MUMBAI - India's major industrial lobbying organization, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), Monday warned against proposed duty on import of power equipment mainly from China, said a report by Press Trust of India.

Governmental proposal to raise tariff and non-tariff barriers on import of some Chinese goods or to impose a complete ban on items like power and telecom equipment will send negative signals to India's trade partners and affect investment climate in key sectors, said a statement by Assocham.

Now, India's Ministry of Heavy Industry & Public Enterprises is pushing for the introduction of around 14 percent duty on imported power equipment from China.

"Economic relations between India and China are among the most significant in current global economic scenario," said D.S.Rawat, Secretary General of Assocham.

"Indian companies must widen product portfolio to increase exports of finished, value-added products," Rawat said.

Meanwhile, Assocham predicted that China and India could become the largest trading partners in the world by 2030.

Bilateral trade between China and India would reach $100 billion in the next four years from current $63 billion, said the industrial organization.

"China has already raced past the United States, Britain and Japan to become India's largest trading partner. Indian companies can gain substantially by accessing Chinese capital goods at attractive prices by way of imports," said the statement.

Indian and Chinese governments have already set the goal to realize $100 billion of bilateral trade by 2015, building on the fast growth of their two-way trade in past years.

Still, India, which hasn't recognized China's status of market economy, has launched many anti-dumping investigations against China each year to protect its domestic manufacturing industries.

India, long plagued by lack of power, largely relies on import of power generation equipment from China in a bid to speed up its upgrading of infrastructure.

It's reported that Indian power plant developers have ordered 37,626 mW of power generating equipment from Chinese vendors.

Currently, India doesn't levy import power equipment for thermal power plants of 1,000 mW and above under Mega Power Policy.