When will we learn ?

Yesterday , our Commerce Minister , Nirmala Sitharaman asked the Chinese to " balance Indo-China trade " , meaning :

" Please buy more from us and export less  to us  "

From time to time, most countries levy " Anti Dumping Duties " or even " Quantitative Import Quotas " on goods being imported into their countries , in order to protect local industries

This is a long and complicated process , which again , can be resorted to , only temporarily

This morning newspapers carry a news of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce asking its 2 lakh Member businesses to boycott Chinese goods , even while encouraging some 100 Chinese companies to invest Rs 6,000 cr in Gujarat to set up factories

Last month , Chinese exports to other countries world-wide dropped by 10 % !

With economic growth in most countries staying stagnant or turning negative , world-wide trade is slowing down and international competition is getting fierce !

For a long term solution , not only for economic growth but also for providing jobs to millions of unemployed Indian youth , it is time we introspect along the lines of my following blog , some 2 years back :

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Saturday, 8 November 2014

HOW CHINA MAKES CHEAP ?

A few days back , I heard , Government of India banned imports of cheap Chinese fire-crackers ; presumably to protect the jobs of thousands of workers , working in the fire-cracker factories of Shivkashi and elsewhere

This morning newspapers carry headlines :

" Lakhs of poor women working in Agarbatti factories thrown out of jobs , due to imports of cheap Chinese Agarbatties "

Soon expect a ban on imports of Chinese Agarbatties  !

It is the same story with big manufacturers of ,

*   Power Generation equipment

*   Solar panels

*   Machine Tools

*   Construction Materials........etc

Indian manufacturers of these equipment want India Government either to ban imports of such equipment altogether or impose huge import duties to discourage its imports

They are telling Government :

" If you don't , thousands of workers will lose jobs "

In turn , the Indian Government is telling the Chinese :

"  We already have a negative trade balance with you , of about $ 35 BILLION.
   You must help us correct it by buying from us MORE ( of those expensive goods that we manufacture ) ,

and,

Stop exporting to us all of those CHEAP Chinese goods "

Question is :

How many Chinese goods can we stop importing ?

No one seems to be asking :

"  What enables the Chinese Manufacturers to make those goods so cheap ? "

May be - just may be - India Government , and those Indian manufacturers , need to find answers to this question  !

May be , we need to IMPORT those Chinese Labor Policies /  Government Procedures / Manufacturing Practices / Bank Interests /  Tax rates  / Land Usage laws / Single Window clearances and a hundred other things that have enabled China to become , the " Workshop of the World "  !

That is the only way to save - and create - JOBS , in India

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14  Oct  2016

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs