CAIT demands scrutiny of goods imports from Hongkong in India also

New Delhi, July 14 (KNN) Expressing grave and serious concern on surge in imports from Hongkong to India, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Tuesday urged Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for greater and close scrutiny of goods imports from Hongkong in India.

The traders body also urged that Free Trade Agreements (FTA), treaties and other agreements related to trade and commerce with the countries which may likely be a transhipment hub for entry of Chinese goods in India should also be scrutinised and steps may be taken to plug the gaps if any.

''Even as India reduces its trade gap with China, its balance of trade with respect to Hong Kong has changed from surplus to deficit over the last three years. India’s imports from Hong Kong were USD 17 billion in the previous fiscal, with electronics, telecom equipment and computer hardware being almost USD 8 billion of the total. This is a sharp rise from USD 10.67 billion imports in 2017-18 and a worrying trend of China changing its export routes even as India seeks to reduce its import dependence on China,'' CAIT said in its communication to Goyal.

CAIT National President B C Bhartia & Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that a close analysis of the data of imports from Hong Kong clearly suggests that, of all the major commodities in which India’s imports from China have shown a decline, a corresponding increase has been observed with Hong Kong.

''These commodities are mainly electrical machinery and equipment, fruits, minerals and iron and steel among others. India’s trade deficit with China has always been a major concern for India and the recent reduction in the trade gap is a tactical attempt from China to camouflage the real value of trade deficit,'' they added.

The duo further said that it is also important to note from the data that major products such as electrical machinery, nuclear reactors, mineral fuels and Iron and steel among others are mainly produced in China and not in Hong Kong. Hence, it seems that only the route of the commodities entering India is changing whereas the value remains the same.

They further said that there is an immediate need for utmost seriousness and urgency by putting imports from Hong Kong under government lens for close scrutiny and by adopting Anti-dumping measure for Hong Kong too, as it is believed that in the view of current situation it is China’s tactical strategy to flood India's market with Chinese goods via Hong Kong and other South Asian countries.

''Imports from Nepal also should be under scrutiny in view of an increasing influence of China on Nepal,'' they asserted.