Why India cannot do with Boycott of Chinese goods in current scenario?

Last updated on February 14th, 2023 at 11:24 am

Union ministers are rather emotional in the country right now. There is news floating that they intent to ban shops selling Chinese food. Across the nation, there is open boycott and urge to boycott Chinese goods. The country is angry about the way the Chinese troops have picked fights on the Line Of Actual Control (LAC) and killed Indian soldiers.

According to a study undertaken by the LocalCircles, an online community portal, more than 80percent of their Indian respondents are wishing to boycott the use of Chinese goods. More than 50 percent agreed to not use Chinese goods and services like phones, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, One Plus, Club Factory, Tik Tok,WeChat, Shien while a total of 39 percent said they would boycott buying and using Chinese makes in the future but will do so with the ones they have as of now.

Economists feel that turning border dispute to a trade one is not going to solve the problem in the least. Between 2003 and 2020, more than 225 Chinese companies are already invested in India into various businesses. Huwaei and Xiaomi are the top telecom projects running in India currently.  China has remained India’s second largest trade partner for a very long time.

However, tensions on the border could hurt the trade dynamics in the longer run, owing to the fact that Chinese government has strong control on its military actions as well. India is China’s largest import partner, a truth that cannot be refuted. While people’s emotions maybe what they are, the real ‘self reliance’ is a bold assertion to make and may not come true that soon.

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Trade data also goes on to demonstrate that India exports less to China (mainly raw materials) and imports more (mainly electronics and other manufactured goods which are in high demand). Statistics reveal that India’s pharma sector has critical dependence on Chinese imports used in drugs manufacturing. We really have to know our ground reality if we want to pick a fight with the lion of the jungle.