New Delhi, 12 December. Amid the recent thaw in relations between India and China, India has decided to speed up the process of issuing business visas for Chinese professionals. According to media reports, two government officials said that now the administrative scrutiny has been reduced so that Chinese companies can get business visas within a month.
Business visas are now processed in less than 4 weeks
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said New Delhi has removed the layer of extra scrutiny in the visa process, significantly reducing the approval time. “We have removed a layer of administrative scrutiny and now business visas are being processed in less than four weeks,” said an official.
China welcomed India’s decision
China has welcomed this decision of India. China’s Foreign Ministry said that a positive step has been taken by India to improve people-to-people contacts. Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China is ready to continue dialogue and mutual consultation with India.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated in 2020 when tension increased along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. After this, visa rules were also tightened. According to the report of the Observer Research Foundation, the electronics industry suffered a loss of approximately $ 15 billion due to the delay and strictness in visa checks. Companies were facing difficulties in bringing the required Chinese technicians to India, which had a major impact on machinery installation and production.
It was told in media reports that big companies like Xiaomi had to face a lot of delay in getting visas. This affected their expansion plans and industries like solar manufacturing were also affected. Many projects were stuck due to foreign technical staff not reaching India on time.
However, after continuous diplomatic and military talks, relations between India and China gradually started improving. The agreement on patrolling arrangements in 2024 further accelerated this improvement. The major result of this was that by December 2024, the armies of both the countries completely retreated from the disputed areas like Depsang and Demchok and also vacated the last standoff points. This has further increased the hope of progress in the relations between the two countries.
After PM Modi’s visit to China, relations between the two countries have started softening.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China earlier this year, relations between the two countries started softening. This was his first visit to China in seven years, where he met President Xi Jinping. After this meeting, many restrictions were relaxed and within a short time, direct flights between India and China resumed for the first time since 2020.
This decision was taken on the recommendations of the high-level committee
According to the report, this decision was taken on the recommendations of a high-level committee. This committee is being headed by former Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba. The same committee is also reviewing the investment restrictions which were preventing foreign investors from investing in India in the last few years. The aim of these recommendations is to bring the economic cooperation between the two countries back on track.
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