Both US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Luc Montagnier have spoken about Covid-19 possibly coming out of laboratories in Wuhan — home to China ’s highest-rated Level 4 microbiology labs — and not from the city’s ‘wet’ animal markets. The jury is out on this, but countries dependent on Chinese handouts aren’t willing to speak up. India does not fall into that category.New Delhi has joined the US, EU countries and Australia in reviewing its FDI policy for Chinese investments in Indian companies, from entities that have Chinese nationals with ‘beneficial ownership’. India’s decision to ‘wall off’ even investments being routed through Hong Kong, Singapore, etc, where there could be an indirect Chinese presence, is a welcome move.While this will stall China’s intent to take over Indian businesses, the new policy will also have implications for local businesses.For instance, it will impact Indian companies that have, over the years, come to rely on Chinese investments and products to sell in India.Studies show that Chinese tech investors have put in about $4 billion into Indian startups. Over the past five years, 18 out of 30 Indian unicorns have been reportedly Chinese funded.An additional $3.5 billion were reportedly invested in companies from Flipkart to Paytm , and various pharmaceutical companies.These investments have come in partly because India has been blindly attracting FDI as an indicator of its economic growth. But it is also because Indian manufacturers are only too happy to get cheap products to increase their profit margins. It’s time they start manufacturing these here, and create more jobs. Like so many changes that the Covid-19 pandemic will bring about, this can also be one.Many countries are now realising how their huge dependence on Chinese products has led to a massive disruption of their supply chains. Part of China’s strategy could well have been to steadily take over a country’s economy by investing in a range of companies shattered by Covid-19 lockdowns.This is precisely what they may have done in India’s neighbourhood. But Chinese investments come with very harsh contracts with little room for an exit. Take war-torn Sri Lanka, which now has excellent roads and ports thanks to China. Beijing helped the Lankan economy bounce back, but at a price. The port of Hambantota is today a Chinese township with Sri Lanka unable to pay the high interest rates China had demanded.China has been making similar moves in the Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal. All these countries need funds to push up their growth rates, and China has those funds. It also delivers the projects it undertakes, in time. India, on the other hand, has hoped that its good neighbourliness can be a suitable counter to the Chinese. Well, not any more.Few of us realise that China makes over $50 billion a year in trade and product sale profits from India. This is the equivalent to what China had promised Pakistan as part of its largesse for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor ( CPEC ) — making Pakistan its client State. Which is why the latest move to restrict Chinese investments in the Indian economy shows New Delhi finally calling Beijing’s bluff.The writer is a strategic affairs consultant.