India–China relationship moving towards normalcy; talks with US under way: Goyal

This assumes significance as domestic industry is urging the government to ease FDI norms to attract more investments from China. The Economic Survey has also suggested drawing in Chinese investments amid rising imports from China.

India had issued Press Note 3 (PN3) in April 2020, which required that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) applications from countries sharing land borders, such as China, must mandatorily seek government approval for all sectors.

Following these tensions, India banned over 200 Chinese mobile apps such as TikTok, WeChat, and Alibaba’s UC Browser. The country has also rejected a major investment proposal from EV maker BYD.

‘In dialogue with US’

On negotiations with the US, Goyal said: “Lots happened, lots more to go… With the US, we are in dialogue with them on a BTA,” he said at a CII event on sustainability.

After a 50 per cent duty was imposed from August 27, the US team deferred its visit to India for the next round of talks, which was scheduled for August 25. So far, no new dates have been finalised for the sixth round of negotiations.

Goyal said India is negotiating a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the United States. India has already signed free trade agreements with Australia, the UAE, Mauritius, the UK and the four-nation European bloc EFTA, he added.

Amid tensions between India and the US, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that “at the end of the day, the two great countries will get this solved. Delhi’s values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s.”

Bessent, in an interview with Fox News, also termed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as being largely performative. His remarks came after the annual summit of the SCO took place in the Chinese port city of Tianjin on Sunday and Monday.

“I think at the end of the day, India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s. I think at the end of the day, two great countries (India and the US) will get this solved. But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” he said.

‘AI will create jobs’

Goyal said Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers huge opportunities and will only increase jobs in the country. He added that there will be a few naysayers who argue that technologies like AI will have a terrible impact on jobs, but one should not be deterred by that.

“AI will have its role… there will be the problem of unethical use of AI, so human intervention will be required to address that… This is only going to increase jobs… and Indians are agile and very smart. So I look upon this as a great opportunity; we must adopt it,” he said.

On the India–EU free trade agreement, Goyal said talks are at an advanced stage. “We are making very active and significant progress,” he said, adding that Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal is in Brussels for talks with EU officials on the pact.

The 13th round of negotiations between India and the EU will begin here on September 8.

(With PTI inputs)