Indians Boycott China: Is India Self-Sufficient?

Our, two nuclear-armed neighbors have been in a face-off since early May. India and China are having a tensed environment over diplomatic and military fronts firsts time in 40 years.

The, 15 June incident which took the lives of 20 Indian Soldiers in the disputed Galwan Valley which is an arid Himalayan Area near the Line of Control AKA de-facto Border after a one-month standoff between the troops of our both neighbors’ along 3500 km long LAC, on the other hand, China has not officially any statements about its causalities.

The 15 June incident took India by a strike and the lit the fire of nationalism in Indians as many voices are raised by Indians to boycott china and its Products in India. Many people took to their social media handles to start a countrywide boycott China campaign. Many Influential people of several states of India presented their views in front of media some of which turned out to be hilarious.

Here is a video of such a mimic.

Soldier of Indian Army promoting boycott.

Anti-China sentiments are rising by the hour in India after they got their 20 Soldiers killed at the hand of the Chinese force which eventually evolved into swift and theatrical backlash on India’s Streets. Some Social Media influencer also uploaded their videos supporting boycott China Campaign.

TikTok Influencer supporting campaign.

Many citizens of Ahmedabad throw their chines TV sets down their balconies, while traders in the state’s Capital Delhi protested by burning Chinese goods.

सूरत :
चाइनीज टीवी को तोड़कर लोगो ने किया विरोध।

चीनी चीजे इस्तेमाल नही करने की लोगो से की गई अपील।#BoycottChineseProducts pic.twitter.com/FBgY6wya11

— Janak Dave (@dave_janak) June 17, 2020

While some parliamentarians are calling for countrywide Chinese food boycott and some are prompting people to break there Chinese phone and boycott Chinese smartphone companies such as OPPO. A Hilarious incident occurred during a protest where some protestors burned banners of North Korean President Kim-Jong-Un mistaking him as President, Xi Jinping.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

pic.twitter.com/OlpjHDj1ej

— Lavanya Ballal | ಲಾವಣ್ಯ ಬಲ್ಲಾಳ್ (@LavanyaBallal) June 18, 2020

While the Indian government has not officially announced any boycott but public sector companies have delayed any contract issuance to Chinese companies while eCommerce stores are obliged to mention the country of origin of Product.

Is It Viable:

China and India are not any ordinary trading partners. China is India’s second-largest trading partner after the US. The Trade value between both countries rests at a whooping amount of US $ 90 billion per annum. India’s major industrial sector export to china stands at 12% per annum including sectors such as electronics and pharmaceuticals. Is it feasible for India to end all trading relations? Will India be able to fulfill Its needs? Is India self-sufficient?

At least 70% of raw material needs for pharma industries are fulfilled by china. The Smartphone market is heavily dependent on China as Chinese companies such as OPPO, XIAOMI, and others have Lion’s share of the Indian market. Many small and Large scale industries are dependent on Chinese imports as many individuals in the business report that there are very few alternatives to meet those needs otherwise, the market will paralyze and it is practically not feasible to have those supply chains in India.

Massive Investment:  

Chinese the giants in the last five years have been saturating Indian market with their massive investments in startups such as Zomato, Paytm, Big Basket and Ola. Because of these investment Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Tencent are deeply integrated with the Indian technological environment.

“There have been more than 90 Chinese investments in Indian startups, most of them made over the last five years. Eighteen out of 30 Indian unicorns [tech startups valued at over $1bn] have a Chinese investor,” says Amit Bhandari, an analyst at Gateway house.

While India is trying to reduce its import bills from china but it will take much time to be self-sufficient, India has a monstrous trade a deficit of US $ 50 bn with china which has been disturbing Indian diplomatic houses for a while.

Self-Reliance:

According to Acuite, a rating agency, that India’s local the manufacturing sector can cope up to at most 25% of the Chinese import bill which will lead to reducing $8bn from the trade deficit but complete self-sufficiency is not practically possible.

India imported $431 million worth of Handicraft in a year without any significant export in the same sector. Gateway House reported that boycotting Chinese smartphone application such as TikTok will be more beneficial instead of boycotting physical goods because of the value-added in those applications.

While on the other hand china is not much concerned about this boycott campaign as India only shares 3% of the Chinese exports worldwide but from India’s viewpoint, it will be practically drastic for the economy to cut ties with China as a huge portion of the local manufacturing industry is dependent on Chinese imports.

So far Beijing has shown no reaction to the growing backlash against China in India. Some analysts say that it would be very dangerous for India to allow anti-China sentiments to be stirred in public and it will escalate tensions when the focus should be on economic recovery after COVID-19.