Chinese LED lights swarm Indian homes this Diwali despite ban calls

New Delhi, Oct 24

As millions of Indians gear up to celebrate Diwali on Monday, Chinese suppliers have delivered record products, from LED light decors to stickers, amid the lingering voices in the country to decouple with China over supply chain and push for local manufacturing, according to Chinese state-run publication Global Times.

Traders in China rushed to catch up for their last shipments and the orders remained strong, the report quoted industry insiders and experts as saying.

An employee from Lulin Light Decoration, a local exporter for LED decors based in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province, told the Global Times that they started delivering festive products to Indian clients from April.

"The most popular goods this year are the LED lights for the decoration of curtains, the LED lights designed in shapes like flame or lamp are particularly popular," he said.

"While the festival is drawing near, the company is still busy fulfilling product orders, the person said," according to the report.

A trader surnamed Zhang based in Yiwu, the world's "supermarket", in Zhejiang, said this year's order placement period lasted longer than usual and tens of thousands of the festive goods have been delivered so far.

"Our products are not only consistent in terms of quality, but we also offer reasonable market prices and timely delivery, and we are flexible about the methods of payment, which are all the reasons why Indian clients like to do business with us," Zhang was quoted as saying.

While there are no available statistics about how much Chinese-made Diwali-related goods were delivered to India this year, the demand was super strong despite the pandemic and inflation.

Spending during the festival season this year can hit $32 billion as Indian households prepare for a restriction-free Diwali, according to LocalCircles data.

Meanwhile, Chinese LED lights and the corresponding products have gained a rising popularity among the Indian consumers

In the first half of this year, China exported a total of $710 million-worth of LED light-related products to India, a year-on-year increase of 27.3 per cent, a significant 135.3 per cent higher than the same period in 2020, according to data from the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products.

The report said, "While the Indian government and media has relentlessly sought to advance a decoupling with China, following in the US' footsteps, by attempting to replace Chinese products with the Indian ones, there has been little progress."