After the traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) issued an appeal to boycott Chinese rakhis, ahead of the Raksha Bandhan festival next month, local residents are preferring Made in India rakhis over Chinese ones.
From the past many years, rakhi imported from China has been ruling the market due to its looks, varieties and cheap cost.
It is considered to be the biggest wholesale and retail market for festive items.
A wholesale trader in Gurmandi Sumit Jain said that even traders are not interested in selling any Chinese products. “Buyers are looking for India-made rakhi even though they are sold at a much higher price. Many people are coming to stores and asking for Indian rakhis,” said Sumit.
Mainly, rakhis are manufactured in Kolkata and Ambala, but over the years Chinese rakhis, particularly the ones with cartoon characters and electronic bands, had swept the market.
The estimated business of China-made rakhis was over ₹1 crore.
“This year, there is no demand for Chinese rakhis. This inclination towards local rakhi may be due to the ongoing stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops at the Galwan Valley. After so many years, we have witnessed that people are preferring to buy local rakhis. If such sentiment prevails in other festivals as well then it would be boon for the local industry,” said Rajinder Singh, a local dealer.
{{/usCountry}}“This year, there is no demand for Chinese rakhis. This inclination towards local rakhi may be due to the ongoing stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops at the Galwan Valley. After so many years, we have witnessed that people are preferring to buy local rakhis. If such sentiment prevails in other festivals as well then it would be boon for the local industry,” said Rajinder Singh, a local dealer.
{{/usCountry}}Divya Jain, a resident of Sunder Nagar said that earlier she used to purchase Chinese rakhi but this time she decided to boycott Made in China products.
Sanjiv Sharma, a resident of Sarabha Nagar, said, “After witnessing the India-China tensions at the border we have decided not to buy Chinese products. Further, Raksha Bandhan is purely a ‘Hindustani festival’ so at no point in buying Chinese products for the occasion. We are encouraging our children to buy Indian products as much as possible.”
Recently, the Confederation of All India Traders had issued an appeal to boycott Chinese rakhis. The CAIT, which has 40,000 trade associations has called for the boycott of Chinese products, the move which may cause a dent to China’s estimated ₹4,000 crore of trade during the festival, said Badish Jindal, president of Federation of Punjab Small Industries Associations.