A day after India and China reached an agreement to de-escalate border tensions, New Delhi has clarified that it has not imposed any biased rules against Beijing that prevent foreign direct investment (FDI) from the nation's northern neighbour.
"FDI from all members of the WTO, including China, continues to be permitted and the measures are fully compliant with its commitments under the WTO. Moreover, India has one of the most open FDI regimes in the world", Som Prakash, India's Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said in the upper house of parliament on Friday.
Beijing had earlier urged the Indian government to enforce the law impartially rather than making it much difficult for companies from countries sharing a land border with India, including China, to invest in the country. China raised the issue during meetings of the Council for Trade in Services under the WTO last December as well.
India tweaked the FDI policy, which mandates that an entity of a country that shares a land border with India, can only invest after approval from the government.
As of December 2019, China's cumulative investment in India exceeded $8 billion, far more than the total investments of India's other neighbours.
New Delhi had upped the ante on trade and business with Beijing after border tensions emerged between the nations in April 2020. India has restricted imports of televisions from China, imposed tariffs on agriculture tillers, and extended an anti-dumping duty on certain varieties of steel.