Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 18 Jun 2020 21:36

Thanks to those who've generated a much more detailed discussion of the B2C and B2B portal landscape. Now that's the sort of discussion that benefits this thread.

mukkan · Post by **mukkan** » 19 Jun 2020 06:15

GOI has a website https://commerce-app.gov.in/eidb/icntcomq.asp that lets you search for import details.
Sometime back I had read an article about how much effort China put to perfect ballpoint technology when they didn't had the capability. Import details of ball point pens from China

608 BALL POINT PENS; FELT TIPPED AND OTHER POROUS-TIPPED PENS AND MARKERS; FOUNTAIN PENS; STYLOGRAPH PENS AND OTHER PENS 9,023,330.50

mukkan wrote:Found this website that can be used to find quantity of imports not just the dollar amount that is available everywhere

http://www.indiatradedata.com/

A Provider of Business intelligence Report based on India Import & Export Trade
IndiaTradeData.com is the trustworthy platform to track every shipment, which comes in or goes out from India via sea, air or road. We provide the latest and most accurate India import export data that are based on Trade Bills, Bill of Entry, Shipping Bills, Bill of Lading, Invoices and other import export customs documents. Through our India trade data, we create business intelligence reports that are helpful for any kind of businesses to always be ahead from competitors.
Example of details of 8517 code (mostly smart phones)

http://www.indiatradedata.com/import-da ... china.html

Analysis of import of 2016
http://www.indiatradedata.com/what-indi ... port-china

SaraLax · Post by **SaraLax** » 19 Jun 2020 09:16

mukkan wrote:GOI has a website https://commerce-app.gov.in/eidb/icntcomq.asp that lets you search for import details.
Sometime back I had read an article about how much effort China put to perfect ballpoint technology when they didn't had the capability. India imported details of ball pointmpens from China
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Just posting some info below after 20 odd minutes of querying the info made available above indicated website. It sure is a good source of imports related data.

The website seems to provide data which are in line with our expectations (like 22B US$ import of oil from Saudi, combined 27B US$ of Electrical/Electronics import from China+HongKong & 7.6B US$ import of Organic Chemicals from China - with a total of 10+B US$ in Chemicals + Fertilisers ??? alone). I was using the 2 digit HS Code for my searches related to imports from various countries and it indicates the import info form 2018-19 & 2019-20(Apr-Feb). The combined import value from China+HK in FY 2018-19 comes to 90B US$ and seems it might touch the same value for FY 2019-20.

But when it comes to ARMS & Aircrafts & related component Import details, IMHO, the data in this above website is not accurate (maybe the GoI does not want to reveal it or is it that these imports don't get recorded by the Ministry of Commerce ?) because all i can see in terms of imports from Russia/Israel/France/US & etc are very very minimal in value. Actually the website indicates that the commodity which we imported most from Russia is Oil (more than 2B US$ in each of last 2 Financial Years and this value may be true but not sure if the others i indicated are true).

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 19 Jun 2020 12:45

Thank you for digging into the commerce ministry 2-letter code data. This is the kind of detailed digging I hoped to see here - it's been a few years since I trawled that site myself. Would someone kindly summarize the top ~20-30 items by letter code and article type, as well as their listed import value ?

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 19 Jun 2020 15:02

Minhaz Merchant@MinhazMerchant·Jun 15

States were happy to carry on with lockdowns believing Centre was legally bound to compensate them for loss of #GST. They could be in for a shock as govt hints at invoking Force Majeure (Act of God) clause due to #Covid19. No wonder opp states are scrambling to open businesses

csaurabh · Post by **csaurabh** » 20 Jun 2020 09:45

anmol wrote:
csaurabh wrote:And you do not need any ecommerce website for that.
You contact the company in question and make a deal with them directly.
Well if I am looking for a vendor who can supply me X, IndiaMart (and Alibaba) can get me in touch with all the listed vendors who can supply X to my business, are meeting my specification and price range. It would be far easier to do this on Indiamart or similar platform.

csaurabh wrote:In any case what's your argument here? We can compare Alibaba to Indiamart. Even though I have not used Alibaba I can assure you that it is far far far ahead of Indiamart.
Yes we should compare Alibaba to Indiamart. Aliexpress should be compared to other stores like Taobao WishStore Gearbest Banggood etc.

csaurabh wrote:Indiamart's payment options are quite lousy. I see no sense in using them and frankly I don't trust them.
What is lousy about the payment system ?

I was going to write a long winded response to this but frankly I am flabbergasted by your bizarre defence of indiamart (one of the worst ecommerce websites ever made ) and your continual insistence that Aliexpress is 'not a B2B platform'. If you have a different point of view or experience to put forward I suggest you do so otherwise I will conclude that you have no idea what you are talking about and not waste my time.

disha · Post by **disha** » 21 Jun 2020 00:40

SaraLax wrote:The website seems to provide data which are in line with our expectations (like 22B US$ import of oil from Saudi, combined 27B US$ of Electrical/Electronics import from China+HongKong & 7.6B US$ import of Organic Chemicals from China - with a total of 10+B US$ in Chemicals + Fertilisers ??? alone). I was using the 2 digit HS Code for my searches related to imports from various countries and it indicates the import info form 2018-19 & 2019-20(Apr-Feb). The combined import value from China+HK in FY 2018-19 comes to 90B US$ and seems it might touch the same value for FY 2019-20.

Thanks for the digging down to some specifics. I have one more request., Under Chemicals and Fertilizers and Organic Chemicals what exactly are we importing?

I took the data from the website and sorted it out and picked up all rows where 2019 import was ~1B (and above).

The first number is serial number, second is the HSCode, third is the description, fourth is the 2018-2019 in USD and fifth number is for 2019-2020 (Feb). Year end is April.

82 85 ELECTRICAL MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT AND PARTS THEREOF; SOUND RECORDERS AND REPRODUCERS, TELEVISION IMAGE AND SOUND RECORDERS AND REPRODUCERS,AND PARTS. 20,627.56 18,117.81
81 84 NUCLEAR REACTORS, BOILERS, MACHINERY AND MECHANICAL APPLIANCES; PARTS THEREOF. 13,383.76 12,780.72
27 29 ORGANIC CHEMICALS 8,596.25 7,530.78
37 39 PLASTIC AND ARTICLES THEREOF. 2,722.60 2,580.62
29 31 FERTILISERS. 2,053.22 1,802.00
71 73 ARTICLES OF IRON OR STEEL 1,735.33 1,544.36
87 90 OPTICAL, PHOTOGRAPHIC CINEMATOGRAPHIC MEASURING, CHECKING PRECISION, MEDICAL OR SURGICAL INST. AND APPARATUS PARTS AND ACCESSORIES THEREOF; 1,587.69 1,275.93
84 87 VEHICLES OTHER THAN RAILWAY OR TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK, AND PARTS AND ACCESSORIES THEREOF. 1,521.10 1,202.64
70 72 IRON AND STEEL 1,422.37 1,087.76
36 38 MISCELLANEOUS CHEMICAL PRODUCTS. 1,290.59 1,143.20
74 76 ALUMINIUM AND ARTICLES THEREOF. 1,174.62 923.36

After that, I went to CEIC data site https://www.ceicdata.com/en/china/petro ... -potassium and found that the following come under export of fertilizers

Ammonium Nitrate (Ton)
Ammonium Sulphate (Ton)
Ammonium Sulphate: Double Salt & Mixtures (Ton)
Double Salt & Mixtures of Calcium Nitrate & Ammonium Nitrate (Ton)
Mixtures of Ammonium Nitrate with Calcium Carbonate or Other Inorgna... (Ton)
Sodium Nitrate (Ton)
Urea (Ton)

mukkan · Post by **mukkan** » 21 Jun 2020 07:32

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There was no easy way to post tables that are readable in forum, so I converted into images and below are the images from converting data into chart images from the data https://commerce-app.gov.in/eidb/icntcomq.asp. I picked the data from 2018-19 as 2020 data may be showing less because of the pandemic impact.

Excluding the top 5, the next 5 imports in 4 digit HS code category

Top 5 Imports in 4 digit HS code category

Top 10 in 2 digit HS code category

HS code for the above charts
HS Commodity
27 MINERAL FUELS
71 PEARLS,
85 A&V equipents
84 NUCLEAR REACTORS,
29 ORGANIC CHEMICALS
39 PLASTIC AND ARTICLES F.
72 IRON AND STEEL
15 Edible Oil
2709 PETROLEUM OILS
7108 GOLD
7102 DIAMONDS
2701 COAL
2711 PETRLM GASES
8517 PHONE
8542 ELCTRNC ICs
8802 AEROPLANES
8471 DATA PROCESSING MACHINES
2710 OTHER THAN CRUDE PRPN
1511 PALM OIL

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 22 Jun 2020 11:12

nam wrote:Is there a Alibaba equivalent in India for Indian companies?

Indiamart.com comes to mind.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 22 Jun 2020 23:45

Good work, mukkan! I'll take a more detailed look at it soon. Material like this would be great to tweet to official entities like PMOIndia.

Vamsee · Post by **Vamsee** » 23 Jun 2020 00:08

India can reduce $8.4 billion imports from China over fiscal FY22: Acuite Ratings

The ratings agency analysed the current import portfolio from China and found 40 sub-sectors that have the potential to lower their import dependency on China. These sectors contribute to $33.6 billion worth of imports from China and about 25% of these imports can be substituted by local manufacturing without any significant additional investments, Acuite said.

This will translate into savings of 0.3% of India's GDP.

India's imports from China totalled $65.1 billion in fiscal 2020 and exports at $16.6 billion, which translated into a trade deficit of $48.5 billion. Chinese imports contributed to over 30% of India’s aggregate trade deficit.

Over the past 3 decades, India’s exports to China grew at a CAGR of 30% but its imports expanded at 47%

Acuite said that India can slash imports in sectors like chemical where it is the world’s sixth largest chemical manufacturer.
Similarly, the pharmaceutical industry imports bulk drugs (API) and other intermediate raw materials worth over $2.6 billion annually and the bicycle and bicycle parts industry $100 million worth of items.

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Vamsee · Post by **Vamsee** » 23 Jun 2020 20:13

H-1B visa ban may not make that big a dent in top IT firms' revenues. Here's why

I agree with this assessment. In fact this H1B visa ban might be a big blessing in disguise for India. An incremental outsourcing of say 5% by big companies will be phenomenal. Post Covid-19, a lot of companies will be looking to cut costs. Lot of work from home(particularly in IT) is already happening in US. So it is not a stretch to convert work-from-home in US to work-from-India.

Our service exports are already ~$220B this year (we are at seventh place just below Ireland I think). We are 1/4th the size of US service exports (~$800Bn). We should have a 2030 goal of $1 Tr service exports

--Vamsee

yensoy · Post by **yensoy** » 23 Jun 2020 20:45

^^^^ Exactly, this needs to be played the correct way and could be a blessing in disguise for us. The same persons who would otherwise be working in customers sites/US based delivery centers could very well work in India, contribute to Indian GDP and forex. This needs excellent leadership and a culture of high integrity and some of the cost savings should be returned to the employee via a higher pay scale with the expectation of high productivity from the employee as well.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 23 Jun 2020 22:01

Ireland's position in the services trade list is an anomaly of their tax haven status.

Looking at services exports so far, it's clear there's been barely a dent in them, while merchandise exports have dropped by close to a third in the first two months of the fiscal year. Of course, these are very early times, but on an ongoing basis, the services export data as a proxy for IT sector performance through COVID-19 indicates that the industry has been generally stable so far.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 24 Jun 2020 01:38

A few more PhDs coming back to teach would be great too. Same with masters guys coming back to plug into outer create new startups.

mukkan · Post by **mukkan** » 24 Jun 2020 02:16

It will be hard to get too many people to relocate to India. Even people with India origin have too much sunk cost and other family commitments for them to move back to India. So Indian companies should think truly global and go where the talent is. They need to open subsidiaries in US and hire people paying market rate. These days, no physical office space needed, that will save some cost. This is the playbook from Chinese companies with great support from Chinese government. They aggressively find highly experienced Chinese folks and hire them to work from US. I am not sure how many Indian companies are ready to risk that much upfront investment. Will GOI invest in companies developing high end technologies and follow the strategy of Chinese government? I don't think so. All of them will get scared with $$$$$$$$ multiplication factor of 76!

Prasad wrote:A few more PhDs coming back to teach would be great too. Same with masters guys coming back to plug into outer create new startups.

Rishirishi · Post by **Rishirishi** » 24 Jun 2020 04:54

yensoy wrote:^^^^ Exactly, this needs to be played the correct way and could be a blessing in disguise for us. The same persons who would otherwise be working in customers sites/US based delivery centers could very well work in India, contribute to Indian GDP and forex. This needs excellent leadership and a culture of high integrity and some of the cost savings should be returned to the employee via a higher pay scale with the expectation of high productivity from the employee as well.

This is partially true, because the brightest will move to other countries. Basic problem is the pathetic living conditions in the Indian cities. Clean air, move to public transport and creating recreational places would help. It would no cost all that much.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 24 Jun 2020 11:41

yensoy wrote:^^^^ Exactly, this needs to be played the correct way and could be a blessing in disguise for us. The same persons who would otherwise be working in customers sites/US based delivery centers could very well work in India, contribute to Indian GDP and forex. This needs excellent leadership and a culture of high integrity and some of the cost savings should be returned to the employee via a higher pay scale with the expectation of high productivity from the employee as well.

Another side benefit if this so called " onsite" opportunities is less, engineering students will also evaluate careers in Manufacturing. Too much Engineering talent has moved to US KPO and IT sectors in search of opportunities to settle in Western countries and probably cost our manufacturing base. Having the best and brightest also work in other industries will help- it is just not salaries but the lure of IT/BPO/ KPO sectors has been it is seen as ticket to foreign citizenship if you are good enough.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 24 Jun 2020 16:22

Jobs returning, unemployment rate back at pre-lockdown level

chola · Post by **chola** » 24 Jun 2020 17:00

NRao wrote:Jobs returning, unemployment rate back at pre-lockdown level

I was about to post about the rural jobs program. This is a silver lining in this chini virus disaster. This will have impact long after the virus fades. We might be seeing the development of areas across the length and breadth of the country. The skills and now money the migrants brought back to their homes can fuel a boom that had always been concentrated in the big cities like Delhi and Mumbai.

Vamsee · Post by **Vamsee** » 25 Jun 2020 00:12

US visa suspension likely to boost demand for offshoring, captives

Vamsee · Post by **Vamsee** » 25 Jun 2020 09:33

Next 5 years will tell us whether India can become a merchandise export superpower or will forever remain a midget in that category. Although plastic items & toys provide massive domestic employment, if you really want to move the export needle, you need to focus of assembling phones, computers and other electronic items. Even if we can provide a 20-25% domestic components & rest of components are imported from East Asia, it will still be phenomenal achievement.
Indian govt did roll out a lot of incentives(PLI, SPECS and EMC 2.0) & is targeting $100 Bn exports by 2025. If we come anywhere closer to that number, I would be ecstatic. Last year we exported around $4 B I think. That itself puts it at number 10 in our list of exports. Refined Petroleum tops the list at around $42B I think.
I really hope the rumor of Apple trying to shift 20% of its phone manufacturing to India becomes a reality.

We were never able to export more merchandise than our merchandise imports. I really want to see that one day.

Mollick.R · Post by **Mollick.R** » 25 Jun 2020 13:12

This is bigggggg, strategically as big as demonetization.
Looks like finally Govt decided to bite the bullet & used its sledgehammer

Cooperative banks to come under RBI watch
BY ET BUREAU | FEB 06, 2020, 08.33 AM IST

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment to the Banking Regulation Act to bring multi-state cooperative banks under the watch of the central bank and prevent a repeat of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank-like crisis.

“There are 1,540 cooperative banks with a depositor base of 8.60 crore having total savings of about Rs 5 lakh crore. The proposed law seeks to enforce banking regulation guidelines of the RBI in cooperative banks, while administrative issues will still be guided by Registrar of Cooperatives,” information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said, briefing the media about cabinet decisions.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the budget that oversight of cooperative banks would be brought under the Reserve Bank of India through an amendment to the Banking Regulation Act, in order to increase professionalism and improve corporate governance.

Javadekar said that cooperative banks would be audited according to RBI rules and appointment of CEOs would require prior approval from the central bank. The RBI will also have the right to supersede the management of a cooperative bank in case of governance failure, Javadekar added.

“This has been a demand of depositors and the financial sector for many years, and even from cooperative banks, to bring financial stability,” he said, adding that the new regulations would be phased in gradually.

The finance minister had in her budget speech announced an increase in the insurance cover for depositors to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh.

Finance secretary Rajiv Kumar said after the budget that since co-operative banks take deposits from the public, they need to be responsible to them. “They (cooperative banks) actually play a very important role in the rural areas. But, at the same time, if you are taking deposits, you need to be responsible to the customer also. So, those norms will change through the Banking Regulation Act to make it far more robust in terms of regulation,” Kumar had said.

Under the new norms, cooperative banks would be required to more strictly meet capital norms, he had said.

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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ma ... s?from=mdr

Mollick.R · Post by **Mollick.R** » 25 Jun 2020 17:42

Gradually the sleeping and careless babus of MOC are waking up........

Here comes a small non tariff trade barrier shot for "Dla-goon"

Still long long way to go, looking after our own industry lobby groups ( from the article:- Ficci, handset lobby ICEA, and MAIT, which represents IT hardware manufacturers) it looks like they are suffering from withdrawal syndrome of a drug addict.

Mistake was ours only, problem was majorly created by us only, solution also needs to be created by us. But such continuous nudges by govt will make them leave Chinese on bed.

Beijing seeks clarity on imports stuck due to 100% inspection
By Anandita Singh Mankotia, ET Bureau|Last Updated: Jun 25, 2020, 08.18 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Beijing has sought clarity from Delhi on imports from China getting stuck as they were being subjected to 100% examination. Domestic industry lobby groups have complained that the resultant supply chain disruption comes at a bad time as companies are reopening after the lockdown.

The development comes amid anti-Chinese sentiment in the wake of border hostilities. India, which is moving to bar Chinese firms from central and state government projects, had already been taking steps to cut dependence on imports from that country as part of a self-reliance drive.

Alarmed at the development, various industry associations such as Ficci, handset lobby ICEA, and MAIT, which represents IT hardware manufacturers, are reaching out to the government, including the finance and commerce ministries. Their contention is that the move to subject shipments from China to 100% manual examination will disrupt supply chains. Expensive components and mission-critical imports from China could be damaged, making things more difficult for the already stressed industry, they say.

Back-channel Talks
Some people with knowledge of the matter said back-channel talks have begun with the aim of preventing the matter from snowballing into a major trade dispute following recent border clashes between the two countries.

Electronics manufacturing industry executives are worried about manual examination, which they say is happening in the absence of written orders. The move will disrupt supplies of items such as high-end smartphones, laptops, watches and tablets, and possibly lead to damaged goods. Buyers may also not be too keen on unsealed packaging, they said.

The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), which represents smartphone manufacturers such as Apple, Foxconn, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, has written to the secretaries of the revenue and commerce ministries, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), saying New Delhi’s latest move will hit local companies.

It proposed that companies having Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status, accorded after stringent conditions are met by international importers in line with guidelines of the World Customs Organization, should be exempt from such manual checks. Inputs for exports should be X-rayed or checked by dog squads for suspected narcotics, it said. High-end finished goods such as tablets, smartphones and watches with cost net-freight price of ?15,000 should be exempt from such checks as opening up the packaging will make them difficult to sell, ICEA said.
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Link
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 603660.cms

Mollick.R · Post by **Mollick.R** » 25 Jun 2020 17:46

Indian customs may start inspection of all imports from China at ports and airports
By Gulveen Aulakh, Deepshikha Sikarwar, ET Bureau|Last Updated: Jun 24, 2020, 02.35 PM IST

Indian customs could carry out 100 per cent checks of Chinese import consignments at ports on the back of heightened security concerns following tensions at the border, people familiar with the development said. The move, possibly aimed at discouraging Chinese imports, could lead to delays in the release of consignments.

However, the government played down the move with officials saying that no such instructions had been issued and containers may have been held up on the basis of risk assessment or intelligence input.

Chennai is one of the first ports to opt for such closer scrutiny of Chinese imports, they said, adding that this is likely to be extended to all key ports.
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...............So there could be some delay in clearance from all the ports/ CFS/airports.”

Currently, 70% of total imports pass through the green channel once the bill of entry is filed. This happens online with little or no difficulty; only 30% is examined. Physical examination includes matching description to bill of entry, whether the goods are correctly valued — as these could be undervalued — and whether they are eligible for exemption of duty. The latest moves will delay clearance, particularly due to low staffing on account of coronavirus. In many cases, goods will have to be unpacked in the presence of importers for checking.
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“100% physical examination means delay in clearances,” said another person privy to the developments.

The government declared that it hadn’t ordered ports to halt shipments from China but acknowledged that some containers could be held up. “No orders, verbal or written, have been issued to any port by customs or by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) to bar or not to accept containers from China,” a government official said in response to a query from ET. “If in some cases, some containers are held up then they are for the intelligence input and on the basis of risk assessment, as a routine exercise".

‘SYSTEM-GENERATED CHECKS’
Customs authorities played down concerns over clearance. “System-generated checks are going on,” a senior Chennai customs official said. “Doing it for each container would be a huge time-taking exercise.”

About 300-500 bills from China are cleared on a daily basis at Chennai customs, a large chunk of the overall number. If consignments are halted, it could lead to the ports getting choked and delays in goods reaching, the official added.
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The decision to conduct full physical examination and assessment at the docks and sheds in airports follows a rider on 100% examination of Chinese imports that was introduced by the apex indirect tax body Tuesday, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Link
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 530095.cms

Vamsee · Post by **Vamsee** » 25 Jun 2020 21:34

Apple wants to make India iPhone export hub, charmed by Modi’s scheme for mobile phone companies

Foxconn and Wistron already applied. Waiting for Samsung to also join the club (which will happen soon in all likelihood).

Uttam · Post by **Uttam** » 25 Jun 2020 21:35

The wheel has finally started turning.

New duty structure for equipment import, 40% BCD on solar gear: R K Singh

kit · Post by **kit** » 25 Jun 2020 21:40

Vamsee wrote:Apple wants to make India iPhone export hub, charmed by Modi’s scheme for mobile phone companies

Foxconn and Wistron already applied. Waiting for Samsung to also join the club (which will happen soon in all likelihood).

Hope they bring in all their suppliers as well !!.. can be a repeat of the success of the automobile industry .. hope it extends to all electronics and electrical items

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 25 Jun 2020 22:04

There are m many laggards in cell phone industry that GoI can work with to make chinese phones disappear from Indian scene while still providing good phones and user experience at chinese prices. As many have pointed out that GoI needs to account for all the cost associated with chinese imports to work with others to bring prices down with govt help.

Laggards like HTC, LG, ASUS, HMD, etc.

nam · Post by **nam** » 25 Jun 2020 22:56

GoI should put in place preferential access system for international companies who produce locally and number of employees. Higher the employee count, lower the GST(or something similar) on their goods.

This can be modified based on the allied state of that country with India. This is similar to the US & Europe's preferential access system.

If Chinese can ban Google, there is no reason for India to tolerate Chinese companies selling their wares here.

Just like Suzuki got 50% market share, GoI could preferential access to specific companies and allow them large market share. Chinese companies should be embargoed from world's second largest market.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 25 Jun 2020 23:06

nam wrote:GoI should put in place preferential access system for international companies who produce locally and number of employees. Higher the employee count, lower the GST(or something similar) on their goods.

This can be modified based on the allied state of that country with India. This is similar to the US & Europe's preferential access system.

If Chinese can ban Google, there is no reason for India to tolerate Chinese companies selling their wares here.

Just like Suzuki got 50% market share, GoI could preferential access to specific companies and allow them large market share. Chinese companies should be embargoed from world's second largest market.

India better be ready for China to retaliate is very odd ways. Like harras Indian commercial ships around China, if not board Indian ships for no reason, etc.

Also, countries around India (BD, etc) need to stop sourcing Chinese products to make their products they export to India.

M_Joshi · Post by **M_Joshi** » 25 Jun 2020 23:12

Govt makes country of origin mandatory for GeM platform

Further, sellers, who had already uploaded their products before the introduction of this new feature on GeM, are being reminded regularly to update the Country of Origin, with a warning that their products shall be removed from GeM if they fail to update the same. GeM has taken this significant step to promote ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

GeM has also enabled a provision for indication of the percentage of local content in products. With this new feature, now, the Country of Origin as well as the local content percentage are visible in the marketplace for all items. More importantly, the ‘Make in India’ filter has now been enabled on the portal.

Buyers can choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50% local content criteria. Since its inception, GeM is continuously working towards promotion of ‘Make in India’ initiative.

mukkan · Post by **mukkan** » 25 Jun 2020 23:26

Its a good start and will be mostly assembling the components to begin with. More than 90% of the components needs to be imported. If you look at the import data, electronic components is in the top list of imports.

kit wrote:
Vamsee wrote:Apple wants to make India iPhone export hub, charmed by Modi’s scheme for mobile phone companies

Foxconn and Wistron already applied. Waiting for Samsung to also join the club (which will happen soon in all likelihood).
Hope they bring in all their suppliers as well !!.. can be a repeat of the success of the automobile industry .. hope it extends to all electronics and electrical items

Vamsee · Post by **Vamsee** » 25 Jun 2020 23:34

^^^^ Yes & its perfectly ok. The key thing is to get into the supply chain of global electronics. Once you do that, increasing the local content will be much easier. Start with single digit local manufacturing and gradually increase it to 30-40%. Even China has ~50%(?) local content and rest comes from other East Asian nations I think. That is still worth tens of billions of $ in exports.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 25 Jun 2020 23:43

I think the government's actions here have been quite spectacularly well played. A knee jerk emotional 'ban all Oppo phones!' dharna and flag burning will run our of steam by the time tea and samosas are distributed. Instead, they're acting very deliberately behind the scenes while saying nothing, and imposing real costs that Beijing can feel but seemingly while the surface of the water remains calm. They normally pride themselves on keeping a calm poker face as they twist the knife into someone else; being on the opposite end isn't something they know. Beijing could of course retaliate with angry lashing out, but that would make them look weak. This is a power game, and the party who looks and acts cooler retains a dominant hand.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 26 Jun 2020 00:12

Suraj wrote:I think the government's actions here have been quite spectacularly well played. A knee jerk emotional 'ban all Oppo phones!' dharna and flag burning will run our of steam by the time tea and samosas are distributed. Instead, they're acting very deliberately behind the scenes while saying nothing, and imposing real costs that Beijing can feel but seemingly while the surface of the water remains calm. They normally pride themselves on keeping a calm poker face as they twist the knife into someone else; being on the opposite end isn't something they know. Beijing could of course retaliate with angry lashing out, but that would make them look weak. This is a power game, and the party who looks and acts cooler retains a dominant hand.

Definitely. They are doing a great job.

I only pray that some idiotic babus along with SC don't put a spoke in these efforts.

VKumar · Post by **VKumar** » 26 Jun 2020 00:25

vijayk wrote:
Suraj wrote:I think the government's actions here have been quite spectacularly well played. A knee jerk emotional 'ban all Oppo phones!' dharna and flag burning will run our of steam by the time tea and samosas are distributed. Instead, they're acting very deliberately behind the scenes while saying nothing, and imposing real costs that Beijing can feel but seemingly while the surface of the water remains calm. They normally pride themselves on keeping a calm poker face as they twist the knife into someone else; being on the opposite end isn't something they know. Beijing could of course retaliate with angry lashing out, but that would make them look weak. This is a power game, and the party who looks and acts cooler retains a dominant hand.
Definitely. They are doing a great job.

I only pray that some idiotic babus along with SC don't put a spoke in these efforts.

But nothing comparable to Chinese non tariff barriers.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 26 Jun 2020 00:40

A country with a $60 billion surplus on $90 billion in trade doesn’t have many useful non tariff barriers to apply. This is particularly exacerbated by the fact that we export ore and intermediate goods to them and import finished goods. It is in our interest NOT to export that to them, and simultaneously in our interest to block their exports to us. If they block our exports of intermediate items to them when we block their finished goods from coming in, they're doing us a favor. They know that, and so do we.

That is the basic dynamic of this situation - they’re simultaneously losing their second biggest country source of trade surplus and their source of raw material to generate that surplus if they act against Indian exports to them. They’ll quite literally run out of things to block a long time before we do, simply because we export so much less to them than they do to us.

mukkan · Post by **mukkan** » 26 Jun 2020 22:54

something to learn from Vietnam

Vietnam’s growth has accelerated in recent years in part due to the US-China trade war. Vietnam’s exports to the US rose by 28.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, making the US the largest importer of Vietnamese goods.
Vietnam has emerged as a destination of choice for its low costs, receptive governance, and increasing integration with key trading partners. Cumulatively, these factors have and will continue to grow Vietnam as a hotbed of manufacturing and position the country as an ideal location for China-plus one oriented production. Thanks to its central location in Asia and proximity to regional shipping routes, many manufacturers entering Vietnam are export-focused.
https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/u ... tnam.html/

older article from 2017 below

While Vietnam isn’t likely to surpass China as an electronics manufacturing powerhouse in the near future, industry analysts say that the country is becoming an important location for low-cost electronics manufacturing. It will be a long-term competitor to China and other low-cost manufacturing locations including Mexico and Eastern Europe.

The electronics industry is Vietnam is growing. Production was estimated at $31.1 billion in 2015, up from $2.6 billion in 2007, according to researcher Electronica.ca Publications. The growth is due to an increase in production of mobile phones, computers, LCD-TVs, and semiconductors, the company reported.

“Electronics manufacturing in Vietnam is growing like crazy and companies are adding capacity,” says Dan Panzica, chief analyst for the outsourced manufacturing intelligence service at IHS Markit Technology. Vietnam is focusing on “fairly simple, lower technology assembly. There's not a lot of design activity or tooling or joint development going on. It is assembly,” he says.

While automation in electronics manufacturing has eliminated a lot of the need for low-cost assembly, it has not eliminated it, says Panzica. “There is still a need for intricate hand assembly. The Vietnamese are very skilled at assembly work. Even better than the Chinese,” he says.
https://www.sourcetoday.com/supply-chai ... ufacturing

Vadivel · Post by **Vadivel** » 26 Jun 2020 23:11

Experience of an Indian entrepreneur in China

I am the Vice President of a medium sized Indian corporate. We are one of the largest manufacturers of Drum Closures in the world. These are a closing devices used in the manufacture of 200 litres Steel drums. It is a very high precision engineering product. We are also one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of scaffolding system out of India. These are also highly engineered precision products.

It is a common practice in these days in the business circles to compare India and China in almost all spheres. In every forum or platform the discussion inevitably veered around China – India comparison. In this article, I want to share the experience of starting and operating business in China . You may make your own comparison with the conditions in India based on your own experience . I am a patriot to the core and am no fan of China. However the business and economic considerations compelled our group to consider putting up a factory in China for producing drum closures and scaffolding for Chinese and international markets. We considered the availability of cheaper raw material, highly productive labour, very low logistic cost and good sized domestic market in China as the reasons enough to invest in a factory in China.

We were aware about volatile Indo-Chinese relations and the risk involved in operating in China. They have some typical laws and their legal system tend to favour Chinese. We had developed high level of indigenous manufacturing technology which is economic and competitive. There was also fear of Chinese learning and copying our technology. In spite of all these fears we decided to go ahead by taking reasonable precautions. We decided not to take any Chinese partner. Apart from the fear of loss of technology there is also a law in China that Chinese citizen holding minority interest also has a veto power in the company. Hence we decided to go on our own.

In 2006 we started searching for a suitable location. We wanted to be close to East Coast but in a location where the labour was cheaper than the developed eastern provinces and the laws permitted generation and disposal of effluent.

In 2008 after many discussions and considerations we located an Industrial Zone Quanjiao in a small town about 50 km west of Nanjing which met most of our requirements. After obtaining initial information about the zone, we decided to meet zone authorities personally and to see the area . I and one of my colleagues reached the zone office in the morning at about 10.00 AM. To our surprise we found that the zone authorities had made elaborate arrangements to welcome us. Local party chief and few other senior officials were also present. We felt awed and nervous. We told the zone head that we had visited only for a survey and do not have a plan to sign any deal. The zone chief informed very politely that they were sure that we would be satisfied with the land and the conditions.

They then explained their proposals and showed various sites in the zone. After we showed our interest in a piece of land they made a final offer which was substantially more attractive than the offer made in the mail earlier. We asked for few more facilities which they readily agreed and after about 4 hours the deal was signed. We were amazed at their helpful and cordial approach all through the discussions and their determination to get first foreigner to invest in their industrial zone.

After signing a short MOU , we informed them that we need to go to Nanjing and speak to a lawyer to form a company. The zone chief mentioned that if we have trust in them they would form the company with all approvals free of cost. By this time we had already started trusting them and agreed to their proposal. They had also got a local Bank Manager with all the necessary forms for opening the bank account. All this in a day’s work!

Within a week we got company registration with the name and registration number and the company documents were given to us within 2 weeks. The bank account was opened within one week thereafter. Hence within less than one month we were able to buy the land with all the registration and approvals and also open the bank account.

One officer in the zone was nominated to give us all the required assistance. We mentioned about the need for an architect. Promptly he gave us names of about 5 architects who were already active in the zone. After some discussions with architects we finalized one from Nanjing and gave him details of the building requirements. We once again approached the officer of the zone for help to find some contractors for construction. Within one day he give list of 8 or 9 civil contractors who were doing construction activities in the zone. We floated the enquiry to all the contractors and finalized one of them.

The building was constructed in about 4 months and in 6 months time we were able to start the production. In my last 30 years of experience in India I have yet to see a factory starting within 6 months.

We have been in production for last 10 years and are quite satisfied with our working in China. I would now like to share some of my experiences of operation in China.

1) Even though the labor wages are higher than India, the cost per piece works out to be cheaper because of high productivity of the labor.

2) The zone we selected is located in a small town with a population only about 1,50,000. The zone was also one of the most ordinary typical industrial zone of China. In spite of this the internal road of the zone are wide, concreted with shady trees on both sides, good landscaping and very clean and organized. The zone offer 5 basic services of providing electricity, water and sewerage connections at the factory gate, levelled land and road connectivity. I have yet to see an industrial estate of similar quality and services anywhere in India.

3) The workers are provided free lunch every day by the company. This is the common practice in China.

4) Every year during Chinese New Year all the business in China remain closed for 10 days. Apart from these there are few holidays during Labour day in May ,National Day in October , Dragon boat festival in June. There is no PL,CL system .

5) The factory loss in China is very well defined and there is no room for any discretion. The 5 star Insurance is compulsory for each and every employee which covers Endowment , Accident ,Unemployment , maternity/paternity and hospitalization . For the compensation for injury during working is well defined depending on the nature of injury. The compliance of factory rules are done once at the time completion of construction and then there is no further inspection. In fact during our more than 10 years operations we do not have any inspector visiting our factory for any reason.

6) We submit VAT returns online every month and every month our VAT refund due is credited. There is no human interaction or any failure.In fact no one can issue Invoice which they call Fapio with their own logo or style . Each and every seller has to by pre-printed Invoice/Fapio from the Sales Tax department and can issue only those Invoices to their customers. Seller has to buy one devise from tax department which gets connected between computer and printer and data gets transferred to tax department automatically .

7) There is a very high degree of safety and security and there is no theft.

There are no aggressive unions. In fact the wages and benefits are well defined and there are no negotiations. The working is peaceful. There is no political or bureaucratic intervention. After every Chinese New year , our area’s Mayor visits our factory with entire HOD of departments like Electricity ,Labour,Zone etc. to discuss on any issues if faced by us.This is amazing.

9) All the government offices are fully accountable. If any application for any license or permit is not settled in 30 days then the same is deemed to be approved.

10) In spite of Indo-Chinese tensions from time to time due to situation in the borders the Chinese workers and staff are very cordial and friendly. They are all aware about the tensions but it has not affected our or any other Indian establishment.

11) There are no other taxes or dues except VAT, Income Tax, Custom Duty and local taxes. These are all well-defined and there is no room for disputes. All assessments are done online.

12) The government of China response very quickly to changing international situation. For example when President Trump slapped 10% Custom Duty on Chinese products, within one week government of China increased the VAT rebate by 4% and also devalued their currency . Thereby nullifying the custom duty in US and at the same time making Chinese goods more competitive in the rest of the world. This is their usual speed of response.

These are some of the cuff observations of operating in China. Clearly China has unmatched ease of starting business as well as ease of doing business. It is because of this combination that the invisible transaction cost are almost NIL in China. This propagates downstream and upstream giving over all competitiveness to the Chinese products.

If the Government of India follow the China model of ease of starting business and doing business then I am sure India can overtake China as world manufacturing hub because intrinsically Indian entrepreneur is more seasoned, matured and experienced than Chinese counterpart. (The author is Vice-President of Mumbai-based Technocraft Industries (India) Ltd)

https://orangenews9.com/experience-of-a ... -in-china/