New Delhi: In an alarming report on impact of Chinese imports, the Standing Committee on Commerce on Thursday warned that India is threatened to become a country of importers and traders with domestic factories either cutting down their production or shutting down completely.
The panel said that about 2 lakh jobs were lost only due dumping of Chinese solar panel.
It has asked the government to proactively take trade defence measures on import of Chinese goods which have caused erosion of India's manufacturing capacity.
“The impact of Chinese imports has been such that India is threatened to become a country of importers and traders with domestic factories either cutting down their production or shutting down completely. The Committee is very clear that it does not want such a state of affairs to prevail in the country," said the Committee which is headed by Rajya Sabha MP, Naresh Gujral, in a report tabled in Parliament on Thursday. It said that country can ill afford its industry including MSMEs to get annihilated.
Around 84 per cent of solar equipment requirement in the country is met through imports from China. The Parliamentary panel said that it has found that monitoring, surveillance and enforcement of the trade remedies and other trade rules in the country requires more attention.
“While the US and the EU have been quite aggressive and agitated over the erosion of their domestic industry and loss of employment, the Committee feels that government should be more proactive in taking trade defence measures as provided by WTO and imposition of other trade restrictions on import of such Chinese goods which have caused erosion of our manufacturing capacity," it said.
The committee pointed out that trade deficit with China at $63 billion constitutes more than 40 per cent of India’s total trade deficit. During the period 2007-08 to 2017-18, there has been an increase in India’s exports to China by $2.5 billion but imports, increased by $50 billion during this period, it said.
“The Chinese import is so hard-hitting on Indian industry that many manufacturers have been forced to become traders. It will serve better to remember that a country with poor manufacturing base can never become an economic power-house in the comity of nations,” it said.
The panel said that there is an urgent need to educate and encourage the people about the importance of quality products and promote buying of Indian goods.
