CII CEOs’ Delegation to China: Strengthening Pathways for Stronger Business Collaboration and Future Growth Prospects

The ongoing geopolitical conflicts and the consequent multiple crisis, particularly in the 4F (food, fuel, fertilizers and finance) critical sectors with national security implications, have underscored the urgent need for economies to formulate and expeditiously implement diversification strategies to ensure distributed resilience. China and India share common history in many ways, with rich cultural and civilisational backgrounds that make people to people connections natural and long-lasting.

In this context, China’s strengths and global market leadership in various aspects of advanced manufacturing, combined with the recent partial easing of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules (Press Note 3) by the Government of India, and renewed increased number of direct flights have paved the way for Indian Industry to enter into new-age collaborations. This pragmatic reset in bilateral ties presents an opportunity for Indian Industry to deepen partnerships in innovation and ecosystem development with their Chinese counterparts.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) led a high-level CEOs’ Delegation to Shenzhen and Shanghai, China from 7-9 April aimed at reinforcing the strategic relationship between the two large economies. The delegation brought together industry leaders from diverse sectors with the objective of strengthening business engagement, understanding emerging industrial trends, and identifying opportunities for future collaboration between India and China. The visit provided a timely platform for industry-to-industry dialogue and strategic insight exchange, particularly at a time when global value chains are being reshaped and technology is redefining manufacturing.

Over the course of three days, the delegation undertook a series of focused visits to leading enterprises across sectors including new energy vehicles, electronics manufacturing, robotics, advanced sensing technologies, heavy engineering, and clean energy. In Shenzhen, these interactions offered valuable insights into integrated manufacturing ecosystems, advancements in electric mobility, and the growing shift towards design-led and innovation-driven electronics production.

In Shanghai, the delegation engaged with companies at the forefront of robotics, intelligent manufacturing, sensing technologies, and renewable energy solutions. These visits provided exposure to developments in AI-powered automation, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) based perception systems, digitally integrated heavy machinery production, and the convergence of solar power with energy storage systems.

These industrial visits provided the delegation with hands-on insights and highlighted a range of forward-looking opportunities for deeper collaboration between Indian and Chinese industry. A key takeaway was the growing importance of co-development and joint innovation, particularly in areas such as electric mobility, advanced electronics, robotics, and clean energy technologies. As global industries move towards more integrated and technology-intensive models, partnerships that combine complementary capabilities can play a critical role in accelerating product development cycles and enhancing competitiveness.

India is well positioned to leverage these opportunities, supported by its strong foundation and reforms by the Government of India in digital technologies, software capabilities, and building a dynamic innovation ecosystem. In addition, with a large and growing domestic market, a skilled talent base, and an increasing policy focus on manufacturing and self-reliance, India offers significant potential as both a production hub and a centre for innovation. The delegation underscore how these strengths can be further amplified through strategic collaborations that enable technology transfer, localised manufacturing, and the development of globally competitive solutions.

Some of the areas of cooperation and future opportunities include between the two nations and growing economies include-

• Expanding value‑added manufacturing and ‘Make in India’ linked industrial parks where Chinese expertise in infrastructure and scale can complement India’s labour and services base.
• Balancing trade through increased Indian exports of IT services, pharmaceuticals, and agro‑products to China.
• Software development, data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and cybersecurity, especially in multilingual and population‑scale applications.
• Joint innovation in fintech, e‑commerce logistics, and digital‑ID linked services where both face similar challenges of scale and inclusion.
• India and China are among the world’s largest energy consumers and emitters, so collaboration on clean energy is strategically important.
• Renewable energy cooperation in solar and wind technologies, grid‑integration solutions, and battery storage.
• Joint research on energy efficiency, carbon‑capture, and climate‑resilient infrastructure, including under global climate finance and SDG frameworks.
• Joint R&D in frontier areas like robotics and AI. India has initiated some policies of late to grow the R&D eco system in the country.

Clean energy and sustainability emerged as central themes throughout the delegation. The increasing integration of renewable energy generation with storage solutions presents a major opportunity for collaboration, particularly as India continues to scale its renewable energy capacity. In this regard, joint efforts in areas such as solar manufacturing, battery storage, and energy management systems can contribute to building more reliable and efficient energy ecosystems, while supporting broader climate and sustainability goals.

India and China are both major developing country powers across groups such as BRICS, G20, and climate‑related forums. There is significant potential for collaboration, with an urgent need for action. Some ways in which these can be expanded include stronger coordination on trade and development issues, climate finance architecture, and South‑South cooperation in health, vaccines, as well as digital public goods.

Moving ahead, greater alignment between industry stakeholders, supported by conducive policy frameworks, will be essential to unlocking the full potential of bilateral economic engagement and CII remains committed to supporting these efforts.