India Inc should also share blame for trade imbalance with China, says EAM Jaishankar

Pune: The businesses should share equal responsibility for the skewed trade balance with China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday, blaming India Inc for not developing sufficient sourcing capabilities within the

country.

Stating that the government’s flagship ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative pitching for self-reliance is a corrective attempt, Jaishankar warned that “massive external exposure” puts our national security at threat.

With some experts, including former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan pitching India to focus more on services, Jaishankar said neglecting manufacturing will lead to damaging India’s “strategic

future”.

In 2022, India-China trade touched $135.98 and New Delhi’s trade deficit with Beijing crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time despite frosty bilateral ties.

Terming the challenge posed by the trade imbalance with China as very serious and formidable, the career bureaucrat turned politician said the responsibility here is not just of the government, but it is an equal responsibility of businesses as well.

“Indian corporates haven’t developed the kind of backward (linkages), vendor supplies, components and parts, ingredients and intermediates that should be supporting us,” he said while speaking at the annual Asia Economic Dialogue organised by the external affairs ministry

here.

Acknowledging that the government is also to be blamed for such a trade imbalance, Jaishankar said the self-reliance motto is a corrective step taken by the administration after the flaws that got exposed during the COVID pandemic.