New Delhi: Sajjan Jindal, the chairman and managing director of JSW Group, took to Twitter Monday to call out his “friends and co-industrialists” who are “upset” about their businesses with China getting impacted following the Galwan Valley clashes last month.
A lot of my friends & co-industrialists are upset as their business with #China is imp to maintain healthy margins & continuity. But this situation has come because of our complacency in blindly accepting cheaper imports from China rather than developing our own domestic vendors.
— Sajjan Jindal (@sajjanjindal) July 6, 2020
One of India’s largest conglomerates that is valued at $12 billion, JSW spearheads initiatives in many sectors such as steel, energy, cement, paints, sports.
In his tweet, Jindal said the reason why these businesses were getting affected was due to the “complacency in blindly accepting cheaper imports from China rather than developing our domestic vendors”.
Tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in his tweet thread, Jindal also said businesspersons cannot keep making money by “buying cheaper Chinese raw materials” while “our soldiers are getting killed at the LAC” by China.
He added: “We have to support our armed forces & Govt and prove that we stand with them in this fight against Chinese (sic).”
We cannot keep making money by buying cheaper Chinese raw materials for our business while our soldiers are getting killed at the LAC by them. We have to support our armed forces & Govt and prove that we stand with them in this fight against Chinese. @PMOIndia @nsitharaman
— Sajjan Jindal (@sajjanjindal) July 6, 2020
Calling the situation an opportunity to come together and push for a stronger “#AtmaNirbhar” India, he said it was time to support domestic producers and show loyalty to homegrown products.
This is an opportunity for us all to come together and push for a stronger #AtmaNirbharBharat . Let us support our domestic producers in achieving quality and scale. We have to show loyalty to our own products. @FollowCII @NITIAayog @ficci_india @ASSOCHAM4India @siamindia
— Sajjan Jindal (@sajjanjindal) July 6, 2020
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Face-off with China
India and China had a violent face-off at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on 15 June, resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers. It was the first time in 45 years that a soldier had died in violence along the LAC.
This soon led to the Narendra Modi government to ban ing 59 Chinese apps, including the popular TikTok, Weibo and WeChat. Following the clashes, there has also been a demand to boycott Chinese goods.
Reports have emerged that the central government was contemplating raising trade barriers on close to 300 Chinese products too.
In his speeches earlier, PM Modi had pushed for an “atmanirbhar” — self-reliant — India to emerge stronger from the coronavirus pandemic, and pushed for an increase in domestic production.
Also read: Modi’s chest-thumping ministers, and not Congress, are an irritant in dealing with China