Will the latest skirmish between India and China at the Arunachal Pradesh LAC on December 9, reportedly resulting in injuries on both sides, have a fallout on buying Made-in-China products?
The latest survey by India’s leading Community Social Media platform LocalCircles revealed that 6 in 10 Indians surveyed reduced their Made-in-China purchases in 2022 given the geopolitical situation.
A look at the numbers
Nearly 58% of Indians have reduced their Made-in-China purchases due to the current geopolitical situation; 26% of them say they found Indian alternatives to be better in price and quality. About 35% shared gadgets and electronic goods and accessories as the top category of Chinese products they bought in the last 12 months followed by 14% indicating festive celebration articles like lighting and lamps.
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Nearly 29% of Indian smartphone users surveyed still have one or two Chinese apps on their mobile phones, though a majority of 59% have none.
LocalCircles attempted to understand the pulse of the citizens regarding Chinese products and services, including the use of Chinese apps. The survey received over 40,000 responses from consumers located in 319 districts of India. 63% of respondents were men while 37% of respondents were women. 42% of respondents were from tier 1, 34% from tier 2 and 24% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
The survey asked, “What are all the reasons that you reduced the amount you spend on purchasing Made-in-China products in the last 12 months?” Inresponse, 58% revealed they bought “Made-in-India products because of the India-China geopolitical developments”, 28% found “Indian alternative was better in price-quality combination as also customer service, 11% opted for better quality Indian products, 8% preferred an alternative foreign product due to a combination of factors including better price, quality and customer service.
In addition, 8% stated that their choice was determined by the fact that they “didn’t find many Made-in-China products in the markets, stores or online”. For 11% of consumers, the lack of need to buy any product in the last one year was a deciding factor. Of the 11,707 respondents to this question, many opted for more than one category of answers.
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