India needs to adopt a more liberal attitude towards Chinese participation in its economy to enable bilateral trade to grow from the present $9 billion, an expert said on Tuesday.
"If we think that China is a security threat and Chinese think that India is not going to open up certain sectors for them, the economic relations between the two countries would not go far." Economist Jairam Ramesh said at a CII seminar.
The volume of trade between India and China including Hong Kong and Taiwan has grown to $9 dollars in the last four years and constitute about eight per cent of the total Indian trade of $110 billion.
While trade with China is important to India, trade with India is not as much critical to China, he said adding, it was this asymmetry which India needed to change.
Citing examples of Chinese firms being barred from entering certain sectors in India, he said, while the Indian industry is ready to take on China, the political and security establishments are not ready for increased participation with that country.
The Indian manufacturing sector, like the services, was also competitive, as was demonstrated by the success of companies like Tisco in mainland China.
{{/usCountry}}The Indian manufacturing sector, like the services, was also competitive, as was demonstrated by the success of companies like Tisco in mainland China.
{{/usCountry}}Both the countries were at par in many sectors in the mid-seventies but China has progressed a lot in these years, he said, adding, though the Chinese experience cannot be fully replicated due to the difference in social and political systems but lessons can be learnt from it, he added.