India is unofficially boycotting Turkish goods and services after Ankara voiced support for Pakistan during a recent military and diplomatic standoff between the South Asian nuclear rivals.
While no formal trade sanctions have been imposed, Indian distributors, e-commerce platforms and travel companies are distancing themselves from Turkish businesses, citing national interest.
The move follows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s expression of solidarity with Pakistan after a deadly attack in India’s Kashmir region on April 22, which left 26 people dead, most of them Hindu tourists. India blamed the attack on Pakistan and responded with missile strikes that escalated into a military confrontation.
Pakistan’s reported use of Turkish drones to target Indian military sites has further inflamed public and government sentiment against Turkey.
“Our integrated air defence systems stood like a wall and they couldn’t breach it,” said the director general of air operations for the Indian military. “Whether it’s a Turkish drone or anything else, it fails in front of the technology of India.”
India imports more than $2.7 billion worth of goods from Turkey annually, including mineral fuels, precious metals, processed food and textiles. The All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation, which supplies around 13 million retail shops, has called for an indefinite boycott of Turkish goods, a move expected to cost Turkish exporters at least $234 million per year.
Turkish products such as chocolates, coffee, jams and skincare items have started disappearing from Indian stores, while hashtags like #BoycottTurkey have trended on social media.
E-commerce platforms have followed suit. Flipkart’s fashion unit Myntra has removed Turkish clothing labels such as Trendyol, LC Waikiki and Mavi. Ajio, part of Reliance Industries, has either delisted Turkish brands or marked them “out of stock”.
Online travel booking firms including MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, Ixigo and EaseMyTrip have suspended services for Turkey. Ixigo extended the boycott to Azerbaijan and China, citing their perceived support for Pakistan during the conflict.
“Blood and bookings won’t flow together,” Ixigo CEO Aloke Bajpai told The Print, adding the decision was driven by “national sentiment.”
EaseMyTrip said bookings to Turkey and Azerbaijan fell 60% in the past week, while cancellations surged 250%.
In a related move, India last week revoked security clearance for Turkish ground-handling firm Celebi Aviation, halting its operations at nine major airports including Delhi and Mumbai. The decision wiped out about £150 million ($190 million) from Celebi’s market value. India was the firm’s largest overseas market.
Though Celebi has challenged the decision in Delhi High Court, legal experts say reinstatement is unlikely.
The suspension affected over 3,800 Indian jobs, but airport authorities said most workers would be absorbed by new service providers.
Billionaire industrialist Harsh Goenka joined the boycott calls, urging Indians to avoid Turkey and Azerbaijan. “Plenty of beautiful places in India and the world,” Goenka posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Please skip these two. Jai Hind.”
State-level officials also joined the fray. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu urged a ban on Turkish apples, which were worth £45 million ($57 million) in imports last year. Himachal and Kashmir are India’s top apple-growing regions.
At the institutional level, several universities — including IIT Bombay, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Chandigarh University — have suspended academic exchange programmes with Turkish institutions.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), representing over 80 million small businesses, also announced a boycott of trade, tourism and business ties with Turkey and Azerbaijan. The group called on the Indian film industry and corporate sector to halt shoots and advertising campaigns in the two countries.
“It is deeply unfortunate that Turkey and Azerbaijan, who have benefited from India’s goodwill and support, have chosen to side with Pakistan, a country globally known for its support to terrorism,” said CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal.
“Business cannot be bigger than the nation,” added Kapil Surana, president of the Udaipur Marble Processors Association, which has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban Turkish marble imports.