India's commerce ministry seeks industry input on Chinese services barriers after compiling list

India's Commerce Department has opened a review of trade barriers that Indian services firms face in China, compiling a list of restrictions and asking industry for feedback, indiabusinesstrade.in reported.

The exercise, the outlet said, aims to map licensing hurdles, data rules, visa and work-permit procedures and other regulatory obstacles that could limit Indian services providers' access to the Chinese market.

According to the article, the government has formally requested industry comments on recognition of professional qualifications and on taxation, payments and remittances. The review highlights specific regulatory areas where India wants input.

Indiabusinesstrade.in writes that licensing and data regulations are central concerns, and that the Commerce Department has asked firms to supply examples and detail about operational barriers they face when trying to provide services in China.

The story identifies information technology, IT-enabled services and digital solutions as the principal categories of Indian services with potential demand in China.

The article includes figures to frame the scale of the commercial opportunity and the gap in current exports: it states India exported services valued at approximately $8.95 billion to China in 2024, while citing an estimate that China's total imports of services were around $300 billion.

The outlet also noted India's share of global commercial services exports rose from 3% in 2014 to 4.3% in 2024 and that the country's average services export growth increased in the early 2020s compared with the pre-pandemic period. Indiabusinesstrade.in explicitly says no specific agreement or removal of restrictions has been announced as part of the review.

The article quotes an unnamed official familiar with the exercise saying India was working to identify trade barriers affecting both goods and services, and it frames the current step as a data-gathering effort that relies on industry submissions.

Separate headlines at UA.NEWS and The Hindu covered related trade coverage between India and China, which indiabusinesstrade.in's article sits alongside, but the detailed list of barriers and the call for industry feedback appear only in indiabusinesstrade.in's text.

The Commerce Department's compilation of restrictions and the request for comments cover concrete regulatory areas—visas, work permits, professional recognition, licensing, data rules, taxation, payments and remittances—rather than proposing immediate policy changes.

The review, as described by the outlet, represents an information-gathering phase in which the government is soliciting documented examples from businesses; the article does not report any timelines, commitments or specific policy measures that will follow the submissions.