Exclusive: India could ease China investment curbs if border stays calm

India could ease its heightened scrutiny of Chinese investments if the two countries’ border remains peaceful, a senior Indian official said in the first signal that the four-year-old curbs could be lifted.
Border tensions, the biggest irritant to relations between the nuclear-armed Asian giants, have eased, which could lead to improved investment ties, top industrial policy bureaucrat Rajesh Kumar Singh told Reuters on Wednesday at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
In 2020, India tightened scrutiny on investments from companies based in countries it borders, adding a layer of vetting and security clearances.
The move was widely seen as retaliation for a clash between Chinese and Indian troops on their disputed, 3,800-km (2,400-mile) Himalayan frontier that killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, their worst military conflict in decades.
The curbs have disrupted billions of dollars of investments between the world’s two most-populous countries, halting planned projects including from Chinese automakers BYD and Great Wall Motor.