China Puts Export Licences on Tunnel Boring Machines: What It Means for India's Infrastructure
China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced new export controls on tunnel boring machines (TBMs), along with walking excavators and plateau-type wet shotcrete machines (machines that spray concrete onto tunnel walls at high altitude). The rules take effect on 18 November 2026.
MOFCOM also tightened controls on large dredger parts above set size limits, such as slurry pumps with an inlet of at least 0.55 m, pump casings and impellers of at least 1.3 m, dragheads for trailing suction hopper dredgers, and cutterheads of at least 2.1 m for cutter suction dredgers.
China calls these dual-use items, meaning they can serve both civilian and military purposes. It says the step protects its national security and follows international practice, and that applications meeting the rules will be approved.
Exporters must now get a licence from MOFCOM, give detailed technical information, and declare the dual-use control code in customs filings. Shipments can be held while customs checks them.
India is among the countries most exposed. Chinese factories, including the Guangzhou plant of German maker Herrenknecht, supply many TBMs used in Indian metro, high-speed rail and border tunnel projects. Two Herrenknecht TBMs for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train reached India only in March 2026, more than a year late, after the delay was raised at the highest diplomatic level.
China's Export Control Law, 2020 and the Dual-Use Items Framework
China's Export Control Law (ECL) is the country's main law for deciding which goods, technologies and services can leave China, and on what conditions. It covers military items, nuclear items and dual-use items, which are things with both civilian and military uses. Under this law, the Chinese government can require a licence for such exports, refuse it, or ban exports to particular buyers. In simple words, it gives China a single legal "tap" it can open or tighten on goods the world depends on.
The new licence rules on tunnel boring machines, walking excavators and dredger parts are issued under China's Export Control Law and the 2024 dual-use regulations. By calling these machines dual-use, China can now decide shipment by shipment whether Indian metro, rail and border projects get them.
Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Technology
A tunnel boring machine, or TBM, is a giant machine that digs a round tunnel and lines it with concrete at the same time. It works like a huge mechanical earthworm: a rotating wheel at the front cuts the rock or soil, and the machine slowly crawls forward, building the tunnel wall behind it. TBMs are used to build metro lines, railway tunnels, road tunnels, water and sewer tunnels, and tunnels for hydropower projects.
China's new licence rule for tunnel boring machines, effective 18 November 2026, targets a machine India cannot yet make at scale. Because many TBMs used in India are built in Chinese factories, the rule could slow Indian metro, high-speed rail and border tunnel projects that depend on them.
Export Control Regimes: Wassenaar Arrangement, MTCR, NSG and Australia Group
Export control regimes are informal groups of countries that agree on common lists of sensitive goods and technologies and promise to control their export. They are not treaties, so their rules are not legally binding; each member puts them into its own national law. The four main regimes are the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Wassenaar Arrangement (conventional arms and dual-use goods) and the Australia Group (chemical and biological weapons).
China describes its TBM and dredger controls as following "international practice" on dual-use items. But since China is outside the Wassenaar Arrangement, which sets the common dual-use list for its members, the choice of items like tunnel boring machines is China's own national decision, not a shared multilateral rule.
- Issuing body: China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM); effective date: 18 November 2026
- Items: tunnel boring machines, walking excavators, plateau-type wet shotcrete machines; plus tighter controls on dredger parts
- Dredger part thresholds: slurry pumps with inlet ≥ 0.55 m and max speed ≤ 400 rpm; pump casings and impellers ≥ 1.3 m; draghead suction pipe ≥ 0.55 m; cutter suction dredger cutterheads with outer ring ≥ 2.1 m
- Legal basis: Export Control Law (in force 1 December 2020) and Dual-Use Items Regulations (in force 1 December 2024)
- Exporters must get MOFCOM licences and declare dual-use control codes; customs may hold shipments for verification
- Two Herrenknecht TBMs (made in Guangzhou) for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train reached India on 23 March 2026, more than a year late
- Earlier Chinese controls: gallium and germanium (2023), graphite (2023) [Unverified], rare earths (April 2025)
- India: member of MTCR (2016), Wassenaar (2017), Australia Group (2018); not NSG. China: member of NSG only