China issues over 2 lakh visas to Indians

The Chinese Embassy and Consulates in India have issued over 280,000 visas to Indian citizens this year, and the figure for this year is projected to exceed 30,000. Kolkata’s Chinese Consulate alone has issued 12,717 visas, already surpassing last year’s total. Most of these are business visas, showing strong commercial interest.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and India. Both the countries are major emerging economies in the world and their bilateral trade volume has exceeded USD 100 billion in recent consecutive years.

Wei said that from January to September, the bilateral trade has reached US$115.2 billion, up 10.9% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, India has also reopened tourist visas for Chinese citizens. Come October 26 and Indigo will launch a Kolkata-Guangzhou route almost after five years. In November, Shanghai- and Guangzhou-New Delhi flights will restart too. This will make travel much easier and more cost-effective to China, believes Wei.

“Here in Kolkata, many businessmen tell me they’re eager to work more closely with Chinese companies. Some have teams in China; others travel there almost every week. Last week, I visited Odisha, and local business leaders also shared their optimism. They see great potential in China-India trade and investment, especially with easier visas and direct flights,” said Wei, who returned to India after his trip to China recently.