87% Indians say they are willing to boycott buying Chinese products for next 1 year in light of the latest India-China faceoff

87% Indians say they are willing to boycott buying Chinese products for the next 1 year in light of the latest India-China faceoff

Many Indian trader associations have also called for a boycott of many Chinese made products in response of the unprovoked aggression by the Chinese troops resulting in the death of many Indian soldiers in Ladakh.

So people realise that many of the day to day brands used by them in India are infact Chinese, citizens were explicitly asked if they are willing to boycott buying/using products & services of Chinese companies like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, One Plus, Club Factory, Aliexpress, Shein, Tik Tok, WeChat etc. effective immediately, 58% said ‘yes, won’t buy from now’, while 39% said ‘yes, won’t buy from now but have to use what I have already purchased’.

97% Indians say they will boycott buying major chinese brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo etc; 39% of them say will use what they have but won’t buy new

This means that 97% Indians say they will boycott buying major Chinese brands and instead, support Indian brands. Many of these companies have had an important hand in the economic expansion of China in the last decade and India stays a strategically important market for many big Chinese companies. Major categories of imports from China include smartphones, telecom equipment, televisions, home appliances, auto components, pharma ingredients etc.

People were also asked if India should impose a 200% import duty on all products made in China. To this, 42% responded in an out-and-out ‘yes’ while 36% said this should be done with exemption on raw material supplies. Only 20% said that this should not be done.

78% Indians support Government imposing 200% duty on chinese imports; 36% want raw material supplies exempted from such duty

India, post the Pulwama attack in Feb 2019 had imposed a 200% duty on all products imported from Pakistan. The case with China is however significantly different as a sizable percentage of consumer goods, especially electronics. sold in India either are made fully in China or have components from China. The 36% of the 78% who support 200% duty imposition on Chinese made goods said that such a duty should not apply to raw materials. A large majority of pharmaceutical ingredients are also imported from China and such a duty will only increase prices of goods for the Indian consumer.

However, many Indian manufacturers do admit that the Chinese manufacturing efficiency is far ahead of India’s and as a result, some of them instead of manufacturing all components in India are importing significant amounts from China now and assembling in India, thereby leading to lower prices for the Indian as well as global customers. Per some India based manufacturers though, many of the Chinese products sold in India beat them on prices as they do not conform to Indian standards and their quality is not up to the Indian Standards. Per them, in addition to creating an unfair competitive environment, such products are also harmful, and in some cases, dangerous for the Indian consumers.

90% Indians in the final poll said that all products with country of origin as China must be required to have a mandatory BIS, CRS, CDSCO, FSSAI or relevant Indian Standards certification for them to be sold in India. Only 5% voted against it. 5% did not have an opinion.

90% Indians say all products with country of origin as China must be required to have a mandatory BIS, CRS, CDSCO, FSSAI or relevant Indian Standards certification for them to be sold in India

The Indian Government has been mulling economic sanctions on China, including limiting access for Chinese manufacturers to Indian customers. Many Chinese products are also looking at anti-dumping duty being imposed on them. India’s trade deficit with China was $56.77 billion in 2019 and many heavy import categories from China are now under the Government scanner.

It looks like the bilateral relations between the 2 countries has reached an inflection point and something will have to be done quickly to bring things back to normal. The Indian citizenry, however, has made itself clear that nothing comes above the nation’s pride and they are ready to stand with the country by boycotting Chinese products.

Survey Demographics

Over 32,000 responses were received from citizens located in 235 districts of India. 61% respondents were men while 39% respondents were women. 62% respondents were from tier 1, 28% from tier 2 and 10% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts. The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform and all participants are validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.