India-China border row: Traders' body CAIT releases list of 500 Chinese items to be boycotted

Amid escalating border tensions with China, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has released a list of more than 500 Chinese products to be boycotted. The list includes FMCG products, consumer durables, toys, furnishing fabrics, textiles, builder hardware, footwear, apparel, kitchen items, among others. "By calling for the boycott of these Chinese products, the objective is to reduce import of Chinese Finished goods by $13 billion or about Rs one lakh crore, by December 2021," CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal told BusinessToday.In.

"We have raised some very important issues with the government today including cancellation of Delhi-Meerut RRTS project. It should be given to an Indian company instead of the Chinese firm. Secondly, the government should look closely at Chinese funding in various Indian startups such as Paytm and BigBasket," Khandelwal said. The issue of People's Bank of China (PBoC) recently raising its stake in the country's largest non-banking mortgage provider HDFC was also taken up, Khandelwal added.

"CAIT requests movie stars to refrain from endorsing Chinese products," he said. "I can't go to the border, but I can boycott Chinese products to support my army and country," Khandelwal also said while sharing CAIT's motto.

In the first phase, CAIT has selected more than 500 broad categories of items including over 3,000 items which are made indigenously in India. "Manufacturing of these items do not require any sophisticated technology and even if they do, India is well equipped and therefore the goods manufactured in India can be used very easily in place of the Chinese goods which will reduce India's dependence on China for these goods," CAIT said.

The traders' body claims to represent 7 crore traders and 40,000 trade associations  across the country. Meanwhile, CAIT on June 10 launched a campaign to boycott Chinese goods with an aim to reduce India's imports of products manufactured in the country by $13 billion by December 2021. The traders' body had prepared a list of 3,000 items which are currently imported from China and easily replaceable by Indian manufactured goods.

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