Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman raised the bilateral trade imbalance with China at an Atlantic Council event held on the margins of the IMF-World Bank annual meeting in Bangkok, noting that roughly a decade of dialogue had produced no resolution. Non-tariff restrictions on the Chinese side persisted, she told attendees, and exporters from India were being shut out of sectors where commercial demand existed within China.
Sitharaman identified non-tariff barriers as the foremost obstacle shaping trade flows between the two countries. Trade negotiations between the two sides have repeatedly stalled, with non-tariff obstacles — including measures framed around plant and food safety standards — remaining a persistent point of contention despite ongoing dialogue.
Ten years of advocacy have been directed at opening trade routes for goods originating in India. India's output in generic pharmaceuticals, cattle products, fresh vegetables, and other perishable goods positions it among notable exporters in those categories — sectors that analysts say carry untapped room for growth in the Chinese market.
Sitharaman put forward dialogue as the preferred path to resolving the issues at hand, favouring negotiation over punitive trade measures. She made clear that resorting to tariffs as a tool for correcting trade imbalances had not been part of the approach taken, nor was it one that aligned with the position held.
The minister noted that India's preference for dialogue over retaliatory measures — such as duties targeting subsidies or levies aimed at non-tariff barriers — reflected its broader commitment to multilateral trade. This came even as the country moved to finalise bilateral agreements in response to a global environment where trade restrictions have grown more common, with multiple long-running negotiations being accelerated to broaden India's commercial ties.
Trading partners that spent extended periods at the negotiating table have come to recognise that an earlier conclusion to their bilateral arrangements would allow the freer movement of goods and services to deliver tangible benefits to their populations, she said, particularly at a point when the global economy is under considerable strain.
Trade negotiations were described as moving at pace, even if progress had not come without friction. Sitharaman also pointed to elevated crude oil and fertiliser costs weighing on the country's import bill, while expressing the view that the domestic economy remained on a steady footing and had sustained its growth trajectory despite considerable headwinds.
Over the five or six years following the Covid period, the Indian economy recorded expansion rates that outpaced those of its peers, she said. Broadening access to resources and skills development, alongside fiscal discipline, contributed to the outcomes observed. Capital expenditure directed through public channels has contributed to infrastructure development nationally, carrying what she described as a stronger downstream economic effect than alternative forms of spending.
