gurgaon

Updated: Oct 09, 2016 01:05 IST

Following a social media movement to boycott products made in China, many residents are checking the manufacturing location of goods, including firecrackers, lights and other gift items this festive season.

The boycott campaign was initiated through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, following China’s support to Pakistan, especially after the Uri attack on September 18. Markets are flooded with Chinese goods during festive season.

“The arrogant attitude of China towards India should not be taken lightly. After seeing a Facebook post, friends and family joined the movement to show solidarity to the soldiers and we are reaching out to more people through texts. This year, we are not going to buy any Chinese firecrackers or lighting,” Nishant Arora of South City 1 said.

Residents said though there is a wider and cheaper variety of Chinese products , they prefer the ones with ‘Made in India’ printed on the product. They said this will also boost local production.

Smriti Kamra of Sector 15 said, “The first thing my father is checking is the manufacturing location of goods. My brother liked some glittery lightings but he refused to buy them as it was manufactured in China.”

People are also checking the manufacturing location of products with online retailers too.

Traders said there has been a 20% to 30% drop in the sales of Chine products, especially lights and fire crackers. They said one out of every five persons coming to the stores is checking whether the goods are made in China.

“Two women came to my store yesterday to buy some decorative lights. When I showed them over 20 different lights, they asked which of those were made in India and their options shrunk to four lights,” Anurag Singh, a shopkeeper in Sadar Bazaar, said.

Retailers said they had purchased maximum Chinese items, including toys, lights, firecrackers and crockery from the wholesale market as they are cheaper.

RL Sharma, a shopkeeper in Sector 31, said, “We just purchased products made in China worth Rs. 1 lakh and now a campaign has started. Even I received WhatsApp messages asking a complete boycott but did not know it will be taken so seriously. A few people are buying these products but the overall sales have been affected.”

Meanwhile, some retailers are selling Chinese products claiming that they are Made in India.

A shopkeeper in Sector 31 said, “The variety of Indian products is very less compared to Chinese goods. This is the festive season when we make huge profits but this time, we are afraid of making a loss. Most of the people cannot identify the difference between the two products and we sell them the Chinese ones. But we stand by the country.”

Some residence, however, are not paying much attention to the manufacturing location. They said though the boycott will give a boost to local sales, variety and cost give an advantage to Chinese products.

“The Indian products are relatively expensive and there is less variety available,” Shiv Dhawan of Nirvana Country said.