Complete ban on Chinese products not possible: Nirmala Sitharaman

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha on Monday that a complete ban on the import of products from China or any country "is not possible now due to WTO rules even if we have problems diplomatically, territorially or militarily. 

The minister was answering a question in the Lower House on Monday, the first day of the second Parliamentary Budget session.

Sitharaman, however, said that certain Chinese products had been banned on the back of concerns over their quality. This includes, certain milk and milk products and some mobile phones and few other items from China. The banned products were all found to be sub-standard or not following security codes, she said.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha that India banned import of milk and milk products from China as their quality was unacceptable.

Sitharaman said some mobile phones, which do not carry International Mobile Station Equipment Identity number or other security features, and some steel products have also been banned from importing from China.

The Minister said India's trade deficit with China stood at $48.68 billion during 2015-16 (April-February) and the total bilateral trade was $65.16 billion during the period.

"Increasing trade deficit with China can be attributed primarily to the fact that Chinese exports to India rely strongly on manufactured items to meet the demand of fast expanding sectors like telecom and power, while India's exports to China are characterised by primarily and intermediate products," she said.