Why should Indians stop buying Chinese footwear?

Footwear is a major import item from China into India, accounting for about 68% of total footwear import into the country. Value-added products such as leather products and footwear constituted 91% of imports of leather, leather products and footwear from China, as per industry estimates.

China has been manipulating its currency to make its goods cheaper at the expense of locally made products causing joblessness around the world. Moreover, it also manufactures cheap quality products to serve customer requirements, producing alternative versions made with cheaper or low-quality material.

 Industry has raised an alarm as imports of finished leather goods and footwear from China have increased amid falling exports of these products from India. India’s import of footwear from China in 2018-19 was $353.33 million. However, India’s export of these products to China was only $34.1 million. In order to balance the trade deficit with China, Government of India has increased the Custom or Import duty on footwear from 25% to 35% and on parts of footwear from 15% to 20%. It’s high time that India should start mass production of good quality footwear within the domestic territory at reasonable prices so that people prefer to buy Indian footwear. Moreover, it will be helpful in generating employment as well as in balancing the trade deficit with China.