All Industries & Trade Forum appeals to PM Modi to impose import restriction on China and ASEAN countries to support MSMEs: Report

The trade body All Industries & Trade Forum (AITF) has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose import restrictions on China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the imports may cross 20 lakh crore this year from the region which are proving detrimental to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) industries, said a report by the Knowledge and News Network (KNN). MSMEs are facing frequent closures and they are likely to go bankrupt if the government does not impose import restrictions, stated AITF in a letter sent to PM Modi.

The trade body has also appealed for an inquiry from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to unearth the alleged scam of huge imports from ASEAN and under invoicing from China. 

Badish Jindal, National President, AITF said, “China is cleverly sending such goods to India through ASEAN and underdeveloped countries, this is the reason that India’s import from ASEAN countries increased to Rs 5,07,968 crore by 2021-22 and surprisingly these countries exported Rs 3,05,117 crore to India in the first four months of the financial year 2022-23.”

The letter further said that the Indian businessmen cannot import steel from China and the country can send only manufactured goods to India, referring to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) condition imposed on steel. “Today there is a difference of Rs 15,000 per ton in the steel price of India and China. Hence, due to such policies instead of raw materials China is dumping the finished products in India,” said Jindal.

This unbalanced dynamics have impacted Amritsar, Chandigarh, Chennai and Rajkot and thousands of units manufacturing all fasteners and screws and led them to closure, he added. 

Meanwhile, India’s trade deficit with China had increased to $72.9 billion in FY22 amid a 44 per cent surge in imports to $94.16 billion from the previous year. Reportedly, in FY21, India’s imports from China amounted to $65.21 billion, while exports in both FY21 and FY22 remained stagnant at about $25.2 billion, as per the official data.

Source: Financial Express