Point of no return for India's Chinese expats

MUMBAI|NEW DELHI: Chinese expats working in India are on an extended New Year holiday back home because of the Covid-19 outbreak.About 7,000 Chinese expats in sectors such as automobiles, electronics, mobile phones and ecommerce work in cities such as Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Jaipur. The majority had gone home for the Chinese New Year toward the end of January, a period coinciding with the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.“The epicentre of the Chinese (outbreak) may form only about 2-4% of Chinese expats, but it is fear psychosis that is putting them in trouble,” said Aravind Yelery, senior fellow at HSBC Business School, Peking University. “Some of the expats who are back after being examined or quarantined at the airports may find it tough to convince neighbours on their return to India.”The situation may not drastically improve in the next four to six weeks. The virus may cease to spread but worries associated with the contagion may linger. There has been a 15-20% drop in the number of Chinese expats coming to India, according to an estimate by Yelery. 74409972 Great Wall Motors (GWM) had about 20 Chinese executives in India from the end of December. While nearly half of them went back after the Auto Expo, the remaining have stayed back to set up operations in the country.“The top management from China was supposed to visit during the expo,” said Kaushik Ganguly, director, corporate strategy and planning, Great Wall Motors. “However, given the sentiments, they consciously took a decision to not travel for the motor show and related business meetings.”Even personnel working on Indian infrastructure projects have been affected. “My business interactions with the Chinese have significantly shrunk,” said Jijo KP, a Mumbai-based businessman who owns a facility at Zhejiang province in China. “Expats are finding it difficult to travel and conduct business meetings.”Employers typically terminate employment contracts after a waiting period of two months in case of hard-hatted personnel. For skilled jobs, executives may have to go on unpaid vacation beyond a month.Indian companies need Chinese engineers for several industry verticals and job functions such as after-sales services, business development and market audits.“Getting new investments or a business visa to India is a challenge,” said New Delhi’s Rishi Sahai, who provides crossborder transaction advisory services between companies in India and Chinese investors or partners. “Local employers and the government are trying to mitigate concerns through frequent announcements and palliative measures.”India has suspended e-visa facilities for mainland Chinese travellers and foreigners residing there. It has also cancelled existing visas for Chinese nationals and foreigners who visited China in the past 14 days.“We are watching the situation and hoping things get back to normal quickly,” said Ganguly.

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