43% Indians did not buy ‘Made in China’ products since Galwan clash last year, survey says

A LocalCircles survey released Tuesday found that out of those who did buy Chinese-made items, 60% said they only bought only one or two items.

Made in China products (representational image) | Photo: Nandita Singh | ThePrint

New Delhi: One year after the Galwan Valley clash between India and China, at least 43 per cent Indian consumers did not buy a single ‘Made in China product’ last year, a new survey has revealed.

The survey by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, was released Tuesday.

It noted that in the past 12 months, 34 per cent consumers bought only one or two Chinese-made items while 8 per cent bought three to five of them.

Furthermore, 4 per cent consumers bought five to ten Chinese products, 3 per cent bought 10-15, 1 per cent said they bought over 20 products while another 1 per cent bought 15-20 products.

Six per cent of the consumers did not have an opinion. This question in the survey received 9,052 responses.

The overall survey received 17,800 responses across 281 districts of India. Of the total respondents, 67 per cent were men and 33 per cent were women.

Forty four per cent respondents were from Tier 1 cities, 31 per cent were from Tier 2 and 25 per cent were from Tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

60% Indians bought only 1 or 2 Chinese products

Of the total respondents who bought Chinese products, 60 per cent said they bought only one or two items, 14 per cent said they bought three or four products, 7 per cent said they bought five to ten, 2 per cent said 10-15 and another 2 per cent said they bought more than 20 products. Ten per cent couldn’t say.

When asked why they bought ‘Made in China’ products in the last year, a total of 70 per cent respondents said they did so because they felt the products offered value for money.

While 26 per cent of respondents said the reasons behind their purchase was “value for money”, 2 per cent said “better quality”, and 9 per cent said “uniqueness”. Meanwhile, 13 per cent said it was “both value for money and quality”, 8 per cent said it was “both value for money and uniqueness”, 23 per cent said “value for money, quality and uniqueness” and 19 per cent did not have an opinion.

This question in the survey received 8,754 responses.

Earlier survey on Chinese products 

An earlier LocalCircles survey, conducted during the festive season in November 2020, found that 71 per cent of Indian consumers did not purchase Chinese-made products and many of those who did, were swayed by lower prices.

It has been a year since Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, after which the Narendra Modi government restricted the import of several ‘Made in China’ products, encouraged a self-reliant or “aatma nirbhar (self-reliant)” economy and banned over 100 Chinese-made apps.

India and China have since held 11 rounds of military talks and both countries have taken steps to disengage at the border.