India’s Ministry of Finance plans to drop its five-year-old restrictions on Chinese firms bidding for Indian government contracts, as New Delhi seeks to revive commercial ties in an environment of reduced border tensions, the Global Times reports on Jan. 9, citing Reuters. Were it confirmed, such a move would signify a further improvement in Chinese-Indian economic and diplomatic relations, which were already on display in the discussion process between Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Narendra Modi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China, in September 2025.
The restrictions, imposed in 2020, required Chinese bidders to register with an Indian government committee and obtain political and security clearances, which measures effectively barred Chinese firms from competing for Indian government contracts.
In fact, the separation of China from India’s economy, at India’s request, actually hurt India. Liu Zongyi, director of the Center for South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times on Jan. 9: “Based on reality, some Indian government departments appear to have realized that ‘decoupling’ from China has led to supply chain bottlenecks and project delays in local infrastructure, manufacturing, and energy sectors.”
On Oct. 27, 2024, the first direct flight between China and India in more than five years landed in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province. The change in diplomatic and economic relations will facilitate the two largest economies in Asia to transform each other.
