India Likely to Urge China to Relax High‑Tech Export Restrictions During Upcoming BRICS Summit

In the run‑up to the BRICS leaders’ gathering slated for September 12‑13 in New Delhi, New Delhi’s trade team is quietly huddling with industry groups to map out a possible ask to Beijing – a request to roll back a series of curbs that have been choking the flow of critical high‑tech components.

According to a report in The Indian Express, senior officials in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry have been poring over Chinese customs lists that now restrict imports of a handful of strategic items. Those include rare‑earth magnets used in electric‑vehicle motors, specialised battery‑cell and wafer technology for renewable‑energy storage, solar‑panel components and the high‑voltage direct‑current (HVDC) gear that stitches together far‑flung power grids.

For Indian automakers, the pinch is already felt. Delays in the supply of rare‑earth magnets – a key ingredient for EV drivetrains – have forced several manufacturers to hunt for alternative sources or redesign parts altogether. In the renewable‑energy sector, an unnamed executive confided that China’s recent bans on ingot, wafer and cell‑making tech have thrown a spanner in the works for projects that depend on imported equipment.

Pratik Agarwal, managing director of Sterlite Electric and chair of Serentica Renewables, warned that such restrictions expose fragile nodes in the global supply chain, especially as India races to expand its transmission network to accommodate a surge in renewable generation. “When you block specialised HVDC components, you jeopardise the very backbone that will move clean power from wind farms to cities,” he told the newspaper.

India’s overture is not just about relieving pressure on its own industries. Officials say the broader aim is to push for reciprocity – to get Beijing to ease procedural bottlenecks that make it harder for Indian firms to source Chinese tech, and to level the playing field for future trade.

The timing is deliberate. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend the BRICS summit, providing a rare diplomatic window for side‑track talks. Earlier this month, Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong met Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal to discuss bilateral trade, while Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal sat down with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao at the WTO ministerial in Cameroon – the first such high‑level exchange since India walked away from the RCEP talks in 2019.

On the numbers side, India’s exports to China rose more than 28 % year‑on‑year to $5.55 billion in the April‑June quarter, signalling a modest rebound in trade ties after the 2020 border clash that saw both sides slap on restrictions.

India has also taken steps to ease its own red‑tape. In March, the government tweaked the foreign‑direct‑investment framework (Press Note 2 of 2026) to make Chinese investments a little less cumbersome. Later, Bharat Heavy Electricals was cleared to buy 21 categories of critical gear from China for five years, and four Chinese‑linked power‑equipment firms were granted a two‑year exemption from registration to bid on government projects.

Whether these gestures will translate into a softer Chinese stance remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that the BRICS summit could become a pivotal moment for India to press for a more open, balanced high‑tech trade relationship with its northern neighbour.