New Delhi, July 26 The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has urged the government to restrict Chinese power equipment imports as the domestic industry is badly hit by the cheaper availability of Chinese products.

In a note submitted to the finance ministry, Assocham said India’s power equipment manufacturers lost business worth Rs.2.5 lakh crore ($52 billion) as power producers turned to cheaper Chinese products.

“China has incentivised its exports by completely exempting them from internal duties,” Assocham said.

“The Chinese government provides incentives and rebates of 14 percent to its power plant manufacturers for exports and at the same time when such power equipment is imported into India, it does not suffer from customs duty or countervailing duty (CVD) and special CVD,” it added.

The solution to this is to restrict Chinese imports through imposition of tariff and non-tariff barriers, the chamber added.

According to Assocham, in 2008 electrical machinery worth $8.3 billion has been imported from China, while export of electrical machinery from India to China has been negligible.