The spread of COVID-19 has reinforced the anti-globalisation sentiment in general and the anti-China perception in specific.

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In India, the anti-China rhetoric is on the rise, as a Network18 poll reveals.

Banker Uday Kotak, after taking over as the new president of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) remarked, “The choice to buy Chinese goods or not is the choice of a free Indian; the choice to fully make that call with his view of the product and what is right for him.”

In an interaction with CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan, when asked what he made of the anti-China rhetoric in the context of a self-reliant India, Kotak said one simply cannot interfere with the choices of individuals. “I do not believe that the government is asking or forcing people not to buy from China,” he said.

“When Mahatma Gandhi made the clarion call to make Indian long ago, people took that call out of their own will and their own choice. In this case, the choice to buy Chinese goods or not is the choice of a free Indian to fully make that call with his view of the product and what is right for him,” he opined.

Uday Kotak’s comments come amid the anti-China rhetoric gaining momentum not just in India, but around the world. The Trump administration in the United States, for instance, is leading a campaign against China’s handling of the virus, with the president vowing to ‘penalise’ the country. Back home in India, the Modi government has amended Foreign Direct Investment rules for bordering nations, including China. With these new rules coming into play, FDI from countries like China will now have to go through the Indian government’s checks instead of a more direct route.

China is one of India’s largest trade partners and constitutes 9 percent of the total exports and 18 percent of total merchandise imports.

It is this dependence on China and other countries that Prime Minister Modi sought to address as part of the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” strategy outlined recently. “It’s time to be vocal about the local products and help these local products become global," Modi said in his clarion call.

“I fully relate to the call of the PM’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. But I am also clear that the message is consistent with the message of a competitive India. We need to build an India that is competitive and not protectionist,” Uday Kotak told CNBC-TV18.

He, however, warned that if there is any “unfair price manipulation by any exporter from any country, including state intervention by that country”, India has a duty to protect itself from such manipulations. “But if it is fair trade with reasonable import protection, reasonable import tariffs, we should make our own business competitive to face it.”

First Published:Jun 6, 2020 8:31 PM IST