New Delhi: China has announced sweeping new export controls on tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and other specialised heavy equipment, raising fresh concerns over India’s dependence on Chinese machinery for critical infrastructure projects, including metro networks, high-speed rail corridors and strategically important tunnels near border areas.
The restrictions, announced by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Monday, will come into effect on November 18. Beijing has justified the move on grounds of national security and protection of its strategic interests.
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However, the decision raises uncomfortable questions for India, which continues to depend on foreign suppliers for several categories of sophisticated infrastructure equipment despite its ambitious push for domestic manufacturing under the Make in India initiative.
India’s infrastructure ambitions face fresh uncertainty
Tunnel boring machines are critical to the construction of underground metro corridors, railway tunnels and other major infrastructure projects. Any disruption in their availability could affect project schedules, increase procurement costs and complicate the execution of ongoing and proposed projects.
The latest restrictions are particularly significant because China has previously obstructed the supply of TBMs to India.
In 2024, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal raised the issue with German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, pointing out that Beijing was preventing a German company manufacturing tunnel boring machines in China from exporting them to India.
The episode exposed a major vulnerability in India’s infrastructure supply chain: even machinery supplied by European companies can become subject to Chinese restrictions when manufacturing facilities are located in China.
The latest controls could deepen that vulnerability, although their actual impact will depend on licensing decisions, the equipment covered and the availability of alternative suppliers.
Strategic implications for border infrastructure
The restrictions extend beyond conventional tunnelling machinery to include walking excavators and plateau-type wet shotcrete machines, both used in difficult terrain.
Walking excavators are designed to operate on steep, uneven and otherwise inaccessible surfaces, while plateau-type wet shotcrete machines are used for concrete spraying operations in high-altitude environments.
These machines can be important for infrastructure construction in mountainous regions, including areas along India’s sensitive northern borders.
The decision therefore raises strategic concerns at a time when India is expanding road, rail and tunnel connectivity in difficult Himalayan terrain.
While China has not explicitly identified India as a target of the latest measures, the restrictions demonstrate how control over specialised machinery can potentially become an instrument of geopolitical leverage.
Beijing has also tightened export controls on specified dredging equipment, including slurry pumps, dragheads and cutterheads.
The restrictions cover slurry pumps with inlet diameters of at least 0.55 metres and maximum rotational speeds of 400 revolutions per minute, along with certain large pump casings and impellers.
Controls will also apply to dragheads used in trailing suction hopper dredgers and cutterheads deployed in cutter suction dredgers that meet specified technical thresholds.
Such equipment is important for port development, harbour maintenance, maritime infrastructure and underwater excavation.
For India, which is pursuing major port expansion and maritime connectivity programmes, restrictions on specialised dredging components could introduce another layer of supply-chain uncertainty.
The latest announcement follows a draft proposal released by MOFCOM on Friday seeking additional export restrictions on 14 technologies across sectors including artificial intelligence, biotechnology and photovoltaic solar power.
Together, these measures point to China’s increasing use of export controls over advanced technologies and specialised industrial equipment.
Under the new rules, exporters must obtain licences from MOFCOM under China’s Export Control Law and regulations governing dual-use items.
Exporters will also have to declare the relevant control codes and provide detailed technical specifications. Chinese customs authorities can hold shipments pending verification of the information submitted.
This licensing framework gives Beijing greater oversight of sensitive equipment exports and could create uncertainty for overseas buyers even where shipments are not explicitly prohibited.
China’s latest move should serve as a warning for India’s infrastructure planners and policymakers.
India has committed substantial public investment to expanding highways, railways, metro networks, ports and strategic border connectivity. Yet dependence on imported specialised machinery remains a potential weakness in the execution of these projects.
The bigger question is whether India’s domestic manufacturing ecosystem has developed the technological capabilities needed to reduce this dependence.
An export licensing requirement is not the same as an outright export ban. Nevertheless, China’s ability to delay, scrutinise or deny shipments of critical machinery highlights the risks of concentrated supply chains.
For New Delhi, the challenge is no longer limited to securing alternative suppliers. It must also accelerate domestic design, manufacturing and servicing capabilities for advanced tunnelling, excavation and dredging equipment.
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Otherwise, India’s ambitious infrastructure expansion could remain vulnerable to decisions taken in Beijing.
The larger concern is straightforward: Can India claim strategic infrastructure independence when access to some of the machines needed to build that infrastructure remains subject to another country’s export approvals?
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