Govt to review security nod to Chinese firms after Bejing's veto on Masood

The security establishment is considering a review of the liberalised investment regime being offered to Chinese investors after Beijing snubbed India by blocking its latest bid to have JeM chief Masood Azhar designated terrorist by the United Nations.

Official sources said the view in the security establishment is that security clearances given to Chinese companies should be reviewed after China's action in the UN on India's bid in the wake of terror strike at the Pathankot airbase.

Investments from China, which was once considered "a country of concern", has been offered red carpet welcome by the government with the aim of boosting bilateral relations, especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh had visited the country.

However, Beijing's latest action in the UN led to security establishment's re-thinking of the China policy, especially while granting security clearance to investments from China.
"The country of concern tag was removed from China. But the liberalised policy is not getting the desired results. There may be a re-thinking of the policy to grant security clearance to Chinese companies," a source said.

Now the security establishment feels that China has shown insensitivity as far as core security national issues relating to India are concerned.

Around 25 Chinese companies were given security clearance by the government in the past two years for setting up industrial projects mostly in power, telecom, railways and infrastructure.

According to Department Of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), India had received Rs 3,066.24 crore investment from China in 2014-15 and Rs 2,196.11 crore in 2015-16 (up to September 2015).

As per DIPP records, the Chinese companies which have invested in India in last 15 years were Saic General Motors Investment Ltd, Beiqi Foton Motors Co Ltd, Tbea Sheyang Transformer Group Ltd, Cina Steel Corporation, Boasteel Resources Co Ltd, Gaungxi Liugong Machinery Co Ltd, Shanghai Hitachi Electrical Appliances C, Xiangfen County Hongda Group Cement & BL, Dongfang Electric Corporation Ltd and ZTE Corporation.

To give impetus to Make In India initiative, Home Ministry gave security clearance to more than twice the number of fresh investment proposals coming from across the globe in 2015 compared to previous year after conducting national risk assessment.

As many as 1,744 industrial projects were given security clearance to companies belonging to different countries in 2015. In comparison, 815 investment proposals were cleared in 2014 and 712 proposals in 2013.

The huge jump in investment proposals getting the nod came after the Home Ministry issued policy guidelines for assessment of proposals for national security clearance on July 1, 2015.