Foreign Manufacturing Companies In India Face Hurdles In Clearing Chinese Shipments Following LAC Face-Off

Report By: Nandika Chand | Last Updated June 26, 2020

Chinese goods, following the June 15 violent face-off, are stuck at ports and airports including Chennai and Mumbai and this has drastically impacted the operations of foreign manufacturing companies in India.

100% physical examination of Chinese imports began from Monday midnight. As a consequence, shipments of US tech and telecom companies in India have got stuck. Companies have expressed concerns because delays will have an impact on production with parts of the supply chain dependent on Chinese imports. Experts said this will evenutally lead to scarcity and increased prices.

This prompted the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum to raise the issue with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). A government official said they are looking into the matter. He said there is no intention to cause any hardship to the industry.

Moreover, the industry feels that this is burdensome as they are already facing a downturn amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Forum seeks the restoration of port operations or at a minimum; that the government publish any change in port policy to provide the business community with the visibility they need to function. The group has flagged lack of transparency as no formal order was issued by the government nor any specific reason provided to the firms as to why their consignments are not being cleared.

Sources said the Customs authorities haven’t cited any reasons about the ongoing delays in clearing Chinese shipments. They said it may be due to intelligence alerts as the government has given no formal instruction to Customs to carry out such checks. Chennai Customs zone officials said checks were being carried out on the basis of specific intelligence-based inputs. Importers and industry have no choice but to change their import pattern as there have been calls to reduce the consumption of Chinese goods in the wake of border tensions.