What will happen if India Boycott Chinese products?

China is one of the world’s largest manufacturing superpower. In 2018, China accounted for 28 percent of world manufacturing output. With the total value-added amount equivalent to nearly $ 4 trillion China is one of India’s main trading partners and contributes 9 percent of India ‘s overall exports and 18 percent of total imports of merchandise. Import dependence on China is skewed on a range of raw materials (APIs, basic chemicals, agro-intermediates) and critical components (Auto, Durables, Capital goods). To give a flavor, 20 percent of the automotive components and 70 percent of the electronic components come from China out of the respective imports. Likewise, 45 percent of consumer durables, 70 percent of APIs, and 40 percent of imported leather goods are from China.

From the above facts and figures, we can clearly state that India depends on china for its raw material. There are several reasons why India should boycott Chinese products. During these tough days of pandemic when the whole world is fighting against COVID-19, and China is becoming political and trying to push its borders against Japan, Australia, Vietnam and even India. There existed a conflict between India and China for several years because china claims Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh as their territory. And we also know the ongoing tension between India and China in Ladakh border, a clash between Indian and Chinese troops in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred at the Galwan valley. During in this health crisis china wants to take advantage as instead of helping neighboring countries china is trying to wage war against the neighboring countries to acquire them and in this their biggest weapon is their economy. In Asia and Africa there are lots of countries like Pakistan, Srilanka, Maynmar, Maldives, Nepal, Djibouti,(a small Africa country which is practically china owns) that need financial help but to take a loan from IMF or World bank the countries needs to meet certain criteria but China is helping them with their strategic investments. There is nothing bad in investing but china plays a smarter role as it knows that these countries will not be able to return their debts and that’s where china debts diplomacy comes to light, and when a country can’t pay back its loan china comes back and operate and put that country into a debt trap. By looking into the map we can observe that India is surrounded by countries in which china had made huge investments examples like Pakistan, Srilanka, Nepal, from where they can easily attack India during a state of war. And that how china is using its economy against India by strengthening its military forces or by expanding its military bases.

That’s why India should boycott Chinese products. Because if Indian citizens can’t use bullet force they should use their wallet force. That’s why our government has started and encourage human resources or people to help the government in making India “ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT” which basically means making India a self-reliant country. We all know that today India depends on Chinese raw material for production or we can say that in every 10 products around are 5 of them are from China or are made from China’s raw material. Boycotting Chinese products will bring short term economic losses for the Indian economy as there would be a reduction in imports of cheap capital goods which will raise the production cost and make goods costlier which will affect the demand of consumers.

But today in these tough days of pandemic when china instead of helping other countries it’s exporting faulty PPE kits and raise the prices of medical raw material. But in India’s last 2 months, a new factory worth 10,000 crores has been set up in India. During these tough economic days Indian textile industry starts producing PPE kits and today it produces 4,50,000 PPE kits per day and becomes the 2 largest producers of PPE kits, and if it grows with this pace it can become a $60,000,000,000 industry by 2025. In Chattisgarh, a tribal community used a flower( Mahua flower, used for making alcohol) for making hand sanitizers and saved the lives of millions of people. Which sets an epitome of vocal for local. Another big fact is that 1000 American companies are planning to move from China to India and out of these 1000 companies 300 of them have already signed the papers. These industries will invest in the small cities of India. It is a long way process of making India a better substitute of china. India can’t boycott Chinese products in one day because of many factors like lack of electricity, poor infrastructure, unskilled laborers, etc but during this pandemic Indian has seen a lot of untouched potentials and by boycotting Chinese products India can start to take its initial steps for substituting china. History is proof that whenever a country hits rock bottom it is its people who bring it back to life and make it progress.

It is true if India and China cut off trade, China will lose just 3% of its exports and less than 1% of its imports, while Indian exports will lose 5% and imports 14%. But it will be a short term effect on the economy as the Indian government has started working to make India self-reliant “ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT”. The Indian government has identified 12 sectors that can become self-reliant and even a global supplier. Automotive parts, textiles, manufacturing machinery and furniture, concentrating on making India a self-sufficient nation and a global producer and self-reliant. India will ensure the large-scale production of quality products, comply with the requirements of India and boost surplus production exports. In these 12 sectors — processing of food, organic farming, iron, aluminum and copper, agriculture chemicals, electronics, industrial machinery, furniture, leather and shoes, automobile components, textile components and coverings, masks, sanitizers and ventilators. Being self-reliant India does not mean it separate itself from the world, but it will inevitably increase India’s share of world trade. And for making India self reliant it has to work on its negative aspects like poor infrastructure, lack of electricity, unskilled labours, cheap labour,etc. so that it can attract the major manufacturing companies  and MNCs to become the global supplier of goods and become self reliant.

So, for making India self-reliant boycotting Chinese products and becoming self –reliant is the foremost step for the Indian economy. Initially, it will not affect the Chinese economy but eventually, in long term, there will be a great impact on it. Because of China’s chance set behavior  during this pandemic situation major American companies are planning to shift from china which means a major part of the manufacturing hub is going to shift. And being self- reliant will help India to attract those companies and can become the next manufacturing hub of the world.

References

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/moneycontrol-research/how-dependent-is-india-on-china-here-is-what-trade-data-reveals-5346201.html
https://www.statista.com/chart/20858/top-10-countries-by-share-of-global-manufacturing-output/#:~:text=With%20total%20value%20added%20by,the%20country’s%20total%20economic%20output
https://tradingeconomics.com/india/imports-from-china
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/policy/what-will-be-the-impact-of-indias-boycott-of-chinese-goods-3644731.html
https://www.indiatvnews.com/fyi/news-what-happens-if-india-boycotts-chinese-products-509129
https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/aatmanirbhar-bharat-twelve-sectors-in-which-india-can-become-self-reliant-global-supplier/1966773/
https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/aatmanirbhar-bharat-twelve-sectors-in-which-india-can-become-self-reliant-global-supplier/1966773/
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-becomes-worlds-second-largest-manufacturer-of-ppe-body-coveralls-next-to-china-government/article31643400.ece
https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/news/india/chhattisgarh-hand-sanitizer-developed-from-mahua-spirit/articleshow/75326481.cms
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/india-looks-to-lure-more-than-1000-american-companies-out-of-china/articleshow/75595400.cms?from=mdr
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/india-offers-land-twice-luxembourgs-size-to-firms-leaving-china/articleshow/75534412.cms?from=mdr
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-on-alert-as-china-deploys-dozen-underwater-drones-in-ior/articleshow/74783818.cms#:~:text=NEW%20DELHI%3A%20India%20is%20keeping,research%20ships%20in%20the%20region.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/chinese-aggression-in-south-china-sea-east-china-sea-face-strong-pushback/articleshow/75344181.cms
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/tense-india-china-standoff-himalayan-border-escalate-200527120501581.html
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-china-border-latest-news-live-updates-ladakh-galwan-vallen-faceoff-news-6467462/

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