India may grant PLI-led visas for Chinese experts for only up to 6 months

Expediting visas for Chinese professionals is tricky given that India administers more checks and balances when it comes to Beijing especially since relations between the two nations took a turn for the worse with the border standoff in Galwan valley in 2020.

India plans to offer only short-term visas to Chinese technicians who will be allowed into the country for not more than six months to help with the implementation of projections related to the flagship production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

“The idea is to fast-track visas for Chinese technicians as well but visas between three and six months will be issued so that they can teach Indian workers how to use the components or machines that have been sourced from Beijing,” a senior government official told Moneycontrol.

The move to expedite the process to issue short-duration visas to technical experts from China comes amid delays in facilitating entry of Chinese vendors involved in manufacturing projects, especially for the ones pertaining to the PLI scheme.

A media report recently said that the solar manufacturing business of the Adani Group is learnt to have sought the Union government’s approval to bring close to 30 engineers from China to help build a robust and indigenous supply chain of solar equipment for the infrastructure-to-mining conglomerate.

According to a second government official, Indian businesses are said to be seeking Chinese workers as the country faces a skill gap when it comes to the knowledge and expertise required for specific manufacturing projects. The Centre is keen to quicken the visa process for such experts given that the ventures related to the PLI scheme aims at boosting domestic manufacturing,

However, the final call on expediting the visa processes for professionals, including those from China primarily hinges on approvals from the Ministry of External Affairs, this official added.

Expediting visas for Chinese professionals is tricky given that India administers more checks and balances when it comes to Beijing especially since relations between the two nations took a turn for the worse with the border standoff in the Galwan valley in 2020.

Since then, India is said to have administered greater scrutiny when it comes to allowing Chinese investment or professionals into the country on account of national security concerns.

This led to a pile-up in applications from industry seeking skilled professionals from China as visa clearances were delayed, the second official said.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in an interview to Business Standard on July 1 said that the Indian government is expediting visa-related issues to bring technicians to India from any country, not just China, as and when required to help facilitate ventures under the PLI scheme.

Delays in visa clearances is said to have primarily impacted projects related to solar panels and white goods.

India's flagship PLI scheme covers 14 sectors, including mobile phones, drones, white goods, telecommunications, textiles, automotive, pharmaceutical drugs, among others. The plan that aims to boost the country's domestic manufacturing capacity has an outlay of Rs 1.97 trillion.