New Delhi, Oct 25 (KNN) The growing campaigns on social media urging Indians to shun Chinese goods, especially the Diwali products, has led to severe fall in sale of Made in China goods during festive season.

But the question here is whether these measures can serve as an answer to the India-China trade deficit which was reported well above USD 44 billion early in 2016.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed for greater business integration with China at the BRICS Summit held earlier this month.

Trade imbalance has been a cause of serious concerns for India, but if one goes by the experts’ views the gap can be reduced only by increasing exports to China and not reducing the imports.

Anil Bhardwaj, Secretary General of Federation of Indian Micro & Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME), while addressing a conference on Business Promotion for China (Hangzhou) Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Area, said the move to boycott Chinese goods is ‘inaccurate and malicious’.

Explaining his views he stressed there is need to understand what India imports from China and how much additional cost will Indian businesses pay if they buy the some product from other countries.

Bhardwaj said, “India mainly imports organic and inorganic chemical, electronic goods and capital goods and machineries from China. Other than electronic goods and bit of consumer durables, most of the imports from China helps India export and become a more competitive producer of goods”.

Indian MSMEs are in fact buying machines from China which they imported earlier from European countries at double or triple the price, he added.

On the concern over growing trade deficit between India and China, FISME Secretary General said the China is a huge market and it buys everything right from cheap goods to expensive high end products from across the world.

“There is a need for Indian businesses to explore the opportunities in China and customize products and services for Chinese market,” he said. (Watch his full speech) (KNN Bureau)