While underlining that it was not against trade with China, a Parliamentary Committee has recommended to the government to provide complete protection to India industry against illegitimate, protectionist and unfair trade practices of any country.

In its 55th report on ‘Impact of Chinese Goods on Indian Industry’ presented in the Rajya Sabha, the committee noted that China faced the major chunk of anti-dumping investigations which was a clear indication that Chinese goods were causing unfair trade disruption.

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The investigations undertaken by the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Products (DGAD) were protracted and by the time they were completed, the injury caused to the domestic industry left it weak and bleeding forever, the panel, headed by Shiromani Akali Dal member Naresh Gujral, said.

It observed that the anti-dumping framework also suffered with lax implementation. Unscrupulous elements were able to import Chinese goods by circumventing the goods under the anti-dumping framework through misclassification of products. Also, the problem of under invoicing of Chinese goods was rampant, it added.

The Committee called for the creation of public opinion in the country to discourage buying of sub-standard imported products. Industry forums have a greater responsibility in this task, it added.

‘’A strong quality control framework and supporting infrastructure is the need of the hour to avoid cheap and poor-quality products from China which negatively impact Indian industry and consumers,’’ it added.

The Committee regretted that in the name of ‘Ease of Doing Business’, India was more than willing to give market access to Chinese goods which were destroying Indian manufacturing while China was smartly protecting its industry from Indian competition.

It said the government needed to exercise caution during negotiations on a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact, while underlining that nothing should be done at the cost of the country’s industrial health.

The government should explore the possibility of increasing the applied duty to bound rates for the products suffering from Chinese dumping.

The Committee recommended that the Department of Industrial Production quicken the process of issuing the Quality Control Order (QCO) for toys and ensure toxic and cheap quality Chinese toys do not enter the country.