NEW DELHI: Several US companies operating in India are now facing boycott calls in the South Asian nation with business executives and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s supporters stoking anti-American sentiment to protest against import duties imposed by Washington.
India, the world’s most populous nation, is a key market for American brands that have rapidly expanded to target a growing base of affluent consumers, many of whom remain infatuated with international labels seen as symbols of moving up in life.
India, for example, is the biggest market by users for Meta’s WhatsApp and a popular pizza chain has more restaurants than any other brand in the country.
US-based beverage companies often dominate store shelves, and people still queue up when a new smartphone store opens or a coffee shop doles out discounts.
Although there was no immediate indication of sales being hit, there’s a growing chorus both on social media and offline to buy local and ditch American products after Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on goods from India, rattling exporters and damaging ties between New Delhi and Washington.
Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of a local company selling skin-care products, took to LinkedIn with a video message urging support for farmers and startups to make “Made in India” a “global obsession,” and to learn from South Korea, whose food and beauty products are famous worldwide.
“We have lined up for products from thousands of miles away. We have proudly spent on brands that we don’t own, while our own makers fight for attention in their own country,” he said.
Rahm Shastry, CEO of a local company which provides a car driver on call service, wrote on LinkedIn: “India should have its own home-grown Twitter/Google/YouTube/WhatsApp/FB — like China has”.
To be fair, Indian retail companies give foreign brands stiff competition in the domestic market, but going global has been a challenge.
Indian IT services firms, however, have become deeply entrenched in the global economy, with the likes of TCS and Infosys providing software solutions to clients worldwide.
On Sunday, Modi made a “special appeal” for becoming self-reliant, telling a gathering in Bengaluru that Indian technology companies made products for the world but “now is the time for us to give more priority to India’s needs”, however, he did not name any company.
BJP-linked group holds boycott rallies
Even as anti-American protests simmer, Tesla launched its second showroom in India in New Delhi, with Monday’s opening attended by Indian commerce ministry officials and US embassy officials.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch group, which is linked to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), took out small public rallies across India on Sunday, urging people to boycott American brands.
“People are now looking at Indian products. It will take some time to fructify,” Ashwani Mahajan, the group’s co-convenor, told Reuters. “This is a call for nationalism, patriotism”.
He also shared with Reuters a table his group is circulating on WhatsApp, listing Indian brands of bath soaps, toothpaste and cold drinks that people could choose over foreign ones.
On social media, one of the group’s campaigns is a graphic titled “Boycott foreign food chains”, with logos of many restaurant brands.
In Uttar Pradesh, Rajat Gupta, 37, who was dining at a US-based restaurant chain in Lucknow on Monday, said he wasn’t concerned about the tariff protests and simply enjoyed the INR49 ($0.55) coffee he considered good value for money.
“Tariffs are a matter of diplomacy and my coffee should not be dragged into it,” he said.
