Rising cases of coronavirus in the country have proven to be inversely proportional with Indian consumer's affinity with Chinese products.
Experts pointed at a structural shift in buying patterns post the outbreak where customers are now ready to pay more for a product rather than going for a cheaper Chinese version.
"After the coronavirus crisis, there has been a major shift in the mindset of consumers. Now, they are willing to pay higher prices for a good that they consider to have higher quality and one that comes with adequate guarantees. After the rampant spread of COVID-19, people are scared of Chinese goods," said Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary-general of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), a traders' body.
"There is a behavioural change in consumers after COVID-19. Now, if I give consumers a Chinese product for free, most of them will refuse to take it," he added.
Khandelwal also said that traders have decided to stop importing from China.
"The ultimate consumer in India wants to keep a distance from Chinese products because of constant fear that it may result in spread of coronavirus. While that may or may not be true, the general sense among consumers is to avoid Chinese products. Therefore, traders also do not want to lay more emphasis on them," he said.
He further said traders are currently looking for an alternative to China. "Our search is particularly in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Germany, United Kingdom, United States and the Middle East," he added.
India is also looking to lure companies that are looking to shift base from China.
The centre government is currently eyeing more than 1,000 US businesses, including medical devices giant Abbott Laboratories, to relocate from China as President Donald Trump’s administration steps up efforts to blame Beijing for its role in the coronavirus pandemic.
The government in April reached out to more than 1,000 American companies through overseas missions to offer incentives for manufacturers seeking to move out of China.
India is prioritising medical equipment suppliers, food processing units, textiles, leather and auto part makers among more than 550 products covered in the discussions.
"If companies that have their units placed in China want to relocate to India, that will be a win-win situation because that will cut down cost for traders, including import and travel costs. The traders will also be able to capture high-quality goods at a reasonable price and will be able to compete with global markets," said Khandelwal.
India relies heavily on China to meet its electronics requirement to the extent that after the prolonged lockdown of factories in China due to the outbreak, supplies of several premium handsets, including iPhones in India, were disrupted in March.
Chinese companies accounted for more than 70 per cent of all smart phone shipments in India in the last quarter of the last financial year, according to the International Data Corporation. The total size of India’s trade with China was $87 billion in 2018-19, according to the Union Ministry of Commerce.
"Most of the imported materials from China are either of finished products, raw materials or spare parts needed in the electronics industry. As far is finished goods are concerned, they can easily be produced in India as well. There is a general consensus in the trader community that they will import nothing from China except those items which are not available in any other country," added Khandelwal.
This is not the first time that Chinese products or brands have drawn flak in India.
In 2014, Xiaomi was pulled up and its phones were banned by the Indian Air Force after security company F-Secure found that the phones were sending details like phone number, IMEI number, name of operator to a remote server in China.
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