India China trade: India not rethinking on issue of allowing Chinese investment, says Trade Minister Piyush Goyal

India is not re-thinking on the issue of allowing Chinese investments into the country, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday, reported Reuters.Earlier in July, India’s Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran said New Delhi should focus on Foreign Direct Investments from China to boost its exports and help keep India’s growing trade deficit with Beijing in check. The economic survey recommendations are not binding on the government, Goyal said.

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, however, had backed Nageswaran’s suggestion to allow more Chinese investment into the country.

India might ease curbs on some Chinese investments:
India is likely to ease restrictions on Chinese investment in non-sensitive sectors like solar panels and battery manufacturing where New Delhi lacks expertise and which hinders domestic manufacturing, two government sources told Reuters last week.

In 2020, India tightened scrutiny on investments from companies based in China due to military tensions in the remote Himalayan border.

The government is planning to free up sectors from government scrutiny that it deems less sensitive from a security point of view for Chinese investment, said one of the officials, who did not want to be named.

The govt official told Reuters that restrictions on Chinese investments in sectors such as electronics and telecom would continue.