by manoj kumar new delhi amid growing calls for a boycott of chinese goods after a clash on the border in which 20 indian soldiers were killed indias government instructed sellers to declare the country of origin for goods and services purchased via a staterun online portal the government announced the change in requirements for users of its government emarketplace gem portal in a statement on tuesday the statement did not single out china but an official source told reuters that the main objective was to identify items coming from china separately the portal will provide a make in india filter so that the government or its agencies could choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50 local content criteria the statement said advt according to officials the portal which was set up in 2016 to promote small businesses has been misused by many companies to sell imported chinese products like office furniture computers air conditioners auto parts machinery and other products the decision will encourage domestic producers as many domestic sellers were so far importing goods from china and selling through this portal a government source with the direct knowledge of the matter said india is also planning to impose higher trade barriers and raise import duties on around 300 products from china and elsewhere two government officials said as part of an effort to protect domestic businesses the government has instructed all its ministries and agencies to maximise procurement through the portal run by the commerce ministry and total purchases are expected to increase to 3 trillion indian rupees nearly 40 billion this fiscal year from 500 billion rupees nearly 7 billion from the year just ended in march more than 100000 sellers are registered for selling products and services on the portal 1 756170 indian rupees reporting by manoj kumar editing by simon cameronmoore reuters published on jun 23 2020 at 0655 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app chinese import the commerce ministry domestic producers auto parts chinese goods list of auto parts homenewsindustryindia puts restrictions to curb sale of chinese products to govt agencies