Opinion | India Has Been Trying 'Atmanirbharta' Since 2014, Why Hasn't It Succeeded?

In a globalised world, India needs to rethink its trade policies and aggressively negotiate trade agreements, writes Arpita Mukherjee of Indian Council of Research on International Economic Relations

Latest Issue

Last Page
The Story Of Sanjay Sahni: Migrant Worker-turned Independent Candidate

Contesting from Muzaffarpur in Bihar, sanjay Sahni is determined to make MNREGA work for his people.

Sanjay Sahni
Arts/Theatre
All In Asylum: Denzil Smith And Neil Bhoopalam Steal The Show

The Mumbai-based production of Tom Stoppard’s 'Every Good Boy Deserves Favour' is a winner

Alpana Chowdhury
Photo Essay
Pain In Grey: Reminders From The Pandemic

In a world where attention spans are short and news cycles are relentless, here are snapshots from India’s migrant crisis from 2020 that we must never forget

Neeraj Priyadarshi
Interview
Anubhav Sinha's 'Bheed' Is A Much-needed Reminder

In an interview to Outlook, filmmaker Anubhav Sinha talks about what pushed him to make the movie starring Rajkumar Rao

Haima Deshpande
Migrants in Kashmir
A Tale Of Resilience

In the recent past, the flow of migrant workers to Kashmir has taken a hit due to several factors, but it has not stopped them from coming to the Valley in search of work

Naseer Ganai

Arpita Mukherjee

More from Arpita Mukherjee

View All

Updated: 06 Jun 2020 8:29 am

Make in India, launched in 2014, has not been able to attract much investment in manufacturing. Besides, India is far behind many ASEAN countries in attracting investment in manufacturing. In May 2020, when Modi announced a $265 billion stimulus, the focus was to revive post-COVID-19 economic growth and aatmanirbharta by reducing dependency on imports and promoting local manufacturing, markets and supply chains. Given that India has been trying atmanirbharta since 2014, one has to understand why it has not been able to do so, why our trade balance is so skewed in favour of China, what is the level of dependence on China and how Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan can succeed.

In 2018-19, India had a negative trade balance of $53.56 billion with China. A March 2020 UNCTAD study on the global effects of China’s slowdown and supply chain disruptions ranked India 15, with an estimated impact of about US$0.34billion. Vietnam was at six, with an impact of $2.29billion. Other ASEAN countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand were estimated to be affected more severely than India because our global chain integration is limited.