Sale of Chinese goods declined by 60% during Diwali: CAIT survey

Although this year's Diwali has been the worst for traders across the country in the last 20 years, sales during this festival have certainly dealt a major blow to China. 

A 60% decline in sales of Chinese products has come out after a survey was conducted by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in 21 cities across the country during the Diwali festival.

According to an estimate, the value of Chinese goods sold during Diwali in 2018 was around Rs 8000 crore, while the sale of Chinese goods on Diwali this year was around Rs 3200 crore.

This tremendous drop in sales of Chinese products reflects the buying mentality of Indian businessmen and the changing buying behavior of Indian consumers. 

CAIT launched a nationwide campaign for the boycott of Chinese products last year which saw a drop of nearly 30% in sales of Chinese goods. There was a major decline in sales of Chinese products, especially gift items, electrical gadgets, fancy lights, kitchenware and kitchen appliances, plastic items, Indian gods and figurines, home decor items, toys, electronic items, wall hangings, according to CAIT's survey.

Around 85% of the traders surveyed said that they saw a decline in sales of Chinese products during this Diwali festival while the remaining 15% of traders believed that there is still a demand for Chinese goods in the market.

A survey of the reality of the sale of Chinese products by the CAIT Research and Trade Development Society from October 24 to October 29, was conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Raipur, Nagpur, Pune, Bhopal, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Dehradun, Jammu, Coimbatore, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Pondicherry and Tinsukia.

This Diwali has seen a drop of nearly 60% in the consumption of Chinese products compared to last year. According to the findings, the consumer preferred Indian products over Chinese goods.

Unlike previous years, this year Indian products ranging from clay lamps (diyas) to fancy lights, green firecrackers, idols made of clay and brass and silver, kitchen appliances, etc were abundantly available in the market.

Citing the reason for the boycott of Chinese goods, whenever there is an issue with Pakistan, China has always favoured Pakistan, which motivated the traders to boycott China's products that harbour the country's enemy. 

The trade gap between India and China is quite large and this is one of the reasons why traders decided to give priority to Indian goods over Chinese goods.

If the government brings a support policy on this issue in which domestic small manufacturers get technical and financial support to produce quality goods at competitive rates, then dependence on China for goods will surely be reduced.