#Boycott China May Become A Blooper For Its Image

Bhubaneswar: Soon after China’s 4th blockade of designating Masood Azhar a global terrorist, the call to boycott Chinese goods started doing rounds on social media. While India imports telecom equipment goods worth Rs 70000 crore from China, the overall imports account for only 2 per cent of China’s entire exports, according to a report in the Economic Times. 92 per cent of the imports is related to power sector, electronics, pharma and electrical manufacturing components.

Here is a list of things we import from China:

1. Power

The solar energy sector, between April 2016 and January 2017, has 87 per cent Chinese equipment with a value pegged at $1.9 billion.

2. Electronics

Telecom infrastructure products from ZTE and Huawei make up a large part of the total Rs 70000 crore electronics import from China. Chinese mobile phones makers such as Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and others control 51 per cent of the $8 billion handset market in the country.

3. Machinery

Heavy duty manufacturing machinery and components are a big chunk of products imported from China.

4. Pharma

India’s pharma industry imports critical components and products from China for manufacturing drugs. 90% of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are sourced from China.

5. Daily use

95 per cent of day-to-day use items imports (Low-tech labour-intensive manufactured products) such as blankets, travelling rugs, bed linen, artificial flowers, ceramic tableware, kitchenware, baby carriages, clock movements, tricycles, festival items, combs, vacuum flasks, candles, etc are imported from China.

India exports raw materials to China, but it imports much more than it exports. According to experts, considering that China’s overall export to India is just 2 per cent of its total exports, it is less likely that boycotting Chinese products will have an impact on China. However, some believe that it can help tarnish China’s image as it is trying to expanding its markets across Africa and other countries.