India makes a strong pitch to push Indian exports

SHANGHAI: Seeking more market access to reduce the trade deficit, India Inc today demanded that non- tariff barriers which impeded Indian companies to establish themselves in China should be removed.

India's export basket is not representative (to China) of our competence in a number of areas, for example engineering products, pharmaceuticals, machineries, CII Vice-President B Muthuraman, who is also the Managing Director of Tata Steel, said while addressing the India Business Forum here today.

"There is, therefore, need to make India's basket fairly representative of its potential and competitiveness. Indian industry would like to seek across to China's domestic market products. The non-tariff barriers need to reviewed and eliminated. It would also help in reducing India's deficit in trade with China," he said.

A total of 360 Chinese businesspersons, industrialists and officials from all over China attended the meeting, which was the culmination of about 16 such meetings held all over China for the past few months to push brand India into China.

Muthuraman said that Indian companies would like to invest in China in sectors like pharmaceuticals, machineries and engineering products to tap huge Chinese domestic market and for export to other countries.

"Indian companies have not yet been able to achieve significant growth in China as we feel they have not been provided access to the market. We therefore seek improved access to Chinese domestic market in services sector such as IT, ITES, health care, media and entertainment and education," he said.

Indian Ambassador to China, S Jaishankar, who has been conducting various business get-together in several parts of China to bring about India product, said our economic relationship has actually been the game changer in bilateral ties, particularly in the last decade.

He said both China and India have agreed during this year's Inter-governmental Joint Economic Group that that it was in the interest of China that large trade imbalances should be avoided.