Chinese companies' love affair with India: The real story

Chinese companies have so far invested $396 million in India. 

But this doesn’t reveal the real story.

In 2013, India imported mobile phones worth around Rs 36,000 crore (Rs 360 billion), of which 90 per centwas from China.

Chinese companies have executed infrastructure contracts in India worth $24.57 billion till 2011.

No wonder China is keen on investing billions in India.

Many large and medium-sized Chinese companies have invested or are planning to invest here.

These include Beiqi Foton’s heavy truck unit in Maharashtra, TBEA Energy's transformers unit in Gujarat and SAIC's automobile joint venture with General Motors.

Chinese firms are keen to invest in the food processing, alternative energy, auto parts and machinery tools segments, too.

Infrastructure

*India has emerged an important destination for Chinese companies for contracting infrastructure projects abroad

*According to CII, the cumulative value of contractual Chinese investment (projects) in India till October 2011 was $53.46 billion

*The overall turnover realised from these projects till October 2011 was about $24.57 billion, estimates a CII note on Indo-China trade

Power

*Import of electrical equipment is growing 20% annually; it stood at around Rs 58,354 crore (Rs 583.54 billion) in 2013-14. China's share was 8.87 per cent, down from 15.26 per cent in 2005-06

*Imports from China have grown at a CAGR of 34.57% in the last eight years and were worth Rs 22,680 crore (Rs 226.80 billion) in 2013-14

*Shanghai Electricals entered a $10-billion deal to supply equipment for R-Powerpromoted 4,000-Mw Sasan power project

Toys

* India's imports from China in the toys, games and sports category rose to $367.7 million in 2013-14, from $145 million in 2009-10

Financial services

*Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the first banking entity from that country to have operations in India; opened a branch in Mumbai

*Hong Kong-based AIA has 26% stake in Tata AIA Life Insurance in India. It holds the stake through an AIA Group company

Telecommunications

*China accounts for 90% of imports of mobile phones to India.

*In 2013, India imported 165 million mobile phones from China

*The telecom equipment market in India, including mobile phones, was valued at $20 billion in 2013. Chinese companies had a 25% share in this