India to Ease China Business Visa's for Top Executives

India is set to relax visa rules for senior business executives from China, an indicator of warming ties that have been strained since 2020. The visa relaxations should allow executives from firms like Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, BYD, Hisense, and Haier to finally return to India after almost 5 years.

The visa relaxations would 'benefit' a number of firms for senior executive business roles, as officials say all non-technical visa’s would now be 'suitable' for approval. "We are instructed to submit visa applications where the position is a business executive role," describes a senior executive at one Chinese electronics company. "It is a relief we can send people back to India, we lost contact for a long time, we hit disruptions which forced meetings to be moved to China, or to other countries like Singapore, or Thailand for over a year." 

Following a border clash in 2020, India tightened visas for Chinese nationals when applying for roles in technical professions, as well as imposed off-limit investment rules in the form of Press Note 3. Companies have since relied on remote management or Indian professionals on their board members to stay compliant.

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The relaxation comes as both nations resume direct flights, open up tourism, and resume discussions on trade and border issues, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to pay a visit to Tianjin this month to see President Xi Jinping on the occasion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit - Modi's first visit to China in seven years. 

Industry leaders viewed this as a positive development. A spokesperson for Xiaomi India says the company’s global executives want to return to building market engagement. The only approvals for technical staff continue to be limited to firms that are operating under India’s production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes. 

As China supplies more than 50% of electronics and automotive components in India, the visa relaxation is viewed as instrumental in addressing business continuity and solidifying manufacturing relationships.