Condemning China for killing three Indian soldiers, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Tuesday called for a boycott of Chinese products in over 500 categories and urged people to go for Indian goods instead.
The CAIT stepped up its nationwide movement against Chinese goods under a campaign “Bhartiya Samaan-Hamara Abhimaan”.
CAIT National Vice President Amar Parwani and State Working Presidents Magelal Maloo and Vikram Singh Deo said in a statement: “The objective is to reduce import of Chinese finished goods by $13 billion or about Rs 1 lakh crore by December 2021."
The list of over 500 items released by CAIT include FMCG products, consumer durables, toys, furnishing fabrics, textiles, builder hardware, footwear, apparel, kitchen items, luggage, hand bags, cosmetics, gift items, electrical and electronics, fashion apparel, food, watches. gems and jwellery, clothing, stationery, paper, household items, furniture, lighting, health and, packaging products, auto parts, Yarn, Feng Shui Items, Diwali and Holi Items and optical items.
Parwani said presently India's imports India from China is about Rs 5.25 lakh crore ore. $70 billion annually.
In the first phase, CAIT's selection of more than 500 broad categories includes over 3,000 items which are made indigenously in India also but Chinese products are cheaper.
“There are many items in India which are manufactured by domestic and foreign companies in India. Currently, such items are kept outside the purview of boycott. At present we are stressing only on Goods manufactured in China,” they said.
Parwani added that items which require advanced sophisticated technology which India may not possess now have not been included for boycott for now so as not to cause shortages.
He said CAIT will urge the government to provide all kinds of assistance to small scale industries, startups and other entrepreneurs in the country to manufacture such items in India.
