NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday flagged her concerns over the large — and exponentially growing — trade imbalance with China and said Beijing has not addressed India’s concerns for nearly a decade and continued to deploy non-tariff barriers.“The trade imbalance is something we have been talking with China for several years, we are denied market access even for those goods where there are immense market opportunities in China. We are global leaders in generic drugs, bovine meat, vegetables and perishables, which has huge potential in China. A decade has gone consistently putting a case for market access for Indian products. Non-tariff barriers have been very strong and China uses them unhesitatingly, whether it is in the name of phytosanitary measures or any other for which due investigations can happen, for which both sides can sit and talk but no progress is made. Non-tariff barriers are the biggest worry in trade between India and China,” she said during an interaction organised by the Atlantic Council on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank annual meeting in Bangkok.She, however, insisted that dialogue is the best way to address these issues. “The global approach of countries imposing tariffs to correct the imbalance has never been taken by us. India doesn’t believe in that approach. We sit and talk, it is very tiresome, but we follow that approach, rather than put countervailing duties (against subsidies) or some to counter non-tariff barriers on the other side.”The minister said that India believed in multilateralism but was entering into bilateral trade deals to deal with the current global environment, which has seen a spurt in the use of barriers. “Rapidly, we have to connect with many parts of the world for which negotiations have been going on for a very long time. Countries with which we spent a long-time negotiating have realised that the sooner we tie up on our bilateral relationship, we will be benefiting our people because of the movement of goods and services which will bring in that lubrication at a time when world is in a very difficult position. So, trade negotiations are being conducted quickly, although they have not been easy.”While flagging high prices impacting India’s import bill for crude and fertiliser, the FM said the Indian economy was robust. “Much against all odds, India is able to keep up the growth. It has been the fastest-growing economy for last five-six years, since Covid. Being inclusive and ensuring that everyone has access to resources and skilling and making sure that fiscal prudence is not lost, have helped. More importantly, public spending on capex has helped build infra in the country, which has a greater multiplier effect,” she said.
