Indians prefer India-made goods for Diwali; Chinese goods may suffer
New Delhi: This Diwali, Chinese items such as like lights, gift items, lamps and wall hangings among others could see a decline of upto 45 percent as people are preferring Indian products, said industry chamber Assocham.
“There has been a 40-45 percent impact on goods like decorative lights which records huge sales during Diwali, whereas a slight impact has also been seen on China-made electronic goods like mobile phones etc. As per the paper, the demand of electronic items like LCDs, mobile phones and others items made in China has also declined by 15-20 per cent,” said D.S. Rawat, secretary general Assocham releasing the paper.
The chamber said that as per its findings people are preferring Indian products over Chinese goods during this Diwali.
“According to the shopkeepers, most of the customers are demanding Indian lights. People are not interested in purchasing Chinese products while showing interest in local products including earthen diyas,” said Assocham. It said there was a huge demand for made in China fancy lights in the market but it is also decreasing.
“Also, the quality of Chinese products is also questionable with no shopkeeper giving any sort of guarantee on Chinese items once sold. Fire crackers made at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu are preferred in comparison to Chinese crackers,” said the chamber.
Assocham said it interacted with wholesalers, retailers, traders in cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Mumbai to estimate the demand for Chinese products across India.
“According to an estimate, the value of Chinese goods sold in 2016 during Diwali was around Rs 6,500 crore. Out of the total, over Rs 4,000 crore was Diwali-related items such as toys, fancy lights, gift items, plastic ware, decorative goods among others,” it said.
India is a big market for Chinese products and over the years import of toys, furniture, building hardware, crackers, lighting and electric fittings, furnishing fabric, office stationary, electronic appliances, consumer electronics, kitchen equipment & appliances, gift items and watches from China has increased to a great extent in India, said Assocham.
