India will usher in the most important festival of Hinduism of the year, Diwali, on November 14 this year. Some non-governmental forces once again set off a wave of “boycott of Chinese goods”. On the 9th, Indian Prime Minister Modi called for “localization of Diwali” and asked Indians to buy all Indian goods during the festival.
The Hindu Diwali festival has a tradition of lighting lamps in every household that night, which means “light drives away darkness”. The Times of India stated that since the Sino-Indian border standoff this year, Indian civil organizations and some individuals have repeatedly called on the people to “boycott Chinese products.”
According to reports, during this year’s Diwali consumption season, Chinese companies exporting goods to India may suffer losses of up to 4,000 crore rupees 1 rupees = 0.015$ affected by the “boycott of Chinese goods”.
The All-India Federation of Traders issued a statement stating that India’s annual market during Diwali was as high as 7000 billion rupees, of which Chinese imports accounted for more than 50%.
“However, China’s merciless slaughter of 20 Indian soldiers has inspired India. The hatred and dissatisfaction of the people has caused them to stop buying Chinese goods.” Previously, the Indian government also mandated major e-commerce platforms to indicate the origin of the goods sold.
The Global Times reporter’s investigation found that due to the Coronavirus pandemic, online shopping in India has been unprecedentedly active this year.
The number of users has surged from about 28 million during the same period of Diwali last year to about 50 million. On online shopping platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart, most of the high-volume products are made locally in India.
Hong Kong’s “South China Morning Post” said on the 9th that India has imported a large number of LED lights for Diwali lighting activities from China and other places almost every year in recent years, with a total import value of about 10 billion rupees.
But this year, a civil organization in India aimed at protecting the country’s cattle industry called for the use of environmentally friendly oil lamps made from cow dung instead of LED lamps imported from China, and received many responses.
However, the report also mentioned that Chinese-made LED lights are still favored by Indian consumers because of their high quality and low price . Chennai’s lighting distributor Kumar said: “People prefer Chinese products because of their low prices and wide variety. ” India The largest market for electrical products-the Bhajrat Palace in New Delhi has more than 2,000 wholesalers.
Traders deal in all kinds of lamps, but most of them are imported from China.
The owner of a community grocery store in southern New Delhi, the Indian capital, told the Global Times reporter, “Since most of the people living in this community are foreigners, the boycott is not as strong as in other regions.” He also said, “I personally like LED lights and other decorative objects made in China.
Compared with those made in India, they are of better quality and more variety.” He also told reporters, “Most of the products are actually not marked with the place of origin, so you can say what you want. If consumers care, why not say they are made in India?”
The Associated Press said on the 9th that India has more than 8.55 million confirmed cases of Coronavirus Pandemic, second only to the United States. The Indian government warned that gathering shopping before Diwali could worsen the pandemic.
