OPINION | Swadeshi is more than shopping local, it’s about fostering self-reliance

Swadeshi calls for independence not just in production but in perception — in how we educate, communicate, and create.

(Sanghnomics is a weekly column that tracks down and demystifies the economic world view of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and organisations inspired by its ideology.)

The broad estimates of sales of consumer goods during this festival season are estimated to cross around Rs 4.75 lakh crores. The actual numbers will come in due course, but the broad trend is clear: Indians have gone all out on a buying spree.

One of the highlights of this buying spree, highlighted by various trade bodies as well as media reports, is that Indian consumers have given a huge preference to ‘Swadeshi’ products. This raises two questions: First, what is the definition of a ‘Swadeshi’ product? And second, is the concept of Swadeshi limited merely to goods and services bought and sold commercially by Indians?

Definition of ‘Swadeshi’ products

The term ‘Swadeshi’ comprises two words: Swa (self) and Desh (nation). Literally speaking, the ‘Swadeshi’ products would be those which are made in India. However, it might not be as simple as it seems. In a world of growing interdependence among various industries operating in different countries, producing purely indigenous products could be a challenge.

There are several multinational corporations with headquarters outside India that have manufacturing units here. They procure raw materials in India, manufacture and sell products here, but take a significant share of profits back to their head offices outside India. Can we call these products ‘Swadeshi’? Then there are many domestic companies that import components from other countries, assemble their products in India, and sell them here. Can we call these products ‘Swadeshi’, considering a substantial amount of money is spent on importing components?

The solution to this problem arguably lies in the “value creation” matrix. In addition to the ‘country of origin’, we might like to consider the value created or added in India while assembling the products. Also, we need to assess how much of this ‘value addition’ remains within India and isn’t drained off.

Revisiting ‘Swadeshi’ in the modern context

The concept of Swadeshi in the modern context needs to be revisited, as the world has changed significantly over the last 150 years since this concept took shape as a major instrument to check India’s wealth drainage to Britain. In a paper entitled England’s Debt to India, Dadabhai Naoroji first highlighted in 1867 that Britain was bleeding India by extracting and appropriating more than one-fourth of India’s revenue. He developed his arguments further in a paper on the Poverty of India in 1873, and in 1901 he wrote Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. Around the same time, Mahadev Ranade and Bholanath Chandra developed their own ideas about the drain of wealth from India. These ideas would become the mainstay of the nationalist critique of British rule in India. Leaders with divergent ideas about India's freedom struggle agreed on the economic exploitation of India through various means.

Mahatma Gandhi took the concept of ‘Swadeshi’ beyond the economic sphere. As early as 1916, he said in his speech at the Gurukula Kangri, “There is no salvation for us without true Swadeshi, not the Swadeshi which can be conveniently put off. Swadeshi, for me, has a deeper meaning. I would like us to apply it in our religious, political, and economic life. It is not, therefore, merely confined to wearing Swadeshi cloth on occasions. That we have to do for all time, not out of a spirit of jealousy or revenge, but because it is a duty we owe to our dear country.”

It is clear that Swadeshi needs to be understood as an ideology that goes much beyond a call to buy Indian goods or promote domestic enterprises. Its true essence lies in fostering intellectual, technological, and cultural self-reliance — the ability of a nation to think, innovate, and define its path according to its own civilizational ethos.

Dattopant Thengadi, the founder of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) and a leading ideologue of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), said in his seminal work The Third Way, “Swadeshi is the outward, practical manifestation of patriotism. Patriotism is not considered as isolationism… Patriots are not against internationalism. Their plea for national self-reliance is not incompatible with international cooperation, provided that the latter is on an equal footing — with due regard to the national respect of every country.”

It is clear that in this age dominated by global supply chains and borrowed ideas, Swadeshi calls for independence not just in production but in perception — in how we educate, communicate, and create.

When we extend Swadeshi beyond commerce to include knowledge, values, and social systems, it transforms from an economic slogan into a philosophy of national renewal rooted in self-belief and dharmic balance.

Earlier Sanghnomics columns can be read here.

(Arun Anand has authored two books on the RSS. His X handle is @ArunAnandLive.)

Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.