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Boycott affects Turkish goods including chocolates,

coffee, and

fashion

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Distributor body says 13 million grocery stores involved

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Indian fashion sites remove Turkish brands, citing

national

interest

By Dhwani Pandya

MUMBAI, May 19 (Reuters) - Small Indian grocery shops

and major online fashion retailers are boycotting Turkish

products ranging from chocolates, coffee, jams and cosmetics to

clothing amid growing anger at Turkey's support for Pakistan in

a confrontation with India.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan expressed public solidarity

with Pakistan, another majority-Muslim country, after India

conducted military strikes in response to an attack in Indian

Kashmir by Islamist assailants. Cross-border fighting continued

for four days before a ceasefire was declared.

On Monday, the All India Consumer Products Distributors

Federation (AICPDF), which supplies 13 million mom-and-pop

grocery stores, said it was launching an "indefinite and total

boycott" of all Turkish-origin goods, which would affect

chocolates, wafers, jams, biscuits and skincare products.

Indian fashion websites owned by Walmart ( WMT )-backed Flipkart and

billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance have removed numerous

Turkish apparel brands, according to three sources and a review

of their websites.

Flipkart's fashion website Myntra removed listings of

Turkish brands including Trendyol, known for women's clothing,

street and casual wear brand LC Waikiki and jeans producer Mavi,

said one source with direct knowledge.

Myntra removed the brands "in the national interest" without

Walmart's ( WMT ) involvement, a second source with direct knowledge

said.

Reliance's fashion website AJIO also removed Turkish brands

including Trendyol, Koton, LC Waikiki from its app, and many of

those listings were shown as out of stock on Monday. A source

cited "national sentiments" as a reason.

Flipkart, Reliance Retail and the Turkish brands Trendyol,

LC Waikiki, Koton and Mavi did not respond to requests for

comment.

India has not ordered companies to boycott Turkey, and

India's annual $2.7 billion in goods imports from Turkey are

dominated by mineral fuels and precious metals.

But a consumer boycott could still be significant. AICPDF said

its ban would affect around 20 billion rupees ($234 million) of

food products. Apparel imports were worth $81 million last year,

according to the Trading Economics reference website.

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, chief minister of Himachal Pradesh,

one of India's biggest apple-growing states, said on Monday he

would ask for a ban on apple imports from Turkey, which were

worth around $60 million last year.

Moreover, last week Flipkart said it was suspending flight,

hotel and holiday package bookings to Turkey "in solidarity with

India's national interest and sovereignty".

Indians have been cancelling holidays to Turkey and New Delhi

has cancelled the security clearance of the Turkish-based

aviation ground handling firm Celebi.

Reuters reported on Friday that Air India was lobbying Indian

officials to disallow rival IndiGo's leasing tie-up

with Turkish Airlines, citing business impact as well

as security concerns sparked by Ankara's support for Pakistan.