No plans to relax FDI restrictions on China: Piyush Goyal

"As of now, there's hardly any foreign direct investment from China... It was the same 25 years ago when it (FDI) was open (from China), not too much Chinese investment has come to India. Nor are we encouraging any significant investment coming in from China at all. At the moment, that is the policy," Goyal said at an event.

Since April 2020, FDI proposals from countries that share land borders with India—such as China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, and Afghanistan—require prior government approval across all sectors.

Despite being the world's second-largest economy, China ranks 22nd in terms of FDI equity inflow into India, with only $2.5 billion—accounting for a mere 0.37% of total inflows between April 2000 and March 2024.

Calls from some sections to ease these rules in order to attract capital and technology have not found traction with the government.

India eyes deeper integration with trusted economies

Goyal said India aims to integrate its economy with developed nations that uphold fair trade and ethical practices.

"Everything will be based on reciprocity. Everything will be based on mutual trust and mutual benefit... this reset that the world is going through is actually very good for the world," he said.

He traced global trade imbalances back to the late '80s and '90s, when China joined the World Trade Organization and was granted "most favoured nation" (MFN) status by multiple countries, expecting Beijing to adhere to responsible trade behaviour.

"Sadly, that never happened... Over the years, country after country and industrial sector after sector has realized how their practices have hurt businesses and economies," he said.

India's RCEP decision vindicated

Goyal reaffirmed India’s 2019 decision to stay out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), citing concerns that free trade principles weren’t being upheld in the bloc.

"Today it is being vindicated by the current situation in the world," he remarked, referring to global reassessments of trade dependencies.

India doesn’t need Chinese engineers

When asked if China's reluctance to send engineers or experts to India was affecting the country, Goyal dismissed such concerns, stating that India’s domestic talent pool was more than capable.

"And very often, necessity encourages innovation. Necessity drives people to outperform themselves... Our Indian people are very competent to come out of it and innovate in R&D and create solutions for our own needs, which will, I think, probably be better than what China can offer us," he said.

WTO e-commerce moratorium needs clearer definition

On global trade rules, Goyal said the World Trade Organisation’s moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions needs better clarity.

Since 1998, WTO members have agreed not to impose duties on electronic transmissions. The moratorium has been extended repeatedly, most recently at ministerial conferences, but India has been vocal about its revenue implications.

"We are not, per se, against it. (But) our problem is that we had an ITA-1 (Information Technology Agreement) earlier, which did not properly define (that) what comes within the ITA... So, I think e-commerce moratorium needs to be well defined," Goyal said.

He stressed that India supports multilateralism but expects the WTO to reform itself to reflect present-day realities.

Time to redefine 'developing country' status in WTO

The minister also raised the issue of arbitrary self-classification under WTO rules, pointing out that high-income nations declaring themselves as developing nations distorts the playing field.

"If a country having a per capita income of USD 50,000 or USD 1,00,000 chooses to self-declare itself as a developing nation, it is going to cause angst amongst the rest of the world... It would be only fair that some kind of a benchmark could be set," he said.

He added that such self-declarations even hurt other developing countries, as they shape how the developed world perceives the global South.

WTO must act on unresolved agricultural and fisheries issues

Goyal also criticised the WTO for failing to implement decisions taken over a decade ago in the agriculture sector.

"Unless those get implemented, how can we move forward to other areas? So, in fisheries, we are trying to come to a consensus without really addressing the real problem of overfishing in the waters," he said.