Exactly a week ago, there had been a clash at the Indo-China border in eastern Ladakh that had left 20 Indian soldiers dead and others injured. In the wake of the attack, there has been a rallying cry for a boycott of Chinese products and services.
Recently, the Indian Railways had cited "poor progress" to terminate a project with the Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication Group. The news update was posted to Twitter by CNN News18 reporter Marya Shakil. The notice said that despite a passage of four years, only 20% of the work had been completed.
Against this backdrop, on Monday, the Maharashtra government has reportedly put three Chinese deals on hold. News agency ANI reported on Monday evening that the deals worth Rs 5020 crore had been put on hold.
The three companies, Hengli Engineering, PMI Electro Mobility Solutions joint venture with Photon and Great Wall Motors had signed the deal to invest in Talegaon in Pune district, State Industries Minister Subhash Desai had said.
Earlier in the day, news agency PTI had quoted Subhash Desai to report that there would be status quo with regard to the MoUs. At the time, the Minister had said that the state government was awaiting a clear policy decision regarding the projects in the present condition. He had also emphasised at the time that the projects or the MoUs had not been cancelled.
The MoUs had incidentally been signed on June 15 under the Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0 investor summit, hours before the face-off took place. The three Chinese companies were to invest in projects in Talegaon, an industrial hub in Pune district, an official statement had said earlier.
According to the statement, Hengli Engineering was to invest Rs 250 crore and PMI Rs 1,000 crore in the auto sector. The Great Wall Motors was to set up an automobile company with an investment of Rs 3,770 crore.
(With inputs from agencies)
