How feasible to boycott Chinese products in sports and sponsorships
30 June, 2020 | newsx bureau
India has banned 59 Chinese apps, Tik-Tok and UC Browser are amongst the mobile applications banned. Relations between the two countries have further been strained after the death of 20 Indian sold...
Virat Kohli is the Brand Ambassador of China`s smartphone brand company I Quest On and On, PV Sindhu, silver medalist of Rio Olympics and a World Champion gets an amount of about 48 crores from another Chinese company Li Ning.
The agreement is for four years, with an amount of five crores for equipment separately, Kidambi Srikanth, who has been World number one in badminton, gets a sum of Rs 35 crores from the same company, while other badminton player P Kashyap gets eight crores for two years and Manu Attri and B Sumit Reddy from Li Ning company for two years. Not only this, the huge sponsorship of Chinese companies to the Indian sports world and dependence on china for sporting goods is not hidden from anyone.
In such a situation, are we in a position to boycott Chinese products ? Does the government not earn a substantial income in the form of taxes from the hefty Chinese sponsorship amount ? Are the Indian companies able to make sports equipment not depending on China`s raw material to a large extent ? The question here is whether any Indian company has the capacity to pay Rs 50 crore to Sindhu and Rs 35 crore to Kidambi Srikanth ? Cricket is not played in China, but the Chinese company name Vivo gets IPL title sponsorship and invest 480 crores per annum.
Also Read: India bans 59 Chinese apps, including Tik Tok, UC Browser, CamScanner
In the previous years, Pepsi and DLF were the title sponsor of IPL but paid less than half of this amount than VIivo. The truth is that the Indian government itself is so dependent on China and Chinese companies that the government showed 40 soldiers on martyrdom on the Galvan border of Ladakh on the Chinese company Tik-tok.
Not only IPL, Chinese company Vivo is also a title sponsor of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL). IPL gets 2199 crores rupees for five years from Vivo awhile PKL gets 275 to 300 crores. Similarly, BCCI also has an agreement with the online tutorial firm Byju`s. Byju is funded by Chinese company Tencent. Similarly, Tencent has also invested in BCCI`s online fantasy league platform Dream 11.
Title sponsorship of international matches in India is with Paytm, which gives BCCI an income of Rs. 326.8 crore. The company spends Rs 3.8 crore per match. Chinese company Alibaba has 37.15 percent stake in this company. In this way, Swiggy is an associate sponsor of IPL, which is financed by Chinese company Tencent Finance.
Its share in Swiggy is 5.27 percent. Not only this, Li Ning company has agreements with Vietnam football team, Tajikistan tennis team, Indonesia and Tajikistan football teams and Indonesia Olympic Association.
Until a few years ago, more than half of the equipment of Indian players came from China. India`s dependence on the United States and Germany has decreased considerably over the years. India has also been a pioneer in the manufacture of sports goods, where India exported nearly eight percent more in 2018-19 than in 2017-18. While India`s imports also reached $33.26 million in the same period.
Today, from shuttlecocks to table tennis balls, tennis and badminton rackets, boxing head gears and gym equipment, mostly come from China. Table Tennis ball is manufactured by the Happiness Company of China. Even the raw material for sports products manufactured in India is imported from China.
List of 59 apps banned by Government of India "which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”. pic.twitter.com/p6T2Tcd5rI
— ANI (@ANI) June 29, 2020
It is also a fact that the raw material of the football, basketball and volleyball which is exported from India to America and European countries, we have to import from China itself. At the same time, Indian companies make a large number of cricket bats, balls, hockey sticks and hockey balls and boxing related items.
We will suffer more from boycotting Chinese goods. The large number of Chinese products being made, are cheaper than Indian products, due to which their demand is high. If the Indian sentiments are to be respected, the government`s formula of being `vocal for the local` should be respected. For this, complete boycott of Chinese companies at one go will not be a practical move. The process of becoming self-sufficient can be started slowly.
Also Read: India to receive six fully-loaded Rafales amid standoff with China