Should we really boycott these so-called Chinese companies? No, please!
- IndiaGlitz, [Thursday,June 04 2020]
The #BoycottChina cry is on the rise. With Covid-19 attacking India, thanks to the negligent and probably evil-minded Chinese regime, Indians are angry. Adding to their ire is the alleged border standoff between China and India, where the former is widely reported to be the aggressor.
In this scenario, we are hearing many people say that products like PayTM and Swiggy must be boycotted by Indians. Recently, a journalist named 15 companies in which Chinese investments are present: 1. Big Basket 2. Flipkart 3. Make My Trip 4. Ola 5. Oyo 6. Paytm 7. Policy Bazaar 8. Quikr 9. Snapdeal 10. Swiggy 11.Zomato 12. Dailyhunt 13. Gaana 14. Practo 15. Khatabook.
The question is, should all these products be boycotted by Indians as part of our anti-China sentiment? Columnist R Jagannathan feels that we need to separate minor Chinese investors from controlling interests. He adds, Flipkart is part of US Walmart. Also, many of them have more Japanese investments than Chinese. Need to sort out the Chinese controlled companies from those merely with some Chinese investors.
Columnist Somnath Mukherjee writes, Most of these have minority Chinese stakes, as much Chinese funded as they are Japanese funded. But what about FDI by China? FDI is automatic and no one can invite Chinese FDI specially. We run a $60 billion trade deficit with China - small FDI restores the balance a bit, he adds.