The Narendra Modi led Centre has tightened economic
security norms by prohibiting direct participation of both domestic and
overseas corporate entities having any “commercial arrangement” with hostile
countries such as China and Pakistan.
The report was published by Hindustan Times quoting
two people aware of the matter adding that this has been communicated to all States.
The government has already amended its July 2020
order, making prior screening and registration obligatory for all those bidders,
who have any commercial arrangement with entities of countries that share a
land border with Bharat, they said on condition of anonymity.
Without naming any particular country, the Central Government
on July 23, 2020 restricted purchases for public projects from companies in
countries that share a land border with Bharat, citing national security.
The Centre has recently sent a missive to all States,
directing them to seek agreement before having any business ties with hostile
neighbouring countries due to increased security concerns, they said.
The communication has been sent to all chief
secretaries lately after it was noticed that some private companies located in
certain States were attempting to engage Chinese contractors in infrastructure
projects, one of them said.
The chief secretary is often the top bureaucrat and principal
executive officer in a State.
The move was taken on the basis of security inputs
received from agencies much before the October 7 terror attack in Israel, stated
a second person.
Certain private infrastructure projects in some States
are presently stuck due to this reason, he added.
On July 23, 2020, Bharat prohibited procurements for
public projects, including those being developed as public-private
partnerships, from companies in countries that share a land border with it due
to security concerns.
It was a retaliatory action against Chinese aggression
on Indian boarders, which followed a DPIIT notification of April 2020 eliminating
Chinese investments from the so-called automatic approval route fearing a
takeover of Indian firms at a time when the country was fighting against the
Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest move will bar even indirect Chinese
participation in strategic sectors such as power, petroleum, coal and telecom.
In order to check the influx of cheaper Chinese
products, the Centre also took both offensive and defensive economic steps such
as anti-dumping duties have been imposed on various goods originating from
China, the Make in India campaign and the production-linked initiative (PLI)
scheme for over a dozen sectors, stated the second person.
NE Watch Desk
