Indian diplomatic missions in China have cautioned traders from India that they may end up getting sand, stones, salt, bricks, mud etc in place of items ordered and issued detailed guidelines to avoid incidents of cheating.

The Indian Embassy and the Consulates have issued trade advisories to various trade bodies and associations cautioning traders and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) planning to do business with China after receiving several complaints.

"It is to enhance the commercial cooperation between India and China by drawing attention to some of the risks faced by Indian traders/SMEs to take preventive and/or mitigating action," said the advisory.

"The information contained in this advisory is based on trade-related problems that are periodically brought to the Consulate's attention for information, facilitation and assistance," according to the advisory circulated among the members of he Indian Association of Shanghai.

However, the advisory was not put on the website of the Indian missions in China to avoid misunderstanding considering the strain in ties due to differences on issues relating to listing of Pakistan-based militants and groups as terrorists by UN and Beijing's reluctance to support India's application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, informed sources said.

Listing some of the complaints brought to the notice of missions, the advisory said importers should be careful about supply of sub-standard goods, inferior quality.

   
The items to dupe Indian importers included supply of sand, stones, salt, bricks, mud etc in place of chemicals, Silicon Carbide, Aluminium and Zinc ingots, shellac, plastics, polymers etc, it said.

Other complaints included refusal to send consignments on receipt of payment, quantity dispute, stopping of communications on receipt of advance payment, dispatch of defective machinery, diversion of payment into unassociated bank accounts by third fraudulent parties by hacking into email IDs.

Other methods included taking money for sample dispatch and then stopping all correspondences.

The Indian exporters should be careful about refusal to make payment after taking control of consignment exported from India on some pretext and refusal to take delivery of the consignment when the market value of the imported item has gone down from the value fixed in agreement, it said.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com