The government is examining ways to meet the demand from the broader industry for easing of visa norms for Chinese professionals and technicians, given the need to get their machinery installed and manufacturing processes running. This follows a similar dispensation put in place for companies under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to access expertise from China.
After the special window for PLI companies was created, other companies also approached the government for a special mechanism as getting visas through normal channels was taking time.
Under the special mechanism for PLI companies, beneficiaries approach the ministry which is administering their sector with the request for visas for professionals they require. The ministry then forwards their names for approval to the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian embassy in China. PLI companies had flagged delay in visas to Chinese professionals as one of the reasons for delay in their plants coming on-stream.
“Now we may be liberalising it for others too. That process is on and a cabinet note is under preparation. We have already streamlined it quite a bit (for PLI companies), now we are trying to see whether it could be done for them (others),” a senior official who did wish to be named said.
Apart from creating an alternate route for speed up visa approvals the new mechanism might have to address restrictions placed by other regulations.
The official pointed out that while processing visa applications university qualification certificates are asked for which many professionals might not have though they may have the expertise in installing and getting the machines running having done it for years.
Industry is insisting that Chinese expertise is needed as it is not available in India or any other country. China has been the world’s factory for the past many years and to replicate some of their success in India their machinery and expertise will be required.
Since the 2020 border stand-off, business ties with China have been downgraded. Investments and imports from China have been put under greater scrutiny. Even visa clearance for technicians and business persons is taking longer than usual.
An additional layer of scrutiny of Chinese investments has led the companies like Xiomi and Lenovo to take on Indian companies as production partners. For the next round of growth China’s SAIC has offered 35% stake in MG Motor India to JSW Group.
FE had earlier reported that despite tighter regulations that Chinese FDI has to face in India post 2020 there has been no let in number of applications. Since the new rules were announced Chinese companies have submitted investment proposals worth Rs 1 trillion and half of it have been approved.
