Consumer electronics, electronic instruments and computer hardware are some of the commodities that showed a decline in imports from China during April-July of 2020-21 when compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
In a written reply to a question raised by Anand Sharma in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the Covid-19 pandemic had caused several global and domestic supply side constraints and also led to a dip in global demand.
India’s imports from China decreased to $16.60 billion during April-July 2020 from $23.45 billion in the corresponding period of 2019.
Some of the items exhibiting a decline in imports included electronic components, telecom instruments, computer hardware, industrial machinery for dairy, electric machinery, residual chemical and allied products, consumer electronics, electronic instruments, fertilisers, and iron and steel products, among others.
However, the import of agro chemicals, medical and scientific instruments, other miscellaneous chemicals and petroleum products from China went up during the above-mentioned period.
He said the Government has taken steps to expand domestic capacities to minimise the impact of such disruptions, and has implemented policies to promote domestic manufacturing through ease of doing business and production-linked incentives in select sectors, including mobile phones and electronic components and medical devices and bulk drugs.
The Government has also sensitised stakeholders to source critical imports from diversified sources, with the active support of Indian missions, he added.