A delegation of cycle manufacturers led by Rajya Sabha MP and Punjab BJP President Shwait Malik met Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri in Delhi today.
According to Malik, he apprised Puri of the dent made by the huge import of cheap Chinese bicycles and parts. Puri was told that over 1.65 crores of bicycles were manufactured in the country annually. India is the second largest bicycle manufacturer in the world with more than 4,000 industrial units, the delegation said.
Malik said the concept of public bike sharing in China led to a manufacturing spurt in that country.
"But due to unregulated public bike sharing system, this system has come at a halt in China. Due to this, there is a capacity surplus and a huge inventory of bicycles in China. So now they are trying to sell these cheap reconditioned old bicycles in India," he said.
He added that under the smart city project four crore bicycles will be indented into the system under the public bike sharing concept and China is trying to make use of this opportunity.
Malik said that these reconditioned, recycled and old bicycles are no-where in comparison to the quality of the bicycles manufactured here but due to low price, they will affect the sales of Indian manufacturers.
In a release, Malik said Puri was apprised that if the demand of four crore bicycles generated due to smart city project was allowed to be met from reconditioned cheap Chinese bicycles then manufacturers here are going to face massive losses.
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