poised to clear land borders.

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