[lazy]

Nothing is going to happen !!!

We, Indians, are excellent at online/watsapp patriotism, but not really in real life. So, millions will laud the PM's guidelines, but we will continue to shun Indian brands.

Primary reasons being -

1. "oh...no class", or, "these are too downmarket", or, "what will people say",
2. The Chinese brand is so much VFM,
3. The phoren brand has so much more features (read - super critical features like touch screens, mood lights, sunroof, LED etc).

As long as Indians are not super determined to make the Indian Auto industry a world power and in the interim, support them with their purchases, there will be no change.

Of course, customers may need to make mini sacrifices - some features, minor fit and finish gaps, share service center sofa with cabbies etc; but yeah, nothing comes for nothing.

cheers
lazy

[vkochar]

The speech yesterday will impact CHINESE products big time.

I know this because the Covid Impact on Retail internationally has given an Anti Chinese Sentiment on the street. I deal with fashion and I have recently received parcels with product to be replaced from China. Not all but I'd say 10 - 20 % already happening.

Word on the street internationally is that consumer is getting and will be getting irated and put off seeing MADE IN CHINA. They are either choosing not to print that or move it to an alternate base.

I cannot name companies due to obvious reasons however some big names have already sent messages to all our customers saying they need to move away from the far east as soon as possible as the consumer is giving chinese product backlash.

Its a great opportunity for India as we are second to china when it comes to manpower and size. However don't get me wrong. Chinese are brilliant at what they do and we have a huge huge gap to fill to get even near to 25% of what the chinese are capable to do.

The speech yesterday was totally focused on this. I only wish he could have spoken simpler hindi and not so complicated !

As far as Chinese Automobiles go they are in for a nasty future ahead. The PM has a fan following and for him to tread on this path he must have had countless minds to brief him and this message will be loud and clear. No china mentioned in our PM's speech unlike Mr Trump however the message was directed to the dragon and was loudly and clearly spelt out.

[turbo]

The PM yesterday gave a slogan "be vocal for local".

So I'm just curious as to how this will impact the Indian automotive industry. Will it encourage more people to opt for local brands, or will it be forgotten like swatch bharat, beti padhao, and half a million slogans every government comes out with?

And not only that, how will this impact perceptions about the lineage of some brands? For example, by a layman, Maruti Suzuki is seen as a Indian manufacturer, even though its now Japanese controlled. BharatBenz has has an image of being a foreign brand in the Truckers, even though its Indian.

Also how will this impact the tractor segment? Will farmers now start preferring Mahindra Arjun and Swaraj over New Holland and John Deere?

If and when it comes to two wheelers, will we see Bajaj and Hero get an even bigger market share?

Will this be an end to Kia and Hyundai success story?

[Storm2.0]

Originally Posted by turbo

Bajaj and Hero get an even bigger market share?

Will this be an end to Kia and Hyundai success story?

Leave aside Kia and Hyundai. It is MG motors that'll be the first one to see nightmares if people start avoiding it. Also it will shatter plans of other Chinese car companies which were optimistic about entering India.

[saket77]

For other than may be some Chinese companies, particularly those which offer no price advantage over their counter parts, I don’t see a major polar shift in buying pattern of a consumer. This I’m talking about only the automotive companies. In consumer electronics, the Chinese companies like Xiami, etc have big price advantage over most rivals and it may be little optimistic to think that an average Indian consumer will abandon them purely due to economics.

[himanshugoswami]

Originally Posted by Storm2.0

Leave aside Kia and Hyundai. It is MG motors that'll be the first one to see nightmares if people start avoiding it. Also it will shatter plans of other Chinese car companies which were optimistic about entering India.

And that will be a good thing. the Hector is anyways an inferior product to its competitors on most counts. Also I firmly believe that its incumbent on each one of us to support the country in whatever little way we can.

[S2!!!]

Cars manufactured in India, even with the 98% levels of localisation, rely on Chinese child parts and sensors, for many reasons, cost being one of them. Take the "Made in India" Nexon EV's example, its battery pack is imported from China. Sure, we are buying an Indian-originated product, but can we do it without the reliance on Chinese parts? No. Yes, over time, Indian companies will be capable enough to produce these parts at a lower cost, but till then imports from China are inevitable.

As far as the Chinese brands go, well, someone who wants a large SUV with a massive touchscreen and a panoramic sunroof for under 20-lakhs will still continue to buy the MG Hector, and someone who wants to make a statement by buying a long-range EV, will give the ZS EV a serious consideration - no two ways about it. MG has established itself in India rather well in a relatively short duration. IMO it is the new, upcoming brands that could face rejection and might feel unwelcome in the country.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Also, IIRC, our telecom service providers like Airtel, Jio, Vodafone, BSNL etc are heavily dependent on Chinese telecommunications equipment majors like ZTE and Huawei! Can we avoid using Airtel, Jio, Vodafone, and BSNL etc.

Telecom operators are not heavily dependent on Huawei. Only few circles of Vodafone and Airtel use Huawei. Jio is completely Samsung plus cisco on core side. Cisco again is used by Airtel on core side. Ericcson, Nokia all have presence in India.

Just a little OT, in China 90% of 5G networks are held by Huawei and ZTE. They dont allow others. They make a big hue and cry when others talk about it elsewhere.

In automobiles, their components will be used. But there isnt any car model that you would aspire for.

[PrideRed]

Well, there are no Chinese car car company in India yet! MG has played it clever and has been able to convince most folks out there that MG is a British car company just like JLR. The newer Chinese companies planning to invest might have some impact for couple of months to years. Sentiments and emotions are not in favor of China at the moment here in India.

[Miyata]

<I don't watch news. Only Read them. Hopefully I have not misinterpreted what I've read>

From what I see, we are more or less content with fancy slogans (such as vocal/local/global) and setting them to catchy tunes with very little real-world grass-root changes.

We are of course moving ahead in many ways at a glacial pace and 50-yrs from now we'll look back and pat ourselves on our backs - just as we are doing now swelling in pride with the progress made over the last 50 odd years!

All the talk on self-reliance and progress have very little, if any, to do with buying local (swadeshi). Many of the global brands also provide much local economic growth and jobs. To be truly self-reliant, what might be needed (among other things) is -

1) The digital infrastructure and support - have we ever pushed for Indian versions of a Google; Whatsapp; Facebook; Twitter; Operating Systems; etc?

China may have started through imitation, but has long moved ahead to innovation as well. We did nothing at all - just had poetry set to music and dance around that!

2) Telecom Infrastructure: While China will soon be leading the 5G revolution, we might just as well be sending pigeons around for communication!

3) High speed rail - We are happy to take aid from Japan and eventually possibly France and China itself but have never thought to put that money into developing them ourselves. Why not boycott videshi here and go local? To question is be embroiled in the archaic web of sedition.

4) We take such pride in Sanskrit as a potential programming language and forward around any little thing we come across on that but never really make it a goal to actually work the whole thing out - no support / no far-sight!

5) Military Weapons - We shop around the world but have issues with going local and developing our own competence (and with that our economy).

6) EV Technology - While China is controlling an increasing percentage of EV technology, we are content with being in the shadows.

In addition to offering protection to Indian businesses within the country, there should also be efforts to give them wings - not clip them.

Cheap theatrics and cute poetry can only go so far. National building might just take a bit of actual sweat and toil - even with imitation to start with!

[gururajrv]

MG for instance is trying to gain confidence of people by offering a lot of their cars to Ambulance services & even offering them to our corona warriors. They’re trying hard to be active and voluntarily supporting the society.

But, it is going to be a little difficult in getting the required confidence going forward after our PM’s speech. I will certainly not go in for any Chinese products that are direct in nature. It’s so unfortunate that the dependency on Chinese for their raw materials is so high, I’m sure to overcome that stigma, it’d take years for us to have complete in house developed products. One way or the other we all have Chinese materials in our lives at home!

Surely this particular issue has opened doors for new startups who can invest / explore options to make in India products.

Stay home and safe everyone!

Regards

RV

[armaan_singh]

Pardon my ignorance, but where in the speech did he mention "dont buy products from china"

As per my understanding he was propagating people to be vocal about their local brands, which doesnt neccesarily mean that one needs to not buy from China ? And why China alone then, include Korea, USA, Japan, Germany in the list as well.

IMO the idea was not to run down any of these existing brands or for that matter to even stop more foreign players from entering the market, the idea was to take our local brands and place them on the world map. In the context of cars, it's like making Tata/Mahindra globally sought after brands.

[The Rationalist]

World is more connected than ever in its entire history. You can’t be self reliant, period. All countries will need raw materials for their products, they will have to depend on others. If we want to stop relying on oil, the option is lithium which is not produced by us in any significant quantity. Now coming to mobile phones, where will the components come from, China. Let’s take the Pharmaceutical industry, majority of the ingredients come from China (70%), 100% of the humble Paracetamol is made from ingredients sourced from China. Every single one of us who has ever taken Paracetamol should be grateful to China, shouldn’t we? I don’t see it that way, they are selling us and it’s not some charity. We can’t produce everything that wants, there is nothing in wrong in that. There will be no country which is completely self reliant, it’s an utopia.

[phamilyman]

This is all intellectualization. I spoke with a top supplier of aftermarket parts who is a BHPian. Chinese are at the top of their game in key products and often Indian part suppliers cost way too high at lower qualities. We have to invest in the ecosystem. Speeches mean nothing.

[PaddleShifter]

I am not from a 'business' family and do not understand markets the way many members here do but what I infer from "vocal for local" is to try and buy stuff that is either from an Indian brand or made in India. There are many gadgets, cars, apparels that are neither made in India nor are from Indian brands.

Its not possible to give up everything and roam around in 'dhoti kurta'. One can just try and buy on these two grounds when possible. e.g. if I have to buy sunglasses, I'd still pick a ray ban but if I have to buy apples on my way, I can avoid those imported ones perhaps.

If I have to buy a car, I will not care for make in India because at the end of the day, its a costly, depreciating asset and I can not make a wrong decision based on sentiments. So, if the made in India Korean brand car seems better than a made in India car from an Indian brand, I'd buy the former.