India has not imposed any country-specific ban on imports, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal informed Parliament in reply to a question on whether the central government has taken or proposed to take any steps to impose a ban on Chinese products.

"India and China, are both members of the WTO, and any trade restriction imposed must be WTO compliant. Government has from time to time reviewed and taken WTO compliant measures to address the concerns raised by various stakeholders to have a holistic global trade strategy," he said further in his reply.

However, as per the import policy of the government, all goods imported into India are subject to domestic laws, rules, orders, regulations, technical specifications, environment, and safety norms.

"...Government takes appropriate action including a ban on goods if these are found to violate these regulations or have implications for national security," Goyal added.

There had been several calls to shun Chinese products after a border clash with China in 2020 in which 20 Indian soldiers and several PLA soldiers were killed. Following the event, India imposed a ban on 59 apps including Tik Tok, UC Browser, and other apps. Almost all the apps banned have some preferential Chinese interest and the majority have parent Chinese companies.

The Centre regulates imports on the grounds of public morals, protection of human, animal, or plant life and health, protection of patents and copyrights, and protection of national treasures of artistic, historical, and archaeological value, among others.

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) is empowered to recommend restrictions on imports.

Further in his reply, he said in order to support and expand domestic capacities, the government has implemented policies to promote domestic manufacturing like the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes for various key sectors in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat policy to reduce dependence on imports, with an estimated outlay of Rs 197,000 crore.

In addition, to promote the semi-conductor industry, the Government has formulated a scheme amounting to Rs 76,000 crore.

Source: The Economic Times