India bans import of milk, phones from China

The Dollar Business Bureau

Upon determining that China was not adhering to the rules, quality and security, that are necessary to export products, specifically, consumable goods and certain brands of phones and steel, India decided to ban these Chinese products from entering the country. 

The sub-standard quality or failure to adhere to the rules led to an import ban on milk and milk products, and certain phones from China. 

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Friday, stated that the unacceptable quality of the Chinese products was the reason behind the ban. 

The absence of International Mobile Station Equipment Identity Code and other security features is not acceptable, she said. Besides import ban on certain mobile phones, selected steel products have been stopped from being imported.

Sitharaman further stated that the blanket ban on imports from any country is not possible due to World Trade Organization’s rules even if the two nations have issues diplomatically, militarily or territorially. 

The Commerce Minister further revealed that India’s trade deficit with China accounted up to $48.68 billion, which is approximately Rs.32.4 lakh crore, in FY2016. The total bilateral trade between the two nations stood at $65.16 billion, which is nearly about Rs.43.3 lakh crore, in the same period. 

She revealed, the main cause of the widening trade deficit with China is that, Chinese exports in India are based on manufactured items to meet the demands of the consumers in areas of telecom and power, and Indian exports to China rely on intermediate and primary items.