• Dr. Avinash Godbole, Jindal Global University
• Prof. Amita Batra, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (Chair)

In May 2020, as the world was grappling with Covid, Xi Jinping made an announcement that China was going to focus on developing what he called a “dual circulation strategy”. As a general objective, this strategy aims to promote innovation driven high-quality growth as a long-term target. It also goes well with China’s long stated objective of reducing regional and income inequalities. This is in line with the 2035 goal of becoming a “strong and technologically advanced country that is a global leader in both innovation and new forms of industrialization”. This plan was then formalised in the fifth plenum in October 2020 and the communique stated that the goal was to “comprehensively promote consumption and open new room for investments”. As is visible it encompasses a diverse set of goals. Its meaning was redefined when the target of Common prosperity was set.

Dual Circulation has been interpreted in various ways, that it is a defensive strategy or as a proactive strategy. It has also been interpreted as China’s response to de-globalization tendencies. Some of the questions that can be discussed include various influencing factors behind this strategy & how it would impact the reform process? What sort of structural adjustments are needed domestically for it to work? How would it address the issues of social security and consumption? This project studies the driving factors behind the dual circulation strategy and attempts to understand how the diverse set of stakeholders have responded to the strategy and if and how it has led to any discernible changes on the ground thus far.