Jaishankar: India is not closed to business from China

S Jaishankar (File)

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that India is not closed to business from China but is watchful of the sectors in which to do business and on what terms.

Jaishankar, who was speaking at an event in Germany's Berlin, said: "We are not closed to business from China ... I think the issue is, which sectors do you do business and what terms do you do business? It's far more complicated than a black and white binary answer."

The remarks follow a similar statement in May when Jaishankar said that India hasn't ignored business with China but encouraged domestic firms to seek an Indian alternative.

Last month, the external affairs minister had said that India has a "special China problem” and its current state of relations with Beijing call for investments from the country "to be scrutinised".

Ties between the nuclear-armed Asian giants have been strained since the June 2020 clashes in Galwan valley, which led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese troops.

Following the clash, India tightened its scrutiny of investments from Chinese companies and halted major projects.

However, government officials, including finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, have recently supported suggestions to allow more Chinese investment into India.

Chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran had suggested that India should focus on higher Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) from China to boost its exports to US and other western countries. He said that it would also keep India's growing trade deficit with Beijing in check.

Reuters reported earlier that India may ease curbs on Chinese investment in non-sensitive sectors like solar panels and battery manufacturing.

Along with investments scrutiny, India has also virtually blocked visas for all Chinese nationals since 2020, but it is considering easing them for Chinese technicians, as it had hindered investments worth billions of dollars.

(With inputs from Reuters)