Fear of things made in China hits electronic products sales

NEW DELHI: With many customers giving China-made goods a pass, sales of electronic products including mobile handsets have fallen by about Rs 1,350 crore in the past two months following the Covid-19 outbreak, a trade group said.

“There is an estimated business loss of about Rs 1,000 crore of IT products as well as Rs 350 crore worth of mobile handsets in January and February due to the spread of the coronavirus,” Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders, told ET. The confederation represents almost 60 million traders. IT retailers, including resellers, have an annual turnover of about Rs 30,000 crore from the consumer business.

“Consumers are more worried about purchasing goods as they fear getting infected with the virus and that has resulted in lower footfalls across India,” Khandelwal said.


Xiaomi, Apple and Huawei have manufacturing facilities in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus.