[troublemaker]

With the PM talking about buying local, what happens to the Chinese Auto companies who have started business here or who are planning to come?

The major issue is for companies like MG and Cherry and the likes. These are purely Chinese products. Will Indians start thinking about avoiding these brands?

The other issue is for the Chinese parts in Indian Car like Tata. I happen to know that the sunroof in new Harrier is supplied by a Chinese company. How would anyone know the percentage of Chinese parts in any car?

Personally speaking, I never thought I would buy a Chinese car and now, after the 8pm speech, I'm certain that I would not buy a Chinese car in my lifetime.

[Nithesh_M]

Nothing will happen. Maybe waiting periods will come down a bit but that's good news for customers already waiting in line who may also start getting dealer level discounts if the demand drops drastically.
An MG Hector for the price of a Seltos HTK+ or a Creta S? Then the waiting period might shoot up again.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

Nothing will happen. Maybe waiting periods will come down a bit but that's good news for customers already waiting in line who may also start getting dealer level discounts if the demand drops drastically.
An MG Hector for the price of a Seltos HTK+ or a Creta S? Then the waiting period might shoot up again.

It’s not that simple. The PM commands a zealous band of followers. He is their supreme commander, his word means everything to them. Many of these happen to be businessmen and traders, all potential buyers. Nonetheless, there is going to be some stigma against openly Chinese companies, especially in the short term. The virus has certainly soured the pitch for companies like Haval who have made investments and were geared for debut. Of course, ultimately, it’s about the product itself and it’s price. But then again, everyone can’t pull off a duplicate identity like SAIC-MG.

[Nithesh_M]

It's literally impossible to even spend a day on this planet without being surrounded by one part that's made in China. Not even local manufacturers are self sufficient in manufacturing cars 100% in India. Its always 90-95% with the rest imported from China. Parts like electric cables, batteries, fuse, tools, are usually imported from Chinese vendors because it saves a lot of money when ordered in bulk quantity.

Unless one plans to ride around in handbuilt bullock carts, or throw away all their phones, computers, tv, ICE parts etc and strictly adhere to a complete ban on China made parts which I am 100% will not happen.

Forget automobile companies for a moment, a large percentage of our startups have Chinese investors backing them up. Paytm, Byju etc for example.

$1.4 billion to $4 billion USD is expected investment.
https://m.timesofindia.com/business/...w/75228027.cms

[narayans80]

Why conveniently single out cars alone, bulk of the electronics sold is Made in China no? Either as finished product or in parts. Right from the microphone he used to speak down to the medium we used to watch it.

There was once a post on the suppliers involved in Hexa's parts, it had over 2 dozen countries. This is just one level. If we drill down another level, that will many more.

To oversimplify, no company will reinvent their supply chain nor are buyers going to change their ways based on one speech.

[Thermodynamics]

I am afraid if this is how many would interpret the speech.

I guess, PM has encouraged to buy local to improve our local consumption market. 1.3 billion population is a huge market. If we produce and consume locally, it is simply too big to ignore by potential investors. I think that's what he meant. It is not against any particular country.

We are probably reading too much between the lines if we start boycotting Chinese but happily buy Japanese/Korean. In fact we cannot boycott all Chinese products, in many cases we simply don't have a choice.

On the other hand, the mentioned Chinese car maker by OP, the MG has 75% localization. While it is less as compared to others, it is still beneficial because the exit of GM gave birth to MG/GWM preserving those plants at Halol and Talegaon and associated employment.

[rajshenoy]

Buy local means locally manufactured. Our PM who kick started make in India campaign can never go back in his words.

Having said that, I am hoping there will be increased push on localised manufacturing of parts and other products which alone can generate lots of jobs and help lift our economy.

While some people have already started making fun,I guess that is what separates an entrepreneur from ordinary import export business man who orders in bulk from a country.

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by troublemaker

With the PM talking about buying local, what happens to the Chinese Auto companies who have started business here or who are planning to come?

The major issue is for companies like MG and Cherry and the likes. These are purely Chinese products. Will Indians start thinking about avoiding these brands?

The other issue is for the Chinese parts in Indian Car like Tata. I happen to know that the sunroof in new Harrier is supplied by a Chinese company. How would anyone know the percentage of Chinese parts in any car?

Personally speaking, I never thought I would buy a Chinese car and now, after the 8pm speech, I'm certain that I would not buy a Chinese car in my lifetime.

Buying local? Not possible in all industries. Do we have any Indian shoes/footwear maker like Nike, Reebok, Crocs, Skechers etc? Or do we have any Indian electronics company like Sony, Samsung, LG etc? We have many such industries wherein we don't have respectable Indian manufacturers.

Avoiding Chinese companies? Possible, period.

Avoiding Chinese auto companies? Possible, period.

Avoiding products of companies having parts made in China? Not possible, especially in electronics industry and auto industry.

Originally Posted by troublemaker

The other issue is for the Chinese parts in Indian Car like Tata. I happen to know that the sunroof in new Harrier is supplied by a Chinese company. How would anyone know the percentage of Chinese parts in any car?

Personally speaking, I never thought I would buy a Chinese car and now, after the 8pm speech, I'm certain that I would not buy a Chinese car in my lifetime.

You can avoid buying from Chinese car companies, but you cannot avoid cars having parts made-in-China, then you will most probably end up giving up the idea of buying a car!

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.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

PM requested the nation to be vocal for local. He even went on to elaborate further that all the international brands were local back in their home countries once upon a time, till their people started taking pride in these products.

The message was not related to boycott of Chinese companies. It is for advocating Indian brands over the foreign ones favoured in the market - be it of Japanese, Korean, European, American or Chinese origins.

Secondly, even Indian car companies are not 100% reliant on local vendors and have to source components from several countries. This cannot be changed overnight and is likely to change only when their sales numbers improve, helping better R&D and more competitive parts vendors.

In our automotive context - we should be taking pride in, buying and recommending companies like TATA, Mahindra, Bajaj, TVS, etc. In a way, that's not too hard either - because all these companies are growing fast and bringing out good products these days.

[sudev]

In the current scenario it looks impossible to say no to imported products. And we cannot achieve zero.

Having said that there are many products that could be local.

Consider Face masks. How can Chinese imports not be substituted? Especially with a little policy push of COVID19 import cess? No not ban imports but rather encourage local industry to fight imports with innovation and efficiency.

Yes we as nation will have to think of doing things efficiently. Make transportation efficient. Including dismantling of "GT" - goon or goonda tax - by various including police. We will have to dismantle agriculture comodity barriers that make money for middle men but not the producer nor customer. Better labour policy including reduction of reservations.

Too many variables including high cost of money play into success of such Idea .... Buy local. Achievable? Yes. Will we achieve it? Depends on "system".

If Modi is serious he has to cut down on bureaucracy. Cut down on flab. Does he have strengths to do these?

[R2D2]

I'd have never purchased a Chinese vehicle even under the best of circumstances. And in the current environment with China behaving the way it is on the world stage is I believe there's will be repercussions in the mid to long term for that country.

The PM's message OTOH is more to encourage the Indian public to buy a locally made product rather than looking at the brand's country of origin. So what I think he means to say is buy a foreign product but preferably one made in India for e.g. the Chinese assemble some models of their phones here for e.g. the OnePlus, ditto with Apple and some other brands too. That underlying message was clear - attract companies leaving China to set up manufacturing facilities here (albeit manufactured with foreign made or even Chinese made components) and then encourage the Indian public to buy those products thereby supporting local jobs and shore up tax collections. We cannot afford to wall ourselves off from the world either through the oft used method of higher Customs duties. It will be a retrograde step that will result in Indian products being taxed heavily in other countries. Nobody wins a tariff war.

Of course there will always be products that do not have an import substitute for now and those having substitutes are far more expensive than equivalent Chinese products. Telecom gear is one of them. Reliance Jio has a Samsung core setup which pleased US President Trump(et).

PS - no man is an island and in the 21st century no country can be one either if it cares about economic growth & jobs for its people.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

With the recent turn of events and by that, I mean atleast since past 3 to 4 years - we have witnessed various government initiatives, reforms etc. to provide impetus to indigenous goods.

Look at how things have turned out for some of the biggest economies of the world. These countries either do not have that kind of manufacturing capabilities or are outsourced.
This is where I strongly feel India and Indians can make a big difference.
Today we have much better infrastructure, access to technology, attention and investment from government. I feel these will go a long way in making India a manufacturing hub.

From all the above, please do not take it a political biasness. I am neither qualified enough to comment on government policies nor have the visibility/understanding of the how the entire system works.
I am speaking purely from a layman perspective and how I feel about the various initiatives from government like the Make In India campaign, FDI investment, improving relations with other countries etc.

So, I have a strong feeling that we as Indians can do much better job at manufacturing quality goods with quantity and sustainability.
It's only time that will decide our fate though.

[srishiva]

In cars, chinese products have no great differentiators other than size and value for money. Indian makers can easily give us the same with little extra effort. For me they really dont mean much and easier to look away

Looking forward to new XUV or its Ford equivalent!

[payeng]

I'll Denitely Try my Best to buy as much Local or at least something that's not Made in China..

.. and definitely Never an MG Motors/Great Wall (or whatever that might be available in the future)

[aaggoswami]

Initially, people might stay away from "Chinese" brands. MG has very effectively (atleast till now) marketed the brand as British. Its been proven time and again that public memory is short, add to that the factor of value proposition. Chinese really cant be beaten in a day. Great Wall might have some trouble and its name also resonates with Great Wall of China. There was American brand movement against "Imports" in USA, Japanese responded with "Made In America" and also did set up factories and they are major players now. Chinese firms would be quick to respond with "Made in India" tag, images of their factories located in India, number of laborers employed, probably even setting up some education institute, etc. As long as its Made in India, may be with high local content, buyers would be happy for any brand that provides value for money package coupled with reasonably good service experience.