India imported heavy industrial machinery worth Rs 15,083 crore, including power plant equipment for Rs 7,970 crore, from China in the last fiscal, adversely affecting the domestic heavy industry.
“Primary reason for sourcing heavy industrial equipment from China... is the lower price offered by the Chinese manufacturers which is adversely affecting the domestic heavy industry,” the Heavy Industries Minister, Mr Praful Patel, said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Domestic manufacturers like BHEL and Larsen and Toubro have been demanding duty on import of all electrical equipment, including the ones above the 1,000 MW capacity.
At present, projects with less than 1,000 MW generation capacity attract five per cent import duty while there is no duty on the rest.