India hopeful of positive outcome from talks over China's rare earth import issue, says official
New Delhi, June 16 (PTI) India is hopeful of a positive outcome from its engagement with China to address issues related to Beijing's export curbs on rare earth magnets, which are mainly used in the auto sector, a top government official said on Monday.
China's restrictions on the export of rare earth elements and related magnets are affecting the domestic auto and white goods sectors.
The automobile industry has sought government support in expediting approvals from the Chinese government for importing rare earth magnets used in various applications, including passenger cars.
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that these curbs are against all the countries and are not against India only.
Since it is impacting the auto sector more, the government is in talks with both the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA).
"We are facilitating them to have discussions with their counterparts in China and at the diplomatic level the external affairs ministry and the department of commerce also have spoken to the Ambassador over there," he told reporters here.
He added that both diplomatic and commercial discussions are going on with China on the issue.
"We are making all the efforts to see that these essential items of imports can come to India...what I feel that this diplomatic and commercial communication should yield a positive result," Barthwal said.
China has brought a regime where "perhaps licences will be required, so we are facilitating our importers and our auto players in whatever way possible," he said.
As per the industry sources, various domestic suppliers have already sought approval from the Chinese government through their local vendors in China.
China controls over 90 per cent of the global processing capacity for magnets, used across multiple sectors including automobiles, home appliances and clean energy.
The Chinese government has put restrictions, with effect from April 4, mandating special export licences for seven rare earth elements and related magnets.
Critical materials include samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium and lutetium, which are essential in electric motors, braking systems, smartphones and missile technology.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
33 minutes ago
- Time of India
India's May trade gap narrows, exports dip 2.2%
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel New Delhi: India's goods exports declined 2.17% on-year to $38.73 billion in May while trade deficit narrowed to $21.88 billion in the month from $26.4 billion in April and $22.09 billion a year ago, official data released Monday declined 1.7% to $60.61 billion in May. Gold imports fell 12.6% in the month."Despite global policy uncertainty regarding trade and conflicts which are going on, we have done extremely well," said commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal, adding that there was a sustained fall in petrol prices which has had a dampening impact on to the US rose 16.9% in May and among sectors, electronic goods, inorganic and organic chemicals, pharma, ready-made garments, drove outbound added that India will continue with the policy of focussing on six key sectors that make up 75% of global imports. "Despite the negative forecast of WTO, India is doing much are some conflicts we are watching from the perspective of trade," he May, 13 of the 30 key sectors registered a decline in exports."The latest trade figures reflect the robust performance of India's services sector, which continues to act as a buffer against the challenges of muted global demand, geopolitical tensions, and high interest rates," said S C Ralhan, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).Barthwal said both diplomatic and commercial discussions are going on with China to address issues related to Beijing's export curbs on rare earth magnets, mainly used in the auto restrictions on the export of rare earth elements and related magnets are affecting the domestic auto and white goods sectors."We are making all the efforts to see that these essential items of imports can come to India... this diplomatic and commercial communication should yield a positive result," Barthwal automobile industry has sought government support in expediting approvals from the Chinese government to import rare earth magnets used in various applications including passenger cars. "These curbs are against all the countries and are not against India only," Barthwal said, adding that the government is in talks with both the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA)."We are facilitating them to have discussions with their counterparts in China and at the diplomatic level the external affairs ministry and the department of commerce also have spoken to our ambassador over there," he said the government was closely monitoring the situation arising from the Iran-Israel conflict, and a meeting with shipping lines, container firms, and other stakeholders will be held this week to assess the impact on the country overseas trade and address any issue."We are watching the situation. We are also calling a meeting (this week) of all shipping lines, the container organisations and concerned departments, and stakeholders to understand the kind of issues they are facing and how we can sort it out," he said.
Time of India
34 minutes ago
- Time of India
US pharma bets big on China to snap up potential blockbuster drugs
U.S. drugmakers are increasingly licensing drug candidates from Chinese biotech firms, with 14 such deals worth up to $18.3 billion signed in 2025 so far—up from just two in the same period last year, according to GlobalData. This surge is driven by the need to replace $200 billion worth of medicines set to lose patent protection by 2030. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads ( Originally published on Jun 16, 2025 ) U.S. drugmakers are licensing molecules from China for potential new medicines at an accelerating pace, according to new data, betting they can turn upfront payments of as little as $80 million into multibillion-dollar June, U.S. drugmakers have signed 14 deals potentially worth $18.3 billion to license drugs from China-based companies. That compares with just two such deals in the year-earlier period, according to data from GlobalData provided exclusively to increased pace is expected to continue as U.S. drugmakers look to rebuild pipelines of future products to replace $200 billion worth of medicines that will lose patent protection by the end of the decade, analysts, investors, a banker and a drug company executive told Reuters."They are finding very high-quality assets coming out of China and at prices that are much more affordable relative to perhaps the equivalent type of product that they might find in the United States," said Mizuho analyst Graig total cost of licensing agreements, including low upfront payments and subsequent larger payouts, averaged $84.8 billion in the U.S., compared with $31.3 billion in China over the past five years, according to GlobalData.A licensing agreement grants a company the rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize another company's pharmaceutical products or technologies in exchange for future target-based, or "milestone", payments while mitigating development share of global drug development is now nearly 30%, while the U.S. share of the world's research and development has slipped 1% to about 48%, according to pharmaceutical data provider Citeline's report in companies have licensed experimental drugs to U.S. drugmakers that could be used for obesity, heart disease and cancer, reflecting abundant Chinese government investment in pharmaceutical and biotech research and small molecules, like oral drugs, have been the most commonly licensed, there has been a notable shift toward novel treatments such as targeted cancer therapies and first-in-class medicines, Jefferies analysts said in a note in May. Chinese biotechs are moving up the value chain by the day. They are... challenging their Western peers," said Macquarie Capital analyst Tony growth is happening even as the U.S. and China have wrangled over tariffs and U.S. President Donald Trump pushes a made in America has cut into traditional mergers and acquisitions, which are down 20%, with only 50 such transactions so far this year, according to data from a third of the assets that large pharmaceutical companies licensed in 2024 were from China, said Brian Gleason, head of biotech investment banking at Raymond James, who estimated such licensing deals would increase to between 40% and 50%."I think it's only accelerating," Gleason Trump administration is currently doing a national security investigation as it weighs if it will impose tariffs on the pharmaceutical one healthcare analyst said licensing deals should continue because the yet to be marketed products are not impacted by tariffs."The law that gives the president the right to impose tariffs applies to goods. It explicitly excludes intellectual property," said Tim Opler, managing director in Stifel's global healthcare May, Pfizer spent $1.25 billion upfront for the right to license an experimental cancer drug from China's 3SBio . That is the largest such deal this year and could be worth up to $6 billion in payments to 3SBio if the drug is Pharmaceuticals in June paid $80 million upfront in a potential $2 billion deal for an experimental obesity drug from China's Hansoh Pharmaceuticals.'WAKEUP CALL'By licensing a drug in development, U.S. and European drugmakers get very quick access to a molecule which would take them longer and cost more to discover or design themselves, analysts say.U.S.-based drug developer Nuvation Bio bought AnHeart Therapeutics in 2024, gaining access to the China-based company's experimental cancer drug taletrectinib, which received U.S. approval last week."We consider our presence in China not only a great avenue for R&D, but we also view it as an inside track on obtaining further assets to grow our company further and find new and better therapies to offer patients," Nuvation CEO David Hung told makes China attractive, said EY analyst Arda Ural, "a fraction of the cost and then multiples of time."Analysts have pointed to large drugmakers strategically securing rights to drugs at lower cost and running efficient early-stage trials in China to obtain important data, paving the way for global trials and potential earlier market entry."It's a little bit of a wakeup call to our industry," said Chen Yu, Managing Partner at U.S.-based healthcare investment firm TCGX.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
42 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trade deficit narrows to $22 billion as shipments, imports contract
Outbound shipments from India saw 2.17 per cent contraction in May to $38.73 billion, mainly due to a fall in global crude oil prices. Imports contracted 1.6 per cent to $60.61 billion in May due to contraction in inbound shipments of petroleum, coal and gold, data released by the commerce department showed. As a result, the trade deficit narrowed considerably to $21.88 billion in the month after widening significantly to $26.42 billion in April. The deficit stood at $22 billion in May, 2024. Despite the overall decline in merchandise exports, shipments to the US grew by nearly 17 per cent at $8.83 billion as exporters frontloaded shipments during America's 90-day pause on country-specific reciprocal tariffs. Indian exporters currently bear a 10 per cent baseline tariff after the US administration paused the 26 per cent reciprocal tariff on India. Non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports, an indication of exports' health, saw a growth of 6.9 per cent at $30.71 billion. The main drivers of the growth were electronic goods (54.1 per cent), organic and inorganic chemicals (16 per cent), drugs and pharmaceuticals (7.4 per cent), and readymade garments (11.35 per cent). Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that despite global policy uncertainty regarding trade, India has done extremely well. 'India's merchandise trade deficit eased considerably to $21.9 billion in May from $26.4 billion in April while also printing slightly lower than the year-ago month. This is expected to limit the widening in the current account deficit (CAD) print for the first quarter of 2025-26 (Q1FY26) to around $13 billion (1.3% of gross domestic product, or GDP). If crude oil prices average around $75/barrel over the remainder of this financial year, we foresee the CAD at 1.2%-1.3% of GDP for FY26,' said Aditi Nayar, chief economist and head of research & outreach at Icra. 'Exports to the US, in particular, rose by a healthy 16.9 per cent in May after surging by an average of 28 per cent in the first four months of the calendar year (CY25) as the upfronting of such exports continued amid the pause in the implementation of reciprocal tariffs,' Nayar said. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President S C Ralhan said that the latest trade data reflect the strong performance of India's services sector, which has continued to act as a buffer against the challenges of subdued global demand, geopolitical tensions, and high interest rates. 'Exporters are adapting well to the difficult global environment. The ability to sustain export growth despite logistics disruptions, especially in West Asia, is a testament to the sector's agility and policy support,' he said, adding that decline in imports was an indication of subdued domestic demand and lower global commodity prices. Services exports saw 9.3 per cent growth at $32.39 billion in May while services imports witnessed 1.7 per cent rise to $17 billion, resulting in a surplus of $15.25 billion. Services trade data for May, however, is an 'estimate', which will be revised based on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) subsequent release.
