Govt must take note of CEA's warning on China

Last week, our Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal scotched all speculation on whether the government would accept the recommendations of the chief economic adviser (CEA) in the Economic Survey to consider facilitating investments from Chinese companies.

- TNC RAJAGOPALAN

"The Survey is not at all binding on the government and there is no rethinking on supporting Chinese investments in the country," Goyal said. So, any investments from China and any applications for visas from Chinese entrepreneurs, managers, and technical persons will continue to be subject to stringent scrutiny from the national security angle.

India was so welcoming of Chinese investments that the Foreign Trade Policy Statement put out by the Commerce Ministry in April 2015 recommended industrial parks, special economic zones, and new industrial manufacturing zones for Chinese firms. It referred to the Memorandum of Understanding for industrial parks signed with China and the five-year development programme for economic and trade cooperation that laid out a road map for comprehensively deepening and balancing bilateral economic engagement.