India’s imports from China during the April-August period of the current financial year dropped by 27.63 per cent to $21.58 billion compared to the same period in the previous year, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said in Parliament.

“Some of the items exhibiting a decline in imports include electronic components, telecom instruments, computer hardware, industrial machinery for dairy, electric machinery, residual chemical and allied products, consumer electronics, electronic instruments, fertilizers, products of iron and steel,” he said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

He also said that the value of Chinese imports into India stood at $4.98 billion in August while it was $5.58 in July.
The minister also said that the government has already taken several steps to expand domestic capacities with a view to minimizing the impact disruptions.

The government has announced a host of measures including the introduction of the Production Linked Incentive  (PLI) scheme to boost the manufacturing sector, which is critical for employment generation.

The PLI scheme is expected to give a fillip to several sectors including mobile phones, electronic components, medical devices and bulk drugs. The government has also sensitized stakeholders to source critical imports from diversified sources.

In a separate reply in the lower house, the minister said that there has been no proposal under consideration of the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) granted to China.

The MFN status is given to an international trade partner to ensure non-discriminatory trade between all partner countries of the WTO. MFN status reduces the export-import duties on the goods with particular nations.

India has given MFN to all the countries in SAARC except Pakistan..