Government has banned certain apps in June 2020 and September 2020 on concerns of security and to ensure safety and sovereignty of the Indian cyberspace.  Many apps are available on each of the popular playstore namely Google Play Store and Apple Store including competing apps with similar functionalities. Government of India has also launched Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat Innovate Challenge to give a push to Indian App ecosystem through short listing of the top Indian Apps that have the potential to become global competitors in their respective categories.

Due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic there were several global and domestic supply side constraints and also a dip in global demand. India’s imports from China during April-July 2020 decreased to USD 16.60 billion from USD 23.45 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year i.e April-July 2019. The details of the imports of Top 50 commodities from China in April-July 2020 compared to April-July 2019 are given at Annexure. Some of the items exhibiting decline in imports include electronic components, telecom instruments, computer hardware, industrial machinery for dairy, electric machinery, residual chemical and allied products, consumer electronics, electronic instruments, fertilisers, products of iron & steel etc.

To minimise the impact of such disruptions, Government has taken steps to expand domestic capacities and has implemented policies to promote domestic manufacturing through ease of doing business and Production Linked Incentives (PLIs) in select sectors including mobile phones & electronic components and medical devices & bulk drugs. Government has also sensitized stakeholders to source critical imports from diversified sources through the active support of our missions.

The full impact of these measures on the industry will be discernible as the global economy recovers, and revives from the recessionary affects of the pandemic.

Annexure

India’s top 50 Import of Principal Commodity Groups from China, during April- July, 2019 and April- July 2020

RANK	COMMODITY GROUPS	2019-20 (APR-JUL)	2020-21 (APR-JUL)
		IMPORT FROM CHINA	IMPORT FROM CHINA
		VAL (MILL US $)	VAL (MILL US $)
1	ELECTRONICS COMPONENTS	2029.44	1156.15
2	TELECOM INSTRUMENTS	1850.10	1509.13
3	COMPUTER HARDWARE, PERIPHERALS	1589.51	1395.34
4	INDL. MACHNRY FOR DAIRY ETC	1423.96	931.77
5	ORGANIC CHEMICALS	1248.71	1069.92
6	ELECTRIC MACHINERY AND EQUIPME	916.61	497.50
7	RESIDUL CHEMICL AND ALLED PROD	906.74	857.36
8	BULK DRUGS, DRUG INTERMEDIATES	860.85	859.66
9	ELECTRONICS INSTRUMENTS	801.71	706.72
10	CONSUMER ELECTRONICS	680.02	473.76
11	FERTILEZERS MANUFACTURED	581.24	361.20
12	AC, REFRIGERATION MACHNRY ETC	589.52	379.40
13	PRODUCTS OF IRON AND STEEL	600.90	385.43
14	PLASTIC RAW MATERIALS	521.71	272.91
15	AUTO COMPONENTS/PARTS	424.32	246.33
16	IRON AND STEEL	438.68	309.22
17	MANMADE YARN,FABRICS,MADEUPS	379.03	185.57
18	OTHER MISC. ENGINEERING ITEMS	373.00	214.88
19	ALUMINIUM, PRODUCTS OF ALUMINM	408.77	174.29
20	OTHER COMMODITIES	339.45	203.27
21	ACCUMULATORS AND BATTERIES	329.55	140.66
22	PLASTC SHT, FILM, PLTS ETC	287.50	145.95
23	MACHINE TOOLS	259.52	153.80
24	GLASS AND GLASSWARE	266.51	129.06
25	AGRO CHEMICALS	321.43	377.65
26	CRANES, LIFTS AND WINCHES	200.29	189.18
27	INORGANIC CHEMICALS	248.01	164.56
28	MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC INSTRUM	200.53	205.64
29	OTH NON FEROUS METAL AND PRODC	199.40	112.80
30	OTHER CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY	196.83	149.79
31	MOULDED AND EXTRUDED GOODS	191.43	108.82
32	OTHER PLASTIC ITEMS	204.52	66.76
33	OTHER MISCELLAENIOUS CHEMICALS	212.37	240.96
34	PAPER, PAPER BOARD AND PRODUCT	208.02	101.74
35	OTH TXTL YRN, FBRIC MDUP ARTCL	180.72	78.69
36	CERAMICS AND ALLIED PRODUCTS	165.58	97.36
37	PROJECT GOODS	153.30	107.10
38	HANDCRFS(EXCL.HANDMADE CRPTS)	156.28	168.08
39	PAINT, VARNISH AND ALLID PRODC	148.74	110.66
40	PETROLEUM PRODUCTS	60.58	68.83
41	HND TOOL, CTTNG TOOL OF METALS	113.69	79.47
42	ATM, INJCTNG MLDING MCHNRY ETC	118.77	69.71
43	PLYWOOD AND ALLIED PRODUCTS	90.05	39.03
44	IC ENGINES AND PARTS	89.57	58.78
45	COTTON FABRICS, MADEUPS ETC.	83.88	32.34
46	PUMPS OF ALL TYPES	70.75	54.97
47	RAILWY TRNSPRT EQUIPMNTS, PRTS	76.36	57.98
48	PRIME MICA AND MICA PRODUCTS	66.08	37.97
49	FOOTWEAR OF RUBBER/CANVAS ETC.	66.02	22.24
50	DYE INTERMEDIATES	77.26	47.14
Total IMPORT of 50 Commodities		22007.79	15607.52
TOTAL IMPORT		23452.75	16600.74

Note: Figures pertaining to FY:2020-21, are provisional and subject to change        

   Source: DGCIS

This information was given by the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

Import disruption from a key trading partner spurred policy push for domestic manufacturing and supplier diversification measures. Governmental bans on certain mobile applications for cybersecurity and measures to promote indigenous apps accompany a substantial year on year decline in imports from a principal trading partner for April-July 2020 across multiple commodity groups. The release records reduced imports in electronics, telecom, computer hardware, machinery, chemicals, consumer electronics and iron & steel, and sets out mitigation measures emphasising domestic capacity expansion, ease of doing business reforms and targeted Production Linked Incentives, while urging supplier diversification and noting figures are provisional.