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Chinese quality and price leave Modi's 'Make in India' drive in tatters
INDIA's trade deficit with China is up nine-fold over 10 years to US$49 billion as Chinese products enfeeble Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make-in-India" campaign, Bloomberg reports.
In Mohit Gogia's gift shop in Noida, near New Delhi, the only decorative lights for sale ahead of last month's festival of lights are Chinese-made.
"Indian-made lights cost twice as much," said Mr Gogia, as shoppers snapped up supplies for the Diwali celebration. "Customers aren't willing to pay that."
In macro terms, India's current account deficit is worsening, aggravated by a snap ban on high-value notes a year ago and a new sales tax.
Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an economic lobby linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, drew more than 100,000 onto the streets in the capital to rally against Chinese products.
A picture in the local press showed protesters holding Indian flags and a poster of Chinese President Xi Jinping with a cross mark on it.
"This is the biggest-ever gathering to fight the dominance of Chinese goods," said Arun Ojha, national convener of Swadeshi Jagran Manch.
"Our youth are losing jobs and we are becoming traders of Chinese products."
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch boycott is a "second war of economic independence" and claims support from farmers, trade and labour associations.
These are the same groups Mr Modi will rely on for re-election in 2019. Protest leaders met with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman following the demonstration.
"This flood of Chinese imports fits in very uncomfortably with the priority of the Modi government to expand India's manufacturing base," said Harsh Pant, professor of international relations at King's College in London.
In the last 10 years, there's been a few episodes of rapid growth in India that led to rising external deficits and inflation and came to a halt because the government had to rein in demand to restore macroeconomic stability, said Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong.
Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology Group has reportedly delayed a plan to set up a INR3 billion (US46.4 million) plant in the western Indian state of Maharashtra because of the standoff.
In Mohit Gogia's gift shop in Noida, near New Delhi, the only decorative lights for sale ahead of last month's festival of lights are Chinese-made.
"Indian-made lights cost twice as much," said Mr Gogia, as shoppers snapped up supplies for the Diwali celebration. "Customers aren't willing to pay that."
In macro terms, India's current account deficit is worsening, aggravated by a snap ban on high-value notes a year ago and a new sales tax.
Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an economic lobby linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, drew more than 100,000 onto the streets in the capital to rally against Chinese products.
A picture in the local press showed protesters holding Indian flags and a poster of Chinese President Xi Jinping with a cross mark on it.
"This is the biggest-ever gathering to fight the dominance of Chinese goods," said Arun Ojha, national convener of Swadeshi Jagran Manch.
"Our youth are losing jobs and we are becoming traders of Chinese products."
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch boycott is a "second war of economic independence" and claims support from farmers, trade and labour associations.
These are the same groups Mr Modi will rely on for re-election in 2019. Protest leaders met with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman following the demonstration.
"This flood of Chinese imports fits in very uncomfortably with the priority of the Modi government to expand India's manufacturing base," said Harsh Pant, professor of international relations at King's College in London.
In the last 10 years, there's been a few episodes of rapid growth in India that led to rising external deficits and inflation and came to a halt because the government had to rein in demand to restore macroeconomic stability, said Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong.
Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology Group has reportedly delayed a plan to set up a INR3 billion (US46.4 million) plant in the western Indian state of Maharashtra because of the standoff.
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