Chinese Bulbs or Indian Diyas for the festive season?
- In Current Affairs
- 01:13 PM, Oct 27, 2016
- Ranabir Bhattacharyya
The last few weeks have witnessed a growing social media campaign, calling Indians for boycotting all Chinese products or goods. The campaign got huge impetus especially after the usual Chinese opposition to UN proposal of banning JeM chief Masood Azhar and their motivated obstruction to India's entry in Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Not only that, be it border conflict with the Chinese counterparts with regard to Arunachal Pradesh or other North Eastern states or taking Pakistan's side even after the much condemned Uri attack, there has been growing demands in all corners to ban Chinese goods and products.
There is no denying the fact that Indian market gives huge revenue to the Chinese companies. From electronic goods to household products, Indian market has been flooded with poor quality, cheap Chinese products. Even in the age of online shopping, the trend hasn't stopped. The Chinese companies are making huge profits from the Indian market. Interestingly, not only India, but also other countries have categorically reviewed Chinese goods and products, which have been of inferior quality and also serious concerns have been going around with regard to the health hazards posed by these products. The proven mischievous track record of the Chinese companies also calls for serious speculation whether the Indian Government needs to be proactive in its approach.
The whole idea of boycotting Chinese goods reminds of the British era. More than century back, when Lord Curzon called for partition of Bengal with a motive to ignite communal hatred, Bengali intellectuals urged common people to boycott British goods. The whole episode has been remembered in the history of Indian freedom struggle as Swadeshi movement. Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore was also among one of those pioneers who were in the forefront in the Swadeshi movement. The sole motive of the idea was not selective hatred but to raise awareness on indigenous products. The whole movement received huge response and has been cited by the historians to be a pivotal point which compelled the British to abandon the idea of portioning Bengal. It won't be an exaggeration to say that the Swadeshi movement rekindled hope on desi khadi products and stressed on more investments in small scale industries.
There has been a popular misconception about why India can’t make cheap products like China. Interestingly, both in the domains of productivity and efficient labour-force, China has simply gone way beyond other countries. Not only it has been extremely successful in keeping the pace but its shrewd marketing policies have truly complemented the success stories of revenue-making curve of Chinese goods and products. On the other hand, let's not forget the fact that China witnesses gross violation of labour rights and thus product prices do not bear the brunt of rising labour wage. The whole supply chain management of China is also something that needs to be looked at carefully. The Chinese authorities are also smart enough in competitive pricing and their understanding of regional and international markets gives them an extra edge over other competitors. Lastly, any discussion on Chinese goods and products is incomplete without mentioning their currency manipulation tactics. Over the decades, China has categorically undervalued their currency Yuan to the US dollar. This has given them added advantage in the international market in keeping lower prices of the products, giving more revenue in the long run.
Is banning Chinese goods and products going to change the scenario?
Well, the diplomatic set up of a country as big as China is certainly not going to change with the internet campaign calling for boycotting Chinese goods and products in India. From a constructive farsighted approach, India needs to reinforce itself with FDI, creating conducive atmosphere for more investments and improving logistics and infrastructure. Direct influx of skilled workforce is needed in manufacturing sector to compete with giant Chinese companies.
To be practical, in a free marketing scenario, it is next to impossible to boycott products from a specific country. Also, there are many conglomerates where Chinese stakeholders are predominantly active. So an emotional call to boycott Chinese goods or products cannot bring a long time benefit. Rather the focus should be on giving maximum impetus to Indian products that are made in India. People will certainly buy Indian diyas in Diwali rather than opting for Chinese bulbs if they find it useful and affordable at the same time.
Pic Credit: By nkjain - Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=285034
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