Kunming Fair – leaving a bad taste
The Indian businessmen who ventured into China recently have been left with a bad taste in the mouth after fake Chinese currency notes deceived them.

And this is not new in the country. During my visits to this country I faced similar problems with authorities not taking positive steps to fight this menace.

This is really very sad. Exporters took pains to set up base in the fair and incidents like this can really dampen one’s tempo.

The recent 13th China Kunming Import and Export Commodities Fair started on a great note with Indian exporters receiving good initial market response. Little did they know what they were into!

What baffles me most is the fact that the Chinese authorities concerned did nothing to forewarn the innocent exporters about this rampant practice. Moreover, the Chinese bank, Bank of China, also refused to allow them to repatriate the cash which they earned at the trade shows – the reason I can’t really comprehend!

I think the business houses too that went to Kunming were very enthusiastic and engaged themselves in trading activities at the fair without studying the ground realities. To be on the safe side they should have taken part only as exhibitors as they used to on earlier visits. They should have taken some time to gather more info on the buying trends in general and buyers in particular.

However, I think the Chinese authorities have to act fast if they don’t want the exim community to be discouraged by such incidents. And the exim community too has to be doubly careful before clinching a deal. Better to be cautious, than regret later.