After China's block in the bid to assign the status of Global terrorist to JeM chief Masood Azhar for the fourth time, India wants to boycott all Chinese products.

An uproar in the country can be seen on Twitter with the hashtag 'boycott China' and 'boycott Chinese products' but this is not necessarily a favourable move for India. Calls for boycotting Chinese products have been vehemently made in the past but have gained more momentum in the last few weeks. Under the rules made by the World Trade Organization, India cannot officially issue a blanket ban or boycott Chinese products, the details of which remain largely a secret.

The idea that India could start producing domestically and stop buying Indian goods would hurt China more as they have a trade surplus with us. India, for China, is definitely a large market and the relationship between China and India could only be trade related. The boycott would also largely leave China unaffected as it cannot generate leverage for India.

From buying everyday essentials such as mobile phones and laptops, to heavy equipment such as solar power heaters and high end electronic devices in 2016-17 China’s exports to India alone amounted to 61 Billion dollars.

China offers good value for the products that it exports to India making it easily accessible for our economy. To make the same goods and products in India would mean more requirement of resources and capital and would tax our economy. 

Swaminathan Aiyer has quoted – "Make in India scheme is becoming a 'Protect in India' scheme. Most industries that receive protection are not infant industries and the import hikes do not have a sunset clause to ensure they are temporary". This return to import substitution has been criticized as it has failed in the past. 

Licensing revenue model ensures that the income generated by the sale of products will largely go to the holder of the license for the product in question and not the original manufacturer or the place of manufacture. Therefore, even if Indian consumers succeed in delivering a blow to Chinese products in the local market, the revenue loss that China will suffer will be negligible.