New Delhi: Calls for boycott of Chinese products amid Sino-India border tension may be trending on social media. However, these calls are yet to impact sales of smartphone and consumer durables products from the stables of companies like Xiaomi, Realme and Haier, according to industry executives.
While companies declined to comment on the issue, senior executives at many of these Chinese firms said there has been no impact on sales yet.
One of the senior leaders at a smartphone company, who did not wish to be named, said there is pent up demand for phones because people are working and studying from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many firms have had to resort to expensive imports to meet the spurt in demand. Another executive said Chinese firms are keeping a close watch on the developments, and monitoring the situation on the ground as well as on social media.
On Twitter, topics like ‘Boycott China’, ‘Go China’ and ‘Go Chinese Go’ were trending throughout the day. Industry body Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) said sentiments are being shaped in consumers’ minds through various social media platforms and other channels over recent developments that could reflect in the purchase behaviour.
“Consumers are getting messages through various social media platforms and they are taking decisions, and these emotions would result finally in purchase behaviour. It is quite expected. We will see that over a period of time,” CEAMA President Kamal Nandi said.
Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), said it is no secret that a substantive part of India’s supply chain has its roots in China.
“Efforts are underway to enhance self-dependency over the past few years. We should focus on building strong capabilities…There is no impact (of the protests). We have been focussing on enhancing production in India. Now we are promoting Indian champions. By 2025, we will have strong Indian companies in mobile phone and component segment,” he said.
“We remain confident that the Indian and Chinese leadership will find a lasting resolution out of the current border impasse. We remain hopeful of peace without compromising India’s strategic priorities,” added Mohindroo.
Interestingly, four of the top five smartphone brands in India (Xiaomi, Vivo, Realme and Oppo) are from China. They account for almost 76 per cent share of the 32.5 million smartphones shipped in India in the March 2020 quarter (according to IDC data).
South Korea’s Samsung, which ranked third and cornered 15.6 per cent share of shipment in the said quarter, is the only non-Chinese firm in the top five tallies.
India is the second-largest smartphone market after China and clocked a shipment of 152.5 million smartphones in 2019.
‘Counterpoint Research’ associate director Tarun Pathak noted that the sentiments are surely there. They will increase only after the very unfortunate incident.
“However, we believe within smartphones Indian users don’t have much choice. Eighty one per cent of the smartphone shipments in Q1 2020 were from Chinese players (up from 67 per cent in March 2019 quarter). Share of local OEMs is now at one per cent and Samsung, Apple is the only strong non-Chinese alternatives available,” pointed out Pathak.
Smartphone shipments in India are expected to decline by 10 per cent in 2020 due to coronavirus pandemic, according to ‘Counterpoint Research’.
A Chinese consumer durables maker noted that it has invested thousands of crores of rupees in setting up manufacturing facilities in India to cater to the local demand, and almost 90 per cent of its products sold in the country are manufactured locally.
‘Carrier Midea India’ MD Krishan Sachdev said the company is ‘run more like an Indian company with values of an Indian company’, even though it is managed by Chinese company Midea Corporation.
Carrier Midea India – which is a joint venture between US-based ‘UTC Climate Control & Security’ and Chinese ‘Midea Group’ said it does not expect any major impact on its business.
“We are 100 per cent local manufacturing company. The ACs that we sell here, whether it is ‘Carrier’ or ‘Midea’ branded, are locally manufactured. We do buy some components from other countries like China, which everyone else also does but we are more local than another company,” Sachdev noted.