ARE WE RISKING JOBS AND BUSINESSES BY BOYCOTTING CHINESE PRODUCTS? - WHAT EXPERTS SAY

As the tension amid China and India increases due to the border disputes, Indian natives are keen on banning Chinese products. This is seen as a way of over-throwing their market, thereby becoming self-sufficient. However, cutting off China will result in job loss for Indians.

India is the main market for China’s technological products. This includes TikTok and the various smart phones. In the last five years, Chinese made smart phones have dominated the list of top five best-selling smart phones in the country. These include, Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Realme.

Chinese smartphone brands alone generated more than $16 billion in 2019. However, all of them have manufacturing units in India. This way, these Chinese companies were adhering to “Make in India” programme initiated by PM Modi.

Hence when the demand for these products decrease, or when they are boycotted, Indians will be losing their jobs. Xiomi manufactures 95% of its phones in India. "So if you're talking about cutting down the sales or shipment for these guys, it also impacts the factories that they have in India,” and will "absolutely" affect Indian jobs, said Kiranjeet Kaur, Business and Market Analyst with IDC.

She also reemphasised on the fact that Indians are very dependent on Chinese products. "I really don't think it's going to change their buying decisions at all. They're so dependent on these Chinese phone ecosystems, there's hardly any other choices,” she said.