Domestic products are more reliable than the ones imported from China: Survey

A survey participated in by 50,000 people has revealed that a majority of Indians find their country’s products more reliable than the ones imported from China. [caption id=“attachment_2035879” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image: Reuters[/caption] “Is this product made in China,” is the question many Indian consumers unfailingly ask the seller while buying most of the products nowadays. Chinese products have made a way in almost every household. They might not be of the best quality but are cheaper than their Indian counterparts and provide value for money. A survey conducted by LocalCircles revealed that for 52 percent citizens, Indian made items were generally better in quality than the Chinese ones; 21 percent said that Chinese-made items were better and 17 percent said both are more or less similar in quality. Several cases of shutting down of many Indian small-scale industries have been reported over the years as they are not able to compete with the prices. When asked what category of Chinese products citizens bought the most, the majority said they buy consumer durables like mobiles and other electronic items. Another poll asked people why they bought a Chinese product. Around 33 percent said this was because they are the cheapest, 17 percent said that they are cheap and decent quality. 17 percent said Indian products have poor quality and higher prices whereas 33 percent said they buy Chinese products due to all the above-mentioned qualities. Citizens were also questioned on what the best solution would be for quality concerns. In response, 36 percent said that we should only allow the import of Chinese products with BIS standards and 33 percent said imports in hazardous and risk products category should not be allowed at all. 29 percent said compliance and audit at import points in India should be increased. In various structured discussions, citizens also suggested that trade deficit with China could be reduced by putting anti-dumping duties for stopping the import of inferior quality products and defining proper standards according to which Chinese imports should be done.