Govt targeting import substitution for 100 products to improve self-reliance

In an effort to become increasingly self-reliant, the Commerce Ministry is in the process of identifying 100 heavily imported products - including engineering goods, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and plastics - that can be replaced with domestic alternatives as part of an effort to reduce import dependency on certain geographies, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on September 15.

“The concept behind it is Swadeshi. We have categorised imports from three different perspectives - how much are raw materials, intermediaries and finished products. And we also looked at the capacities of our industries and then which imports can be replaced due to that,” said Barthwal.

Commerce Secretary said the exercise to identify these products is underway and will involve consultations with ministries as well as with stakeholders from the industry.

“The idea is to see if the industry can improve, raise or create capacity for these goods,” Barthwal said, adding that the aim is to manufacture for India as well as for the world. Barthwal’s comments come at a time when India has been taking steps to intensify the Make in India push, especially in the wake of supply chain bottlenecks and recent trade-related disruptions.