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India is pressing China to deliver on market access promises made two years ago for products such as pharmaceuticals, IT, buffalo meat and oil-meal before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to the country.
The Commerce Ministry has already conveyed to Chinese officials that it would want something concrete in the specified areas so that PM Modi and the Chinese Premier have something definite to announce following their proposed meeting later this month or in May.
“We want something on the table before the PM’s visit. We will pursue the matter further with the Chinese Ambassador to India and other Chinese officials if there is no response to our suggestions,” Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher told BusinessLine .
A team of officials headed by Commerce Additional Secretary JS Deepak was in Beijing recently to point out the areas where New Delhi wants early action. Kher has also had one round of meeting with the Chinese Ambassador on the issue.
India’s trade deficit with its neighbour is $44 billion in the first 11 months of 2014-15, which is more than a third of the country’s total trade deficit.
No progressWhile China acknowledged the need to address the trade gap and signed several MoUs on providing market access in a number of areas two years ago, nothing has moved on the ground. For instance, during former Chinese Premiere Li Keqiang’s visit to India in 2013, the two sides signed a MoU for market access for buffalo meat. While it appeared that meat export would begin immediately, the Chinese are yet to send their inspectors to approve Indian factories.
Similarly, in the area of pharmaceuticals, despite market access promises and the fact that India purchases more than 60 per cent of its bulk drugs from the country, the Chinese have taken no steps to ease rules to allow access to Indian generics.
“Chinese regulations don’t favour generic medicines. They have regulations that require hospitals to buy two innovator medicines for every generic that they purchase.
“Till these regulations are appropriately rationalised and also the time required for registration is shortened, the possibility of Indian medicines finding place in China is low,” Kher said.
New Delhi’s request that China’s state enterprise allow Indian IT companies to participate in their bids for IT products by making the procurement process more transparent has also not been addressed.
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