Joining the boycott against Chinese goods, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has issued directives to officials to not purchase anything ‘Made in China’ from its e-procurement platform Government’s e-marketplace or GeM.
The directives were issued on the same day the Indian government blocked 59 Chinese apps including the popular TikTok, UC Browser, SHAREit, and Likee.
In the notice, the government officials have also made it clear that Chinese goods should not be procured from any other source as well.
The notice will be applicable with immediate effect on all officials and departments including public sector units that come under the ministries led by the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs. These entities are Food Corporation of India and Central Warehousing Corporation.
The development comes soon after the demand by traders body, the Confederation of All India Traders or CAIT which represents 7 crore traders and nearly 40,000 trade associations in the country, to issue a notification on the same.
These moves are also a part of India’s policy measures targeting Chinese goods over a border standoff between India and China. The two countries have been locked in a dispute over the line of actual control (LAC) in a few sectors in Ladakh.
Last week, the government had also made it mandatory for sellers to disclose the ‘country of origin’ on the products they list on GeM. Following the same, e-commerce behemoths Amazon and Flipkart had also agreed to display the country of origin against the products being sold on their respective platforms.
Even though anti-China sentiment has been on the rise in India right now, one cannot ignore the fact that almost 80% of India’s imports from China are the raw materials required to make products in the country. Initiating a trade war with China when India’s manufacturing ability is limited will be a severe test for India’s manufacturing might.
