Can India Sustain Boycott China – Ground reality and What Indians can do
The is not the first time that Indians are trending “Boycott Chinese product”. It has happened a few times in history. The last time it happened was when India was looking for China’s support to get Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar designated as terrorist by the United Nations. But China refused to support quoting technical reasons.
This time the reason is COVID19 and claiming china for the improper management in containing the disease and responsible for spreading it to different parts of the world. And also the non-transparent numbers and data from the Chinese governments have made people around the world go against china.
But for India, the situation is somewhat different from the rest of the world. In addition to the existing COVID19 situation, India is also in the middle of a border dispute with China. And also there are claims that china is supporting Nepal in the border dispute that arose recently, because of the Nepal PM claiming some of the Indian lands as Nepal Territories. Nepal even went on to pass a constitutional amendment to include Indian area in Nepal map
Each time Social media is very fast in responding and finding a scapegoat to show the anger. This time it was the TikTok that came to light. Netizens tried to show the anger by giving negative ratings in the play store. The rating of the app was reduced to 1.6 in the play store because of massive poor ratings. But the ratings were later restored back when google removed 5 million negative ratings in play store.
So is the campaign against boycott china worth. What we have achieved by reducing the ratings of the app when the number of installation has not decreased significantly. The usage of app was not seen a significant drop, the app has 1,000,000,000+ install as of today June 5th 2020 and the rating of the app is 4.4 in the play store as of today. So what happened in the past. Are our netizens capable of doing much better than running a campaign to reduce the ratings by finding a scapegoat?
For sure the reduction in the ratings has shown one thing. The power of social media and what Indians can achieve if they wanted to. So why not use this unity and find better ways rather than focusing on a single issue every time something happened between India and China.
India – China Trade Relation
India imports major Chinese products for its domestic markets and those products compete with the Indian products as they are the cheap and best quality. In India, many business people import Chinese products and sell them in India for profits. So when imports are stopped, all these retailers lose their jobs and their income. Already the lockdown has affected the business badly. When the flights are stopped and incoming from all the countries are stopped, there is no way for the movement of people and goods. Which resulted in a deficiency in the supply in the market and also many businesses are already out of stock as no imports coming from China.
India is a major importer of Chinese products. In 2019, India imported such Chinese goods as mechanical, electrical and chemical products, base metals, plastics, rubber, textiles, furniture and toys. Bilateral trade rose 1.6% year-on-year to 639.52 billion yuan ($90.5 billion) in 2019, according to Chinese customs data. China’s exports to India stood at 515.63 billion yuan, up 2.1% on a yearly basis, while imports from the South Asian country stood at 123.89 billion yuan, down 0.2%.
The Chinese products in India are so famous and mostly sold because of the quality at less price possible. Indian markets are price sensitive and to compete in the markets the price has to be competitive. To penetrate the Chinese products were sold at fewer prices and hence captures the Indian markets.
Today most of the products we use daily including mobiles, electronics, toys and other items are made in china items. and if I ask you one question, tell me one Indian Electronic company name or one Indian mobile company name, then you will be in doubt. Because we never preferred Indian products. All we prefer is the best product at the least possible price.
Is Blanket Ban on China possible
This topic has been discussed a lot of times, even in the political circle. Many People have questioned the government in the past regarding the possibility of banning the products from china completely.
Even Nirmala Sitaraman( Honorable Finance Minister) has answered a question in the Parliament regarding a complete blanket ban on Chinese products. she said the ” Complete ban of Chinese products cannot be done because the World trade organization rules restrict from boycotting the products. But the government is constantly monitoring the dumping activities and is charging Anti Dumping duty on the products to India.
And also as the price of Chinese products are cheaper, banning them will raise the inflation levels in India and this will affect the poor and middle-class sections of the society. This will make the technology penetration to rural areas difficult as without Chinese products the prices increases.
Today the cheap mobiles and electronics from china make the rural and distant people connect with the rest of the world. They can afford to buy a smartphone and know the issue because they can afford to buy. Banning these will make them stay away from the high priced local products.
WTO Guidelines: The World Trade Organization (WTO) mandates all member countries to abide by the “Principles of Trade” delineated in its charter. Which clearly states that a country should not discriminate between its trading partners and it should not discriminate between its own and foreign products, services or nationals.
And also India generates huge income from the customs duty on the products from china. These revenues will be effected badly if the imports are stopped.
Not just the imports, talking about the exports of India to China. China Sends only 2% of its exports to India, bur India Exports almost 8% to China. So Damaging the trade relation, will only affect us in the long run.
Leave about exports and Imports. Most of India’s new startups are funded by Chinese investors. Most of the big giants involve china investment. Indian investors are not many to bring huge funding for these startups and business. So when china tries to remove their investment, this will collapse the Indian markets and the economy will move to the worst crisis. These startups depend on investment for their operations and sustain in the market. Indians cannot afford such huge investment and hence we cannot develop such technological startups with no such investment.
What India is doing and what can it do
This has to be highlighted that though there are many complications involved in banning the products from china, the Indian government is trying hard to slowly reduce the Chinese imports and encourage local products. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Flagship movement Made In India is working to encourage local products when compared to foreign products.
The Indian government is also imposing the Anti Dumping duty and countervailing duty on the Chinese products to make the domestic products price comparable and competitive with Chinese products and restrict Chinese products to capture the complete market. Government is also giving subsidies to the Make In India companies to sustain and grow in the market. These steps will only benefit if the Indians start to choose Indian products in comparison to Chinese products.
Now the hard part is the role of Netizens. Who prefer cheap Chinese products when compared to local products. If all Indians think a bit before purchasing the products and prefer local products if the price is competitive then we can slowly and gradually reduce the imports and with no actual move from the government, we can move to the self-dependent country.
Recently the Indian government has revised the foreign investment policy. On April 18, India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) revised its foreign investment policy, making it much difficult for companies from countries sharing a land border with India, including China, to invest in the country,” said a statement issued by the Chinese embassy in India. “As of December 2019, China’s cumulative investment in India has exceeded 8 billion US dollars, far more than the total investments of India’s other border-sharing countries.” Read full here. This move was opposed by the china government claiming that the move is against WTO rules and guidelines.
Centre also taken the step to place restricts on the non-essential items from china during the covis19 pandemic, a move primarily aimed at curbing imports of non-essential items such as toys, plastic goods, sports items and furniture, especially from China. The proposed rules, to be framed by ministries in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), will also ensure stricter inspection of imports. Read full here
Honourable PM Narendra Modi has also appealed the citizens to make India Aatma Nirbhar Bharat and also Vocal for Local, Encouraging the Citizens to make India self-sufficient in all aspects is the only way forward for the future of the country. Appealing people to promote local products and services when compared to foreign products.
Indians together can reduce the ratings of an app, can create any trends on social media, and using these tools can raise awareness about even the minute issues at the corners of the country. With this unity, the Citizens can promote the local products and can make India Self sufficient which will eventually lead to reduce the dependence on foreign products and hence reduction in the import will happen. This is what needs to be done by the Netizens.
Conclusion
I myself wanted to ban the china products and want India to be Self Sufficient but banning the Chinese products with no proper planning is not the move I choose. I want India to become self-sufficient and India to advance and grow.
Trade relations between India and China are double-sided coins. Damaging imports will affect exports and this will only bring the worst situation with no preparation. Local manufactures ho import to china will be affected. And also any improper step will make us move against WTO guidelines and proper implementation is necessary in this regard.
So before taking any decision of banning/boycotting of Chinese products; the government of India must remember that China sends just 2% of its total export to India while India sends 8% of its total export to China. Hence Government of India needs to make a rational decision not the emotional one on this matter.
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