India demands access in Chinese services market

With trade deficit rising at a blistering pace with China, India demanded more access in their services market, especially, in the information technology (IT) and pharmaceutical sectors.

 

The matter was discussed during a bilateral meeting between external affairs minister Salman Khurshid and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Russia-India-China Foreign Ministers Meeting that took place here last evening, according to officials.

 

Trade between India and China has witnessed exponential growth during the last few years. Bilateral trade has gone up from $2.09 billion in 2001-02 to $75.59 billion in 2011-12 and then coming down to $67.83 billion during the year 2012-13.

 

Simultaneously, India’s trade deficit increased from $1.08 billion in 2001-02 to $40.77 billion in 2012-13, despite a contraction of the total trade by 10.27 %.

 

In 2012-20-13 China became India’s fourth largest trading partner from third largest in 2011-2012 as exports fell from $18.08 billion in 2011-12 to $13.53 billion in 2012-13, according to latest data by the ministry of commerce and industry.

 

For the last five years India had been making efforts to enter the Chinese IT and pharmaceuticals sectors. However, Indian IT Industry faces some problems in areas of work permits and business tax regulations. In the pharmaceuticals sector also Indian industry faced several barriers in the form of delay in approvals and complex registration process.

 

Both sides also believed to have discussed their respective strategies during upcoming ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Indonesia next month. Both sides have been vehemently demanding for issues concerning food security to be taken up as part of the Doha Development Agenda.