New Delhi: India took a decision to amend FDI rules requiring government approval for entities from countries that share a land border, read more specifically as china-is not only an attempt to protect vulnerable assets from predatory acquisitions but a recognition that in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. India needs to draw a careful line between economic openness and national security.

Alarm bells regarding Chinese investments and control have been ranging from sometimes, but it took a pandemic for the government to address what is seen as a strategic vulnerability which could also be a political vulnerability. The concern surfaced which PPOC’s acquisition of one percent of HDFC on behalf of china’s sovereign wealth fund SAFE though the worries are greater with regard to FDI.

India is not alone as Australia, Germany, France, Spain and even UK have acted to screen investments. A report by getaway house, a Mumbai based think tank raised red flags recently in a report which send Indian tech, retail and fintech startups have got close to $ four billion from Chinese investors since 2015. The concern, however, is sharper with regard to national security as reports with the governments and pointed to threat of the data being siphoned off and opaque tech and sometimes even financial holdings.

There had been long deliberations over allowing Chinese giant, Huawei to take part of in India’s 5G trials. A possibility of the security vulnerabilities have moved up the graph as far as the government is concerned and this led to a more focused actions that places a barrier for Chinese FDI.