Coronavirus : 1000 foreign firms plan production in India as concerns grow about China, claim reports

Around a thousand foreign companies are contemplating shifting their manufacturing base to India as the geopolitical and economic repercussions of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic become imminent. The said companies are in discussions with the Indian government and at least 300 of them are actively pursuing production plans in sectors such as mobiles, electronics, medical devices, textiles and synthetic fabric, according to top government sources, reports have claimed.

“About 1,000-odd companies are currently engaged in discussion at various levels such as investment promotion cell, central government departments and state governments. Out of these companies, we are targeting 300-odd companies,” an official was quoted as saying. “We are hopeful that once coronavirus is in control, a lot of things will fructify into actual relocation. And India will emerge as an alternate manufacturing destination. Many countries like Japan, US and South Korea are over-dependent on China and that is now very apparent,” he added.

Will China pay the price for its actions?

It has been evident for sometime now that China, which has been the world’s manufacturing hub for a significant period, might have to pay a heavy price for failing to curb the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. There are also growing concerns that the Wuhan Coronavirus might actually be a bioweapon that was accidentally leaked out of one of the labs in China. Inadequate security protocols at these labs have also come under question.

The USA under its President Donald Trump has been hammering China ever since the it became public knowledge that the Communist government of the country deliberately hid information regarding the actual threat posed by the Wuhan Coronavirus. Donald Trump since then has been calling for manufacturing to return to the United States. Similarly, it was reported that Japan would also assist its companies in shifting their bases from China.

Voices start to grow against China

Germany’s largest Tabloid ‘Bild’ has put together a bill of £130 billion to be paid by China to Germany for economic damages caused due to the outbreak of the Wuhan Coronavirus. Bild created an itemised invoice that included Germany’s lost tourism revenue (€ 27 billion), loss to small businesses (€ 50 billion), loss to the German film industry(€ 7.2 billion), and loss to Lufthansa airlines (€ 1 million/ hour). The total bill to be paid by China thus amounted to a total of € 149 billion (£130 billion).

In an interview with the Financial Times, French President Emmanuel Macron said it is ‘naive’ to say that China dealt better with coronavirus. On being asked that China’s authoritarian response to control the coronavirus outbreak has exposed the weakness of western countries, Macron said, “Given these differences, the choices made and what China is today, which I respect, let’s not be so naive as to say it’s been much better at handling this. We don’t know. There are clearly things that have happened that we don’t know about.”