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China was India’s biggest supplier of intermediate goods, worth about $30 billion a
year, across key sectors, according to an internal assessment of industry body CII,
prepared just before the pandemic struck in 2020. The value of these imports has
only grown from that level. In certain segments, the reliance on Chinese supplies is
too substantial to be discounted. Beijing, for instance, accounted for 66% of New
Delhi’s total purchases of bulk drugs and drug intermediates worth about $3.4
billion last fiscal. Similarly, it makes up for about 70% of India’s imports of mobile
phone components.
Any initiative to stem import dependence on China, while desirable, is a herculean
task that would require a long-term approach at various levels, sources pointed out.
In fact, the reliance is so strong that many Indian companies import from China
even when some of those products could be sourced from alternative destinations
at cheaper rates, said an official source. This is because China is “like a one-stop
store”, with the widest possible product portfolio—something that no other country
can boast of, explained a trade source. “You have a whole eco-system of imports
from China. You get the product you want at competitive prices, so sourcing
becomes easy. Moreover, global shipping lines are happy to go there; not to forget
that China, too, has a strong shipping network,” he said.