Govt set to ban power gear from China

New Delhi, July 04: Union Power Minister, R K Singh on Friday said that India would not import power from China.

Addressing the power ministers of states, he said that this is something that we cannot tolerate that a country will transgress into our territory. We will not take anything from China and Pakistan. We will not give permission for import from prior reference countries.

We are affected. There could be malware or Trojan horse in those imports which can activate remotely to cripple the power system, he also said.

He said that prior reference are those from where imports require advance permission from the government. Such permission would not be available to either Pakistan or China, he said. The decision has been taken to protect the security, integrity, reliability of the strategically important and critical power supply system and network in the country, Singh also said.

We manufacture everything here. India imports, Rs 71,000 crore worth power equipment, including Rs 21,000 crore from China, he further said. The move comes close on the heels of the government banning 59 Chinese mobile apps including TikTok.

He also said that the solar gear imports would be levied basic custom duty in the range of 20-40 per cent. Close to 75 per cent of India's solar power capacity is built on Chinese solar modules. It is one of the top 10 imported items from China, Singh said.