An Indian businessman was charged with drunken driving in the Chinese commodity hub of Yiwu after he hit a billboard and trees with his car.

Abdul Ajees Mohamed Mustafa, 24, a businessman from India, was caught by the Yiwu police on November 8, state-run Global Times reported today.

The people's procuratorate in Yiwu "delivered a lawsuit" to the local court charging Mustafa with dangerous driving, it said.

He was sent to the hospital and tested positive for drunk driving, according to the report.

This is the first case involving foreign nationals to be handled by a local procuratorate as the local courts are now authorised to prosecute foreigners, it said.

Scores of Indian and foreign businessmen are based in Yiwu, regarded as the world's largest commodity market.

India topped the list of countries procuring various commodities including construction material, decoration articles, furniture and various other consumer items worth about several billion dollars.

Two Indian businessmen, Shyam Sunder Agrawal and Deepak Raheja were charged with failure to pay a huge amount of money to the local suppliers last year.

They were first kidnapped by the local businessmen but were later released after Indian government intervention.

The two say that they were the employees of a company run by a Yemanese national, who fled without paying the dues. They assert that they were being wrongly prosecuted.

The two, who are barred to leave China, have now shifted to Guangzhou where they said they are doing odd jobs.

Judgement is due from the local court in their case.