As India and China defuse the border tensions through diplomatic machinery, there is a widespread anti-China sentiment in India which has seen the “Boycott Chinese Products” campaign gain momentum. In a move that will result in serious losses for China, The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has decided to boycott all China made Rakhis on the occasion of Rakshabandhan, which will likely cost China losses to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore.
In a bid to end India’s reliance on Chinese goods and promote, Made in India products, seven crore traders have decided to not sell Chinese Rakhis this Rakshbandhan. Chinese Rakhis will be replaced by Indian Rakhis as the order of one thousand crore Rakhis given to China has been cancelled by the traders.
This move will not only increase employment in India but will also cause China a loss of a whopping Rs 4,000 crore. “On this Rakshabandhan, we are trying to encourage indigenous Rakhis. This will provide employment opportunities to thousands of people of the country and will also boost the Atmanirbhar India campaign.” said a spokesperson of CAIT.
CAIT which is India’s largest traders’ body consists of more than 40,000 trade associations and seven crore members. Just a couple of days ago, the body in a statement had said that it wants to celebrate a “purely Hindustani Rakhi Festival”.
“This time any rakhi made by China or any rakhi-related product from China will not be used! In order to encourage the brave soldiers who are guarding the borders of the country, the women’s wing of the CAIT will give 5,000 rakhis to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for the soldiers,” the traders’ body said.
Sushil Kumar Jain, the Delhi-NCR unit convenor of the CAIT, said, “Not only is finished rakhi imported from China but also rakhi-making products like foam, paper foil, rakhi thread, pearls, drops, decorative items for rakhi are also imported. Due to CAIT’s campaign to boycott Chinese goods, no Chinese goods will be used in rakhi this year and we are confident that China is set to lose about Rs 4,000 crores of business.”
Earlier in June, CAIT had decided to boycott Chinese goods worth more than 1 lakh crore rupees – 13 billion dollars approximately – by December 2021. CAIT has already prepared a list of 3,000 items which includes toys, gifts, FMCG products, confectionery products, cloths and watches, as good indigenously manufactured alternatives of these items are available.
“In the year 2001, the import of Chinese goods into India was only $2 billion, which has now increased to $70 billion, meaning that imports from China increased by 3500 per cent in only 20 years. This clearly shows that under a well thought out strategy, China is trying to gain control over India’s retail market, which Indian businessmen and citizens will not allow to succeed in any case,” said Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, CAIT.
He added, “I must admit it was an error on the part of business community, traders as also the government that we did not look at alternatives earlier which allowed China to become this big. It is high time now and corrective measures are needed.”
While there is a long way to go before India can completely boycott Chinese goods especially in the smartphone category, but such steps will go a long way in making India truly self-reliant and teach China a lesson it will never forget.