India's Anti-Dumping Rejections Spike as It Eases Chinese FDI
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- India's Finance Ministry rejected 41.5% of anti-dumping duty recommendations in 2025-26 (through Dec 31), up from just 0.5% between 1991 and 2020, with cases against China making up 72% of all rejections since 2000.
- The DGTR made 1,052 recommendations between 1991 and 2020 of which only 5 were rejected; the rejection rate spiked to 50-62% during 2020-23, fell to 6.1% in 2024-25, then rose again to 41.5% in 2025-26.
- India's imports from China shifted toward intermediate goods: electronic components grew from 3.3% of imports in Q1 2015-16 to nearly 13% in Q1 2026-27, while finished telecom instruments fell from ~18% to 11%.
- In March 2026, the Union Cabinet approved allowing FDI from companies with up to 10% Chinese ownership through the automatic route, partially diluting the 2020 land-border-country restrictions.
- On July 23, India allowed FDI in e-commerce companies that hold inventory in India for export purposes, ending a decade-long ban; Amazon had long lobbied for the relaxation.
- India's forced-labour import ban notification prompted the U.S. to impose a final 10% tariff, lower than the 12.5% rate proposed in the June draft investigation report.
Why it matters: India is quietly rewriting its trade-defense playbook: the Finance Ministry now rejects over 4 in 10 anti-dumping recommendations, even as it opens the door to Chinese capital and ends its e-commerce inventory ban. The RSS's economic wing called the rejection trend 'unfortunate' — but the economic logic is clear: India wants Chinese intermediate inputs for its factories and U.S. goodwill for its exporters.
