China's zero Covid policy & India's opportunity

India must suitably reorient its trade policy to take advantage of China's persistence with lockdowns

Barely a week after reopening following a two-month complete lockdown, Shanghai imposed a fresh, partial Covid-19 lockdown again earlier this month (Business Standard, June 9, 2022). Such persistence by China with a zero-tolerance strategy has lent an element of urgency to global value chain (GVC) restructuring and relocation, a process that has been in progress, though haltingly, over the last decade. India, which has thus far not been able to attract relocating supply chains, now gets another chance and should not let it slip by this time.

The process of GVC restructuring began in the wake of the global financial