Why India Can't Boycott Chinese Goods!

Indian politicians are leading a campaign to boycott Chinese goods.

- Abishek Waghmare

But an India Spend analysis shows why this will fail: China is India’s largest trade partner, a sixth of India’s imports are Chinese, up from a tenth in 2011-12, while India’s exports to its rival have halved over the same period.

Imports from China grew at 20% over two years and 5% over five years, to $61 billion. These goods range from power plants and set-top boxes to Ganesh idols. This is despite the fact that India’s imports have generally fallen over the last five years — from $490 billion (Rs 23 lakh crore) to $380 billion (Rs 25 lakh crore) — because of a fall in global oil prices.

India’s exports to China have fallen from $18 billion (Rs 86,000 crore) in 2011-12 to $9 billion (Rs 58,000 crore) in 2015-16. Apart from cotton, copper, petroleum and industrial machinery, India does not export much to China. This means that India buys six times the merchandise it sells to China.

Cellphones, laptops, solar cells, fertilisers, keyboards, displays and communication equipment — including earphones — these are India’s chief imports from China, according to our analysis of Ministry of Commerce data.