India will sign a number of pacts with China to improve its market access in items such as pharmaceuticals, buffalo meat, fishery, carpets, diamonds, oilmeal and IT products when Premier Xi Jinping visits New Delhi next week.
Pacts will also be signed to step up Chinese investments in areas such as railways infrastructure.
“Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had a fruitful meeting with her Chinese counterpart last month where both sides agreed to sign MoUs for increasing Chinese investments in India and to promote exports from India to bridge the trade deficit,” a Commerce Ministry official told
While official dates for the Premier’s visit have not yet been announced, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel told the media last week that Xi will be received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat on September 17.
With India’s trade deficit with China increasing to $36 billion in 2013-14 – more than a fourth of the country’s total trade deficit – there is an acknowledgement in China of the need to close the gap by increasing scope for exports of Indian products and increasing Chinese investments in the country, the official said.
Rail pushAn important MoU to be signed during Xi’s visit will be for Chinese investments in Indian railways for its electrification, improvement of tracks to allow high-speed trains and upgrading of stations. India wants Chinese investments and expertise to upgrade the existing tracks to increase the speed of the trains up to about 160 km.
China has already announced its plans to set up two industrial parks in the country – one near Pune and another near Ahmedabad.
Meat exportsMoUs are likely to be signed to facilitate exports of fishery and bovine meat, as China imports large quantities from other countries but very little from India.
“Our products are of high quality as we export to a large number of developed countries. Once China puts in place the require certification process, we can start exporting the items,” the official said.
India is also looking forward to pacts on exports of pharmaceuticals, IT, diamonds and carpets. New Delhi wants China to direct its State enterprises to source pharma and IT products from Indian companies.
India exported goods worth $14.8 billion while it bought products from China worth $50.9 billion in 2013-14.
China has invested an estimated $1.1 billion in India so far, but opportunities are huge as the country has foreign exchange reserves of over $3.8 trillion.