Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman believes China will continue to play an important role in global supply chains, in spite of US-led push to “re-route” the global economy away from the Asian giant, including though the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
“I think it would be unrealistic to think that [everybody] is going to get out of China… But the shock that has happened in terms of disruption in supply chains justifies more than one location [for manufacturers],” Sitharaman at the Washington-based Peterson Institute of International Economics (PIIE) on Monday.
“China and others could be the possible realistic solution…” Sitharaman said, adding that there is “going to be a lot of investment interest and manufacturing interest in China”.
Manufacturers Looking to Diversify
At the same time, Sitharaman underscored that Beijing’s ‘zero-Covid’ policy, lifted in December, prompted nations to diversify their supply chains. In this regard, India, with its large pool of young skilled labor, was poised to play a key role in global supply chains.
Other emerging economies, such as Vietnam and Indonesia, also seem attractive destinations for investors, Sitharaman added.
The minister also noted that the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for 13 ‘sunrise’ sectors such as semiconductors and smartphones was “bringing global value chains into India”.
“The PLI Scheme has helped increase India's mobile manufacturing capacity, which was almost nil in 2014 & today, we are the second largest manufacturer of smartphones,” she said.
In spite of US-led efforts to de-couple the global economy away from China, Beijing continues to rank as the single-largest biggest trading partner of many western countries, including the United States itself.
In the case of India, China’s exports to India surpassed $100 billion last year for the first time ever.