China is the biggest enemy of India,” thunders Monika Jain, 42, homemaker and mother of two, in her five-bedroom apartment in Rohini in northwest Delhi. While millions of people will buy streams of lights and other decorations to illuminate their houses for Diwali, mostly mass-manufactured in China, this family is going against the grain and heeding the call of godman-turned-businessman Ramdev to boycott products from there. Military rhetoric (China had been accused of standing with Pakistan days after the militant attacks in Kashmir in September) incited the ochre robeclad baba to demand an economic blockade; and on the ground, fervent nationalists and devoted followers, like Jain, got the ball rolling. 中国是印度最大的敌人,”雷莫妮卡Jain, 42岁的家庭主妇,两个孩子的母亲,在她的这套公寓在罗西尼在印度西北部。尽管数以百万计的人们将购买的灯和其他装饰品为排灯节照亮他们的房子,主要是在中国造,这个家庭的粮食和听从调用godman-turned-businessman Ramdev抵制产品。军事修辞(中国与巴基斯坦被控站天9月在克什米尔激进分子袭击后)煽动赭石robeclad巴巴要求经济封锁;和在地面上,狂热的民族主义者和忠实追随者,像Jain,球滚动。
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Scattered across the country, families and individuals started to shun Chinese goods, even as opportunistic fringe elements got into the act. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s West Bengal unit, for instance, torched a small pile of some 200 Chinese-made electronics goods to make an impact. While conceding that the impact of the ban might not be visible now, Jain believes that over the next few months it will start to affect China. “Boycotting Chinese goods is the only way to hurt China,” she says, adding that she has ensured that Ganesha<\/a> and Lakshmi idols that she has bought this year are not Chinese.
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Jain and family are not alone in this distrust of China and all things Chinese. Since some Chinese products<\/a> in the past have been found to be contaminated (baby food, lead in toys), they are also an easy target for hoaxes. Two weeks ago, Kerala was aflutter over reports that “fake” plastic eggs from China were being sold in supermarkets
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\nSocial media worked overtime to give ground to this and some local media channels also took the bait, fuelling the clamour for action to be taken against these “fake” imports. Traders, who mostly get the product from Namakkal in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, were bewildered as was the government, which finally had to step in.
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\nThe state health minister, KK Shylaja, said that although she had not received any official complaints, a probe would be launched, based on media reports. It was left to the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad to decry the reports about the so-called Chinese eggs and question the lack of rational, scientific thinking (an article on their online magazine, Luca, recommends that one solution would be to give journalists in the state a Class X science textbook).
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\nTheir stand was vindicated when the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University submitted its report, stating that the eggs were not fake, made of plastic or full of toxins, as was being rumoured. At worst, they were old.
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\nThis was not the first time the Chinese phoney good bogey was being used, though. Last year, Kerala’s Mathrubhumi published a report that “plastic rice” imported from China was being sold. A petition was submitted to the Delhi High Court seeking testing of samples. But this paranoia is not confined to India — another popular rumour internationally is that China is making fake cabbage and exporting it. The origin is thought to be videos of people making wax vegetables for displays, though that has not stopped the rumour from resurfacing occasionally.
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\nTilt in Trades
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\nWhile China is India’s largest trade partner (nearly $72 billion), companies and individuals have mixed feelings about the country. Historically, China has been viewed with some scepticism, with companies such as telecom gear maker Huawei spending years trying to break into the market, and other companies struggling to shrug off issues over quality. Across sectors as diverse as toys, electronics and auto parts, the march of large-scale Chinese companies has crippled local operations, only further raising the hackles across some businesses.
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\nHowever, that view appears to be changing, with the government itself leading the way in changing mindsets.
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\nThe government isn’t clueless about consumer sentiments. A senior government official, who is part of the investment promotion team, says: “We are importing from China because Chinese products<\/a>, of good quality, are available at prices that you just cannot get in India. And this isn’t just India but many other countries,” he says. Diwali and firecrackers provide an illustrative example.
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\n“China is the global hub of the best pyrotechnic technology at one of the lowest prices,” this official contends. “We are not part of the global supply chain… building that takes time as we haven’t done it in the past.”
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Industry<\/a> lobbies such as CII believe that strong trade relations between India and China are important for both nations, even if it needs to be more sustainable (read balanced), going forward. Last month, CII held an India-China CEOs’ Dialogue in New Delhi, which saw strong participation and interest from both Indian and Chinese companies (over 30 companies attended this event). These kind of programmes may be just the beginning, says Chandrajit Banerjee, director-general, CII. “To make trade more sustainable, there is a need for India to export more goods and services to China, become part of East Asian supply chains, and develop closer linkages of small businesses on both sides,” he adds. “We expect more Chinese companies to take a strategic view on growing Indian markets, especially with the ongoing reforms process and progress under ease of doing business.”
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\nAlso read: Boycott of China goods - It isn't business as usual in Delhi this year<\/a><\/strong>
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\nEconomists advise caution while dealing with China. “There is great concern about the overhang of Chinese overcapacity in steel, textiles, chemicals and non-ferrous metals like aluminium,” says Ajit Ranade, chief economist with Aditya Birla Group.
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\n“There is fear that excess capacity may lead to dumping by China… (and) compounds the earlier fear that Chinese goods enjoy subsidies in various forms.” While China rebalances the economy away from trade to domestic consumption, and despite the promise of Chinese domestic market, the overhang of Chinese overcapacity, especially in manufacturing sectors, may persist.
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\nFor now, the tilt in India-China trade is heavily skewed towards Chinese companies and their presence looms everywhere. Chinese phone makers contributed to approximately 38% of the smartphone shipment in September as compared with 30% contribution of the Indian smartphone players as per Counterpoint Research’s monthly India report.
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“While all major brands have succeeded in taking advantage of the festive mood, Chinese players like Xiaomi<\/a>, Lenovo<\/a> (including Motorola), Coolpad have outdone others in online sales, taking advantage of selling on multiple online platforms,” says Tarun Pathak, senior analyst with Counterpoint. “Chinese players are providing high-end specifications and innovative design at affordable prices,” he adds.
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\nConsumers tend to agree. Heena Jhingan, a Delhi-based private sector executive, recently bought a Chinese handset One-Plus3. She says: “As a customer I want the best product that fits my pocket. I don’t think of where it was manufactured nor take decisions based on some random campaign by a random set of people. Are we going to decide we will not have trade ties with China? First let’s decide on that.”
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\nOn the ground, business realities trump any profound sense of nationalism. Since 2005, Vijendra Rawat, cofounder, Studio Kreative, a corporate gifting outfit, has been supplying gifts and merchandise items to over 100 corporate clients across the country.
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\nWhen he started, over 70% of its items were imported from China. But now, around 45% are imported from China. This has got nothing to do with nationalistic sentiments. “Business does not run on sentiments but hard realities,” he says.
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This shift has happened over time because he has managed to find local vendors in categories<\/a> like ceramics, tee shirts and bags where it makes sense to source the products locally. “But by and large Indian manufacturing just cannot match the Chinese. And this isn’t just about costs,” Rawat says.
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\nTake, for example, 3D merchandise. It took him only seven days and just $70 to get the mould ready and shipped from China to India to show the sample to his client. “This kind of product is just not possible to do in India in such a short time. Let’s not mix business dynamics and national sentiments,” he says.
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\nThe other thing that you get in China, which you don’t get elsewhere, is huge specialised markets where they sell the latest unique merchandise. “It’s a great place to go and explore. There is no such place in India,” he says.
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\nIn Mumbai’s Crawford Market (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai), Mohammed Mujid guffaws when asked about any possible ban on Chinese products.
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\nHis store, at the entrance of one of the crowded alleys in this mart in the south of the city, is overflowing with electronics goods and accessories — almost all of them Made in China.
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\n“We can’t survive in this cut-throat business without their products,” he said on the Friday before Diwali. “Everything from your costly phone to `100 cover is today made there.”
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\nInfra Investment Balance<\/strong>
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\nGiven the growing noise over Chinese products (with reports such as key markets such as Sadar Bazar in Delhi expecting a 20% fall in festive sales due to this), Chinese officials appear briefly stung, but then take great pains to point to the booming business between the two countries. “Bilateral trade has grown 24 times in 15 years, from $2.9 billion in 2000 to $71.6 billion in 2015,” Xie Lyan, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India stated. Any boycott of Chinese products could adversely impact trade between the two countries, he warned. “Without proper substitutes, the biggest losers… will be Indian traders and consumers.”
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\nChina watchers think any boycott or ban of Chinese products is ill-conceived and ill-timed. “Economically, it would hurt India more than China... Politically, it would slow progress in bilateral relations and, strategically, it would foster the perception in Beijing that Indian trade policy is subject to the US pivot in Asia, as the US and India remain the largest sources of trade remedy probes against Chinese goods,” says Dan Steinbock, an economic and policy analyst and founder of Difference Group, a think tank.
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\nThe advent and growth of Chinese companies — and the money they bring — may be an opportunity for Indian companies to learn from the best operators in the game. For example, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road, popularly called the One Road One Belt, which proposes to connect China with the rest of Eurasia (at a whopping cost of $4-8 trillion) could serve as a catalyst for the infrastructure investments India needs and new multilateral banks seek to support.
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\nThe consternation over China and Chinese products may also highlight a trade imbalance that has remained hidden in plain sight. “India-China bilateral trade is a very dynamic and fast-growing relationship,” says Ranade of Aditya Birla Group. “In the early 2000s, in terms of India’s export-import relationship with China, India was at 19th position.”
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\nToday, India stands at 6th position for Chinese imports. But it remains 19th in the pecking order for its exports to China. “Therein lies the whole story,” he adds. “In the last 10 years, while Chinese exports to India galloped at 520%, India’s exports to China grew by only 25%… We cannot keep it so skewed. Trade deficit can be partly offset by capital flows in the form of FDI into the country. There is an opportunity for China to invest in long-term infrastructure projects in India, even as India can grow exports in the areas of IT services, pharma, auto ancillaries and tourism.”
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This lofty talk of economics and trade imbalances does little to assuage the fears of Jain in Delhi. She is using earthen diyas to light up her apartment, while Patanjali biscuits and cosmetics will act as Diwali gifts<\/a> this year. China and Chinese goods remain, at least for this family of four, firmly in the doghouse.
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\n(Additional reporting by Indulekha Aravind & Rajiv Singh)<\/em>\n\n<\/p><\/body>","next_sibling":[{"msid":55148694,"title":"BSNL launches Freedom Plan as promotional offer for prepaid users","entity_type":"ARTICLE","link":"\/news\/bsnl-launches-freedom-plan-as-promotional-offer-for-prepaid-users\/55148694","category_name":null,"category_name_seo":"telecomnews"}],"related_content":[],"msid":55148700,"entity_type":"ARTICLE","title":"Why the threat of a boycott of Chinese products is more bark than bite","synopsis":"Scattered across the country, families and individuals started to shun Chinese goods, even as opportunistic fringe elements got into the act.","titleseo":"telecomnews\/why-the-threat-of-a-boycott-of-chinese-products-is-more-bark-than-bite","status":"ACTIVE","authors":[{"author_name":"Rahul Sachitanand","author_link":"\/author\/6230\/rahul-sachitanand","author_image":"https:\/\/etimg.etb2bimg.com\/authorthumb\/6230.cms?width=100&height=100","author_additional":{"thumbsize":false,"msid":6230,"author_name":"Rahul Sachitanand","author_seo_name":"rahul-sachitanand","designation":"Editor","agency":false}},{"author_name":"Malini Goyal","author_link":"\/author\/13063544\/malini-goyal","author_image":"https:\/\/etimg.etb2bimg.com\/authorthumb\/13063544.cms?width=100&height=100","author_additional":{"thumbsize":true,"msid":13063544,"author_name":"Malini Goyal","author_seo_name":"malini-goyal","designation":"Senior Editor","agency":false}}],"Alttitle":{"minfo":""},"artag":"ET Bureau","artdate":"2016-10-31 09:26:21","lastupd":"2016-10-31 09:28:54","breadcrumbTags":["Ganesha","Lenovo","industry","Diwali Gifts","Crackers","categories","Chinese products","Sunday ET","Xiaomi"],"secinfo":{"seolocation":"telecomnews\/why-the-threat-of-a-boycott-of-chinese-products-is-more-bark-than-bite"}}" data-authors="[" rahul sachitanand","malini goyal"]" data-category-name="" data-category_id="" data-date="2016-10-31" data-index="article_1">
分散在全国各地,家庭和个人开始回避中国商品,即使机会边缘元素进入了行动。Vishwa印度教Parishad西孟加拉邦的单元,例如,点燃一小堆大约200个中国制造的电子产品产生影响。承认禁令的影响可能并不明显,耆那教徒认为,未来几个月将开始影响中国。“抵制中国商品是中国伤害的唯一方法,”她说,并补充说她有保证甘尼萨Lakshmi偶像,她今年已经买的不是中国人。
Jain和家庭并不孤单在这个中国和中国的一切的不信任。因为一些中国产品在过去已经发现被污染(婴儿食品,玩具中铅),他们也成为恶作剧的对象。两周前,喀拉拉邦是飘扬的报导说,从中国进口的“假”塑料蛋在超市销售
社交媒体加班给地,一些当地媒体渠道也陷入了圈套,助长了呼吁要采取行动对这些“伪”进口。交易员,他们大多从Namakkal获得该产品在邻近的泰米尔纳德邦,困惑就像政府,最终不得不介入。
国家卫生部长、KK Shylaja说,虽然她没有收到任何官方投诉,调查将启动,根据媒体的报道。这是留给喀拉拉邦Sasthra“Parishad谴责中国报道所谓的鸡蛋和问题缺乏理性,科学思维(在线杂志上的一篇文章,卢卡,建议一个解决方案将在国家给记者一个类X科学教科书)。
他们的立场是正确的在喀拉拉邦兽医和动物科学大学提交了报告,说明鸡蛋不假,由塑料或充满毒素,被谣传。在最坏的情况,他们老了。
这不是第一次中国骗子好可怕的被使用,。去年,喀拉拉邦Mathrubhumi发表了一份报告,从中国进口的“塑料大米”被出售。提交一份请愿书德里高等法院寻求测试样品。但这种偏执并不局限于印度——另一个流行的谣言在国际上,中国是制造假的卷心菜和出口。原点的视频被认为是人们使显示蜡蔬菜,但这并没有阻止谣言的偶尔重修的。
倾斜的交易
而中国是印度最大的贸易伙伴(近720亿美元),公司和个人对这个国家有复杂的感情。历史上,中国一直认为有一些怀疑,与电信设备制造商华为等公司花了七年时间试图打入市场,和其他公司在努力摆脱在质量问题。跨部门等各种玩具、电子产品和汽车零部件、大型中国企业的3月已经受损的本地操作,只有在一些企业进一步提高愤怒。
然而,这一观点似乎正在改变,政府本身领先的方式改变心态。
政府对消费者情绪的不是笨。一位高级政府官员,他们是招商团队的一部分,表示:“我们正从中国进口中国产品质量好,价格是可用的,你不能得到在印度。这不仅仅是印度,但许多其他国家,”他说。排灯节和鞭炮提供一个说明性的例子。
“中国是全球最好的烟火技术中心在一个最低的价格,“这个官员说。“我们不是全球供应链的一部分…建筑需要时间过去我们没有做。”
行业游说团体如CII相信强大的印度和中国之间的贸易关系对两国都很重要,即使这需要更可持续的(平衡),。上个月,人民举行了中印首席执行官的对话在新德里,强烈的参与和利益来自印度和中国的公司(超过30家公司参加了这个事件)。这些项目可能仅仅是个开始,工业联合会总干事Chandrajit Banerjee说。“让贸易更可持续,需要印度向中国出口更多的商品和服务,成为东亚供应链的一部分,和发展紧密联系双方的小企业,”他补充道。“我们期待更多中国企业战略对不断增长的印度市场,尤其是与正在进行的改革过程和进步在缓解做生意的。”
还读:抵制中国商品——这不是今年在德里照常营业
经济学家建议谨慎而与中国打交道。“有巨大的过剩的担忧中国钢铁产能过剩,纺织品,化工和有色金属如铝、“Ajit Ranade说与Aditya Birla集团首席经济学家。
“担心产能过剩可能导致倾销中国…(和)化合物之前担心中国商品享受各种形式的补贴。“虽然中国调整经济,从贸易到国内消费,尽管中国国内市场的承诺,中国的过剩产能过剩,尤其在制造业领域,可能会持续。
现在,中印贸易的倾斜是向中国企业和他们的存在严重倾斜织机无处不在。中国手机制造商贡献了大约38%的智能手机出货在9月这一比例为30%的贡献印度智能手机玩家按照对位研究印度的月度报告。
“虽然所有主要品牌已经成功地利用节日气氛,中国球员小米,联想(包括摩托罗拉(Motorola),酷派数码毁掉别人在网上销售,利用网上销售在多个平台,”塔伦帕沙克说,资深分析师对位。“中国玩家提供高端规格和价格适宜的创新设计,”他补充道。
消费者倾向于同意。位于德里的一个私人部门Heena Jhingan执行官最近买了一个中国手机One-Plus3。她说:“作为一个客户,我希望最好的产品符合我的口袋里。我不认为这是生产也做出决定基于一些随机运动由一组随机的人。我们要决定我们不会与中国的贸易关系吗?首先,让我们决定这一点。”
在地面上,商业现实胜过任何深刻的民族主义。创始人之一,自2005年以来,Vijendra Rawat工作室Kreative,公司赠送,一直提供礼物和商品项全国100多个企业客户。
当他开始,超过70%的项目都从中国进口。但是现在,都从中国进口的45%左右。这与民族主义情绪。“业务不运行在情绪但艰难的现实,”他说。
随着时间的推移发生了这种转变,因为他设法找到本地供应商类别像陶瓷一样,t恤和包在本地源的产品是有意义的。“但总的来说,印度制造业不能与中国相匹配。这不仅仅是成本,”Rawat说。
例如,3 d商品。他只用了七天,70美元准备好模具,从中国运往印度展示样品给他的客户。“这种产品在印度是不可能在这么短的时间内。让我们不混合业务动态和民族感情,”他说。
另一个你在中国,你不会在其他地方,是巨大的专业市场,他们出售最新的独特的商品。“这是一个好地方去探索。没有在印度这样的地方,”他说。
在孟买的克劳福德市场(圣雄Jyotiba Phule Mandai),穆罕默德Mujid大笑当被问及任何可能禁止进口中国产品。
他的商店,门口的一个拥挤的小巷的集市在南方的城市,充满了电子产品及配件,几乎所有中国制造的。
“我们不能生存在这个竞争激烈的业务没有他们的产品,”他说,“排灯节”前的那个周五。100年“从昂贵的手机到封面是今天。”
下文投资平衡
考虑到越来越多的噪音对中国产品(报告如等关键市场Sadar集市在德里期待这个节日销售下降20%),中国官员出现短暂刺激,但是然后煞费苦心指出,两国之间的贸易蓬勃发展。“15年来双边贸易增长了24倍,从29亿年的2000美元到716亿年的2015美元,”谢李燕,中国驻印度大使馆的发言人表示。任何抵制中国产品可以严重影响两国之间的贸易,他警告说。“没有合适的替代品,最大的输家…将印度商人和消费者。”
中国观察家认为任何抵制或禁止的中国产品是考虑不周的,不合时宜的。“在经济上,它会损害印度超过中国…在政治上,它将在两国关系进展缓慢,在战略上,它将促进北京的知觉,印度贸易政策受制于美国主在亚洲,美国和印度保持最大的贸易救济调查针对中国商品的来源,”丹小羚羊说,经济和政策分析师和不同集团的创始人,一个智库。
中国企业的出现和增长——以及他们带来的钱——可能是一个印度公司的机会在比赛中学习最好的运营商。例如,丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路”,通常被称为一个道路一个皮带,提出了连接中国与欧亚大陆(4 - 8美元的成本高达万亿)可以作为催化剂印度基础设施投资需求和新的多边银行寻求支持。
惊愕的对中国和中国产品也强调贸易不平衡,仍然隐藏在普通的场景。“中印双边贸易是一个非常动态和快速增长的关系,“说Ranade Aditya Birla)组。“在2000年代早期,印度与中国的进出口关系而言,印度在19日的位置。”
今天,印度对中国进口站在第六的位置。但它仍然是19的啄序对中国的出口。“这才是整个故事的,”他补充道。“在过去的10年中,中国对印度出口飞奔在520%,印度对中国的出口增长只有25%…我们不能保持倾斜。贸易逆差可以部分抵消资本流动形式的FDI进入这个国家。中国有机会投资于长期基础设施项目在印度,即使印度可以长出口领域的IT服务,医药、汽车辅助服务提供和旅游。”
这个崇高的谈论经济和贸易失衡没有平息Jain在德里的恐惧。她是用瓦迪亚照亮她的公寓,而帕坦伽利的观点饼干和化妆品将担任排灯节礼物今年。中国和中国商品依然存在,至少对于这个四口之家,坚决失宠。
(额外的报告由Indulekha Aravind &拉吉夫·辛格)
China is the biggest enemy of India,” thunders Monika Jain, 42, homemaker and mother of two, in her five-bedroom apartment in Rohini in northwest Delhi. While millions of people will buy streams of lights and other decorations to illuminate their houses for Diwali, mostly mass-manufactured in China, this family is going against the grain and heeding the call of godman-turned-businessman Ramdev to boycott products from there. Military rhetoric (China had been accused of standing with Pakistan days after the militant attacks in Kashmir in September) incited the ochre robeclad baba to demand an economic blockade; and on the ground, fervent nationalists and devoted followers, like Jain, got the ball rolling.
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Scattered across the country, families and individuals started to shun Chinese goods, even as opportunistic fringe elements got into the act. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s West Bengal unit, for instance, torched a small pile of some 200 Chinese-made electronics goods to make an impact. While conceding that the impact of the ban might not be visible now, Jain believes that over the next few months it will start to affect China. “Boycotting Chinese goods is the only way to hurt China,” she says, adding that she has ensured that Ganesha<\/a> and Lakshmi idols that she has bought this year are not Chinese.
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Jain and family are not alone in this distrust of China and all things Chinese. Since some Chinese products<\/a> in the past have been found to be contaminated (baby food, lead in toys), they are also an easy target for hoaxes. Two weeks ago, Kerala was aflutter over reports that “fake” plastic eggs from China were being sold in supermarkets
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\nSocial media worked overtime to give ground to this and some local media channels also took the bait, fuelling the clamour for action to be taken against these “fake” imports. Traders, who mostly get the product from Namakkal in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, were bewildered as was the government, which finally had to step in.
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\nThe state health minister, KK Shylaja, said that although she had not received any official complaints, a probe would be launched, based on media reports. It was left to the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad to decry the reports about the so-called Chinese eggs and question the lack of rational, scientific thinking (an article on their online magazine, Luca, recommends that one solution would be to give journalists in the state a Class X science textbook).
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\nTheir stand was vindicated when the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University submitted its report, stating that the eggs were not fake, made of plastic or full of toxins, as was being rumoured. At worst, they were old.
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\nThis was not the first time the Chinese phoney good bogey was being used, though. Last year, Kerala’s Mathrubhumi published a report that “plastic rice” imported from China was being sold. A petition was submitted to the Delhi High Court seeking testing of samples. But this paranoia is not confined to India — another popular rumour internationally is that China is making fake cabbage and exporting it. The origin is thought to be videos of people making wax vegetables for displays, though that has not stopped the rumour from resurfacing occasionally.
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\nTilt in Trades
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\nWhile China is India’s largest trade partner (nearly $72 billion), companies and individuals have mixed feelings about the country. Historically, China has been viewed with some scepticism, with companies such as telecom gear maker Huawei spending years trying to break into the market, and other companies struggling to shrug off issues over quality. Across sectors as diverse as toys, electronics and auto parts, the march of large-scale Chinese companies has crippled local operations, only further raising the hackles across some businesses.
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\nHowever, that view appears to be changing, with the government itself leading the way in changing mindsets.
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\nThe government isn’t clueless about consumer sentiments. A senior government official, who is part of the investment promotion team, says: “We are importing from China because Chinese products<\/a>, of good quality, are available at prices that you just cannot get in India. And this isn’t just India but many other countries,” he says. Diwali and firecrackers provide an illustrative example.
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\n“China is the global hub of the best pyrotechnic technology at one of the lowest prices,” this official contends. “We are not part of the global supply chain… building that takes time as we haven’t done it in the past.”
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Industry<\/a> lobbies such as CII believe that strong trade relations between India and China are important for both nations, even if it needs to be more sustainable (read balanced), going forward. Last month, CII held an India-China CEOs’ Dialogue in New Delhi, which saw strong participation and interest from both Indian and Chinese companies (over 30 companies attended this event). These kind of programmes may be just the beginning, says Chandrajit Banerjee, director-general, CII. “To make trade more sustainable, there is a need for India to export more goods and services to China, become part of East Asian supply chains, and develop closer linkages of small businesses on both sides,” he adds. “We expect more Chinese companies to take a strategic view on growing Indian markets, especially with the ongoing reforms process and progress under ease of doing business.”
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\nAlso read: Boycott of China goods - It isn't business as usual in Delhi this year<\/a><\/strong>
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\nEconomists advise caution while dealing with China. “There is great concern about the overhang of Chinese overcapacity in steel, textiles, chemicals and non-ferrous metals like aluminium,” says Ajit Ranade, chief economist with Aditya Birla Group.
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\n“There is fear that excess capacity may lead to dumping by China… (and) compounds the earlier fear that Chinese goods enjoy subsidies in various forms.” While China rebalances the economy away from trade to domestic consumption, and despite the promise of Chinese domestic market, the overhang of Chinese overcapacity, especially in manufacturing sectors, may persist.
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\nFor now, the tilt in India-China trade is heavily skewed towards Chinese companies and their presence looms everywhere. Chinese phone makers contributed to approximately 38% of the smartphone shipment in September as compared with 30% contribution of the Indian smartphone players as per Counterpoint Research’s monthly India report.
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“While all major brands have succeeded in taking advantage of the festive mood, Chinese players like Xiaomi<\/a>, Lenovo<\/a> (including Motorola), Coolpad have outdone others in online sales, taking advantage of selling on multiple online platforms,” says Tarun Pathak, senior analyst with Counterpoint. “Chinese players are providing high-end specifications and innovative design at affordable prices,” he adds.
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\nConsumers tend to agree. Heena Jhingan, a Delhi-based private sector executive, recently bought a Chinese handset One-Plus3. She says: “As a customer I want the best product that fits my pocket. I don’t think of where it was manufactured nor take decisions based on some random campaign by a random set of people. Are we going to decide we will not have trade ties with China? First let’s decide on that.”
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\nOn the ground, business realities trump any profound sense of nationalism. Since 2005, Vijendra Rawat, cofounder, Studio Kreative, a corporate gifting outfit, has been supplying gifts and merchandise items to over 100 corporate clients across the country.
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\nWhen he started, over 70% of its items were imported from China. But now, around 45% are imported from China. This has got nothing to do with nationalistic sentiments. “Business does not run on sentiments but hard realities,” he says.
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This shift has happened over time because he has managed to find local vendors in categories<\/a> like ceramics, tee shirts and bags where it makes sense to source the products locally. “But by and large Indian manufacturing just cannot match the Chinese. And this isn’t just about costs,” Rawat says.
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\nTake, for example, 3D merchandise. It took him only seven days and just $70 to get the mould ready and shipped from China to India to show the sample to his client. “This kind of product is just not possible to do in India in such a short time. Let’s not mix business dynamics and national sentiments,” he says.
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\nThe other thing that you get in China, which you don’t get elsewhere, is huge specialised markets where they sell the latest unique merchandise. “It’s a great place to go and explore. There is no such place in India,” he says.
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\nIn Mumbai’s Crawford Market (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai), Mohammed Mujid guffaws when asked about any possible ban on Chinese products.
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\nHis store, at the entrance of one of the crowded alleys in this mart in the south of the city, is overflowing with electronics goods and accessories — almost all of them Made in China.
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\n“We can’t survive in this cut-throat business without their products,” he said on the Friday before Diwali. “Everything from your costly phone to `100 cover is today made there.”
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\nInfra Investment Balance<\/strong>
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\nGiven the growing noise over Chinese products (with reports such as key markets such as Sadar Bazar in Delhi expecting a 20% fall in festive sales due to this), Chinese officials appear briefly stung, but then take great pains to point to the booming business between the two countries. “Bilateral trade has grown 24 times in 15 years, from $2.9 billion in 2000 to $71.6 billion in 2015,” Xie Lyan, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India stated. Any boycott of Chinese products could adversely impact trade between the two countries, he warned. “Without proper substitutes, the biggest losers… will be Indian traders and consumers.”
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\nChina watchers think any boycott or ban of Chinese products is ill-conceived and ill-timed. “Economically, it would hurt India more than China... Politically, it would slow progress in bilateral relations and, strategically, it would foster the perception in Beijing that Indian trade policy is subject to the US pivot in Asia, as the US and India remain the largest sources of trade remedy probes against Chinese goods,” says Dan Steinbock, an economic and policy analyst and founder of Difference Group, a think tank.
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\nThe advent and growth of Chinese companies — and the money they bring — may be an opportunity for Indian companies to learn from the best operators in the game. For example, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road, popularly called the One Road One Belt, which proposes to connect China with the rest of Eurasia (at a whopping cost of $4-8 trillion) could serve as a catalyst for the infrastructure investments India needs and new multilateral banks seek to support.
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\nThe consternation over China and Chinese products may also highlight a trade imbalance that has remained hidden in plain sight. “India-China bilateral trade is a very dynamic and fast-growing relationship,” says Ranade of Aditya Birla Group. “In the early 2000s, in terms of India’s export-import relationship with China, India was at 19th position.”
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\nToday, India stands at 6th position for Chinese imports. But it remains 19th in the pecking order for its exports to China. “Therein lies the whole story,” he adds. “In the last 10 years, while Chinese exports to India galloped at 520%, India’s exports to China grew by only 25%… We cannot keep it so skewed. Trade deficit can be partly offset by capital flows in the form of FDI into the country. There is an opportunity for China to invest in long-term infrastructure projects in India, even as India can grow exports in the areas of IT services, pharma, auto ancillaries and tourism.”
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This lofty talk of economics and trade imbalances does little to assuage the fears of Jain in Delhi. She is using earthen diyas to light up her apartment, while Patanjali biscuits and cosmetics will act as Diwali gifts<\/a> this year. China and Chinese goods remain, at least for this family of four, firmly in the doghouse.
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\n(Additional reporting by Indulekha Aravind & Rajiv Singh)<\/em>\n\n<\/p><\/body>","next_sibling":[{"msid":55148694,"title":"BSNL launches Freedom Plan as promotional offer for prepaid users","entity_type":"ARTICLE","link":"\/news\/bsnl-launches-freedom-plan-as-promotional-offer-for-prepaid-users\/55148694","category_name":null,"category_name_seo":"telecomnews"}],"related_content":[],"msid":55148700,"entity_type":"ARTICLE","title":"Why the threat of a boycott of Chinese products is more bark than bite","synopsis":"Scattered across the country, families and individuals started to shun Chinese goods, even as opportunistic fringe elements got into the act.","titleseo":"telecomnews\/why-the-threat-of-a-boycott-of-chinese-products-is-more-bark-than-bite","status":"ACTIVE","authors":[{"author_name":"Rahul Sachitanand","author_link":"\/author\/6230\/rahul-sachitanand","author_image":"https:\/\/etimg.etb2bimg.com\/authorthumb\/6230.cms?width=100&height=100","author_additional":{"thumbsize":false,"msid":6230,"author_name":"Rahul Sachitanand","author_seo_name":"rahul-sachitanand","designation":"Editor","agency":false}},{"author_name":"Malini Goyal","author_link":"\/author\/13063544\/malini-goyal","author_image":"https:\/\/etimg.etb2bimg.com\/authorthumb\/13063544.cms?width=100&height=100","author_additional":{"thumbsize":true,"msid":13063544,"author_name":"Malini Goyal","author_seo_name":"malini-goyal","designation":"Senior Editor","agency":false}}],"Alttitle":{"minfo":""},"artag":"ET Bureau","artdate":"2016-10-31 09:26:21","lastupd":"2016-10-31 09:28:54","breadcrumbTags":["Ganesha","Lenovo","industry","Diwali Gifts","Crackers","categories","Chinese products","Sunday ET","Xiaomi"],"secinfo":{"seolocation":"telecomnews\/why-the-threat-of-a-boycott-of-chinese-products-is-more-bark-than-bite"}}" data-news_link="//www.iser-br.com/news/why-the-threat-of-a-boycott-of-chinese-products-is-more-bark-than-bite/55148700">
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