Aug 11, 2025: From McDonald's and Coca-Cola to Amazon and Apple, US-based multinationals are facing calls for a boycott in India as business executives and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's supporters stoke anti-American sentiment to protest against US tariffs.
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.
Meta's WhatsApp, for instance, has the most users in India, and Domino's has more restaurants in the country than any other brand. Coca-Cola and Pepsi often take up a lot of space on store shelves, and people still wait in line when a new Apple store or Starbucks cafe offers discounts. Following Donald Trump's imposition of a 50 percent tariff on goods from India, which rattled exporters and damaged ties between New Delhi and Washington, there is a growing chorus on social media and offline to buy local and ditch American products. Reuters inquired, but McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Apple did not immediately respond. Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of India's Wow Skin Science, 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.
"Products from thousands of miles away have been in line for us. "While our own manufacturers compete for attention in their own country, we have proudly spent money on brands that we do not own," he stated. "India should have its own home-grown Twitter, Google, YouTube, Whatsapp, and Facebook -- like China has," wrote Rahm Shastry, CEO of India's DriveU, which provides a service for on-call car drivers, on LinkedIn. To be fair, Indian retail companies give foreign brands like Starbucks stiff competition in the domestic market, but going global has been a challenge.
However, Indian IT service providers like TCS and Infosys offer software solutions to clients all over the world and have established a firm foothold in the global economy. "Now is the time for us to give more priority to India's needs," Modi told a gathering in Bengaluru on Sunday, making a "special appeal" for becoming self-reliant. He didn't mention any businesses. Do not involve my McPuff in it: Tesla opened its second showroom in India on Monday in New Delhi, where officials from the Indian commerce ministry and the U.S. embassy attended the opening. On Sunday, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, a group affiliated with Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, organized a few small public rallies across India to encourage people to avoid purchasing 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 plea for patriotism and nationalism." In addition, he provided Reuters with a table that his group is circulating on WhatsApp and in which Indian brands of toothpaste, cold drinks, and bath soaps are listed as alternatives to foreign brands. On social media, one of the group's campaigns is a graphic titled "Boycott foreign food chains", with logos of McDonald's and many other restaurant brands.
In Uttar Pradesh, Rajat Gupta, 37, who was dining at a McDonald’s in Lucknow on Monday, said he wasn’t concerned about the tariff protests and simply enjoyed the 49-rupee ($0.55) coffee he considered good value for money.
"Tariffs are a matter of diplomacy and my McPuff, coffee should not be dragged into it," he said.