Post the death of the 2 soldiers of the Indian Armed Force in Ladakh’s Galwan valley, the bilateral ties between India and China look fragile as there have been demands by people to boycott Chinese goods in the country.
Even as the option sounds logical and viable at the moment, in the short-run, it is not feasible at all as India relies on China for finished and intermediate goods. These goods are then used to produce products domestically. For example, 75 percent of all the smartphones that are sold in India are made by one or the other Chinese companies. Although there were domestic companies manufacturing phones, they lost to the Chinese since the arrival of 4G. With what is known, smartphone users in India are only expected to rise significantly.
The most popular smartphone brand Apple has many of its components coming from China. The company has now started to make models in India too but they aren’t the flagship models. China amounts to over 67 percent of imports of electronic components including semiconductors, integrated circuits, etc.
Even India’s pharmaceutical industry is reliant on China. 67 percent of India’s pharmaceutical ingredients come from China. In the last financial year alone, India imported chemicals worth $2.6 billion.
India’s Reliance on China
Apart from that, 45 percent of consumer durables in India is imported from China that includes Air Conditioner, refrigerators, and televisions. 45 Percent of all the smart TVs sold in India are Chinese. Even if somebody wants to go for the alternatives, it would cost 20-45 percent costlier. 38 percent of imported leather goods that are mostly shoes come from the neighboring country China. In the last financial year alone, the leather industry was worth of 780 billion rupees. 18 percent of India’s auto components come from China.
Even in technologically driven applications, India is the largest consumer of Chinese applications. Tik Tok, the most popular application in the world, which has over a billion downloads, has India as its biggest market. It is estimating that India has 120 million monthly users. The largest gaming application PUBG which has taken India by a storm has a massive following in the country.
Source: Money Control
