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India and China will identify greater business opportunities in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) segment across wide range of sectors from agricultural products to glassware and chemicals.
In a symposium organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) today several Chinese companies will be having business-to-business meetings with Indian SMEs.
Some of the Chinese companies taking part in the meeting are – Sinochem Group, Sinosteel Raw Materials Company Ltd, China Salt Import and Export Co Ltd, China National Township Enterprises Corporation, Chinatex Corporation and Shandong Hanbang Household Glassware Co Ltd among others.
The symposium will be addressed by Jia Guoyong, vice director general, Trade Development Bureau of China, who is leading 50-member business delegation, and Wang Hejun, economic and commercial counsellor, Embassy of China.
Even as India grapples to narrow the increasing trade imbalance with China, both sides have agreed to scale up the two-way trade to $100 billion by 2015 from $67.82 billion in 2012-13.
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, according to data by ministry of commerce and industry.
In his visit to India in May this year, Chinese Premiere Li Keqiang had urged Indian leaders to explore the Chinese market so as to increase investments there with competitive products. He had also urged Chinese companies to identify sectors where China can bring in more investments into India.
China ranks 31st among countries contributing FDI to India. FDI inflows from China into India currently stands at $0.575 billion while that from India to China reached $0.898 billion, according to official data.
Some of the major Chinese companies present here are Huawei, ZTE, Haier, Sino Steel, Lenovo, Beijing Automotive Industrial Corporation, Xindia Steel and SANY among others.
| Year | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 | 2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 |
| India's export to China | 8.32 | 10.87 | 9.35 | 11.61 | 15.52 | 18.11 | 13.52 |
| India's imports from China | 17.47 | 27.14 | 32.49 | 30.82 | 43.47 | 57.51 | 54.30 |
| India's total trade with China | 25.79 | 38.01 | 41.84 | 42.43 | 58.99 | 73.90 | 67.82 |
| India's Trade Balance with China | 9.15 | 16.27 | 23.14 | 19.21 | 27.95 | 39.40 | 40.78 |
| Values in $ billion | |
| Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry |
