Ankita Dutta says,

Amid the Covid-19 crisis that has brought entire countries and economic powerhouses of the world to a halt, the time now is ripe for India to emerge as the Guru for the entire global community that is continuously struggling with a ‘Pandemic Fatigue’. With PM Narendra Modi increasingly emphasising on the importance of ‘Vocal for Local’, ‘Swadeshi’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, India can become a role model that the world looks up to as a Guru, a teacher that teaches them the significance of human-nature coexistence imbued in the belief of Sanatan. India is indeed one of those rare democracies of the world that has, for centuries, been a habitat to a wide spectrum of politically opposing ideologies and a plethora of religious beliefs and practices.

It can still continue to remain so, but the crux of them all should be based on the ‘Nation-First’ attitude.

This is exactly the reason why the core ideas behind Swadeshi and Atmanirbhar Bharat need to delve beyond rhetoric so that they are harnessed to their optimum advantage in the diverse realms of society, politics, economy, culture, medicine and health.
Accordingly, India amended its FDI policy to put a blanket ban on investments from neighbouring countries through the automatic route. This is aimed at providing a safety net to Indian companies because of the economic slowdown induced by the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to a decreased valuation and economic vulnerability of local firms and their opportunistic takeover by China.

The ban also extends to entities where Chinese citizens have “beneficial ownership” to ensure that the restrictions are not circumvented by routing investments via Hong Kong, Singapore or other countries. However, concerns have been raised that India’s decision may come in the way of home-grown unicorns and start-ups including Paytm, Snapdeal, OYO Rooms, Ola, Swiggy, Zomato and Big Basket, that aim to expand their businesses with the help of backing by Chinese investors like Alibaba, Tencent and Ant Financial.

Business & Infrastructure

The pursuit of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan sows the seeds for a new course of planning for development of India from a long-term perspective. Based on the philosophy of Swadeshi of Mahatma Gandhi for a self-reliant India, it has the potential to serve as the pivot around which India can emerge an innovation hub for manufacturing and investments. As emphasised by Union Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari, India needs foreign direct investments (FDI) worth Rs. 50-60 lakh crore to bolster its coronavirus-hit economy in the coming times. This money can be tapped mainly through infrastructure projects including highways, airports, inland waterways, railways, logistic parks, broad gauge and metro rail, apart from the MSME sector, NBFCs and banks, so as to accelerate the wheels of the economy by pumping in liquidity into the market.

Several investors based in Dubai and the US have been roped in by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to invest in those MSMEs listed on the BSE, based on their three-year turn-over, GST track-record, IT record and good ratings. PPPs can also help to harness huge funds and thus have a cascading impact by generating more employment opportunities, besides being an economic booster. This would also be in sync with the PM’s thrust on reducing dependence on foreign imports by focusing more on native innovation using native technology to boost exports.

Recently, the Indian Railways had invited proposals from private companies to run 151 modern passenger trains with the objective to improve speed, efficiency and reduce the demand-supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector. This comes in the wake of reclaiming the market share lost by the railways to highways and airlines through capacity building with private participation. Keeping in mind the call for Atmanirbhar Bharat, majority of the trains will be manufactured in India under the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government, although the onus for financing, procuring, operation and maintenance of the trains will be on the private operator. Experts have said that the potential bidders will be likely through a consortium of Indian and foreign players that will have a mix of coach-making giants, global train service majors and local partners.

Earlier, amid the border row with China, the Indian Railways had reached out to the World Bank to terminate a Rs. 500 crore contract awarded to Beijing-based National Railway Group citing non-performance issues. In another significant development, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) scrapped the Rs. 500 crore contract for sourcing 10 rakes for the Jacob Circle-Wadala-Chembur monorail project wherein two Chinese firms had expressed their interest to supply the rakes, stating that the companies were “dictating” terms. Subsequently, three Indian companies – BHEL, BEML, and a private sector player Titagarh – have shown interest in designing and developing monorail rolling stock. Related to this, in yet another strategic move to boost Atmanirbhar Bharat’s image further, Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) in its Bhilai Steel Plant has already started the manufacture of R260 grade Vanadium Alloyed Special Grade Prime Rail used in the construction of railway tracks.

Several Indian states are looking to woo foreign investment as a result of the global economic upheaval unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic so as to create new employment opportunities. Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a front-runner in this particular instance as the Yogi Adityanath Government recently announced that the global technology giant Microsoft will be setting up a campus in the Greater Noida region of the state. It is expected to have a strength of 4,000 people. The UP Government has also proposed to provide several facilities to giant corporations of the US, including FedEx, UPS, Cisco, Adobe, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Boston Scientific and others if they shift their factories from China to the state of Uttar Pradesh. This comes as a major development amid the corona crisis from a state which is also giving unparalleled importance in providing employment to women by linking several SHGs to the National Rural Livelihood Mission.

It seems that after the deadly border row in the Galwan Valley along the LAC, India’s economic boycott of China and Chinese products has accelerated its steam further. Citing technical flaws, Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) has rejected the tender application of a Chinese company for the Kanpur-Agra Metro Projects. In fact, UPMRC has now given the tender of train control and signalling system to an Indian consortium – Bombardier Transport India Private Limited – along with supply, testing and commissioning of metro trains (rolling stock) for Kanpur and Agra metro projects. This move by the UP Government upholding the call of Atmanirbhar Bharat again comes as a death-knell blow to China in its quest to be the economic superpower of the world.
Defence

On the defense front, the Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) recently approved a proposal for the procurement of armaments, including MiG-29 Russian fighter jets, indigenous missile systems and radars, worth Rs. 38,900 crore. Keeping in line with PM Modi’s clarion call for Atmanirbhar Bharat, the equipment for these technologies will be manufactured in India in-toto, involving the Indian defence industry along with the participation of several MSMEs as prime-tier vendors. As per the DAC, the indigenous content in some of these projects is expected to be up to 80% of the project cost. As a matter of fact, a large number of these projects have been made possible due to the Transfer of Technology (ToT) by the DRDO to the indigenous industry. These include Pinaka ammunitions, BMP armament upgrades and Software Defined Radios for the Army, Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile Systems and Astra Missiles for the Navy and the Air Force.

Energy

While fairly self-sufficient in wind energy, India is still heavily reliant on China for solar supplies, importing about 85% of the cells and modules used. In order to ease the consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic and its effects on the domestic solar industry, which is highly dependent on Chinese photovoltaic (PV) product imports, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has urged state and port authorities to identify land suitable for renewable energy manufacturing and export services hubs. This move by the Ministry has come as a support to the Government of India’s recent pledge to provide full assistance to companies planning to expand their renewable manufacturing capacity or open new production units or export factories in the country.
Besides boosting domestic manufacturing, India also needs to adopt a forward-looking approach to the manufacturing of renewables equipment. Battery technology is all set to be a game-changer, as it has the potential to address the intermittency of renewables and can thus transform electric mobility. Although China has taken an early lead in developing battery technology, but it is still at a nascent stage and India, blessed with its huge manpower and their diverse skill-sets, expertise and land, etc. has a good chance at competing in this front. This will also reduce our import dependency on solar equipments by ramping up domestic capabilities to its optimum best. The constant push of the Government of India for ‘Make in India’ to strengthen domestic manufacturing could be taken as an opportunity by the industry to develop not just in terms of competitive pricing but also technological advancement through a robust R&D infrastructure.

Health & Medicine

The covid-19 pandemic has led to a renewed focus on health and the biomedical sector, in which every country is trying to strengthen its own indigenous capacity to address the public demands. India is already playing a leading role in the global pharmaceutical market and its enhanced strength in the biomedical field has the ability to transform it into a strong player in the overall health sector in the years to come. Recently, India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) had developed a bio-suit having a specific type of fabric with a coating inside for the safety of medical, paramedical and other health service personnel engaged in combating the deadly coronavirus.

It has also developed indigenous technologies for sanitizing areas of different sizes; for sanitizing a small area, Portable Backpack Area Sanitization Equipment has been developed, and Trolley Mounted Large Area Sanitization Equipment has been developed for sanitizing large areas. Besides DRDO, other government institutes like South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) and Ordnance Factory Board are at the forefront of developing new technologies, materials and testing facilities to meet the growing demands of the biomedical industry in the midst of the pandemic.

Before the virus had struck the country, India did manufacture PPE kits but it largely relied on cheap Chinese imports to meet the growing demand. While the first cases of Covid-19 came to be reported in India as early as in January, the Government immediately acted with an urgency to procure PPEs after the Prime Minister announced a three-week nationwide lockdown in late March to ramp up the country’s healthcare infrastructure. Amid a global shortage and one of the world’s strictest lockdown that halted the production of all but essential items, apparel makers sensed a golden opportunity. Around mid-April, three production outlets of Nair’s Matrix Clothing in Gurugram, Haryana, started making 3,000-4,000 pieces a day of protective body gears and shoe covers that has now almost doubled. Others like Alok Industries, JCT Phagwara, Aditya Birla, and Gokaldas Exports are among more than 600 Indian companies that have started manufacturing such gear of late. This, according to a government statement, has made India the world’s second largest producer of PPE kits. Recently, with an aim to boost Make in India exports, PPE medical coveralls for Covid-19 have been allowed by the DGFT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, with a monthly export quota of 50 lakh.

In order to address pandemic outbreaks, it is extremely important to have a competent system of medicine closely linked with R&D, because human health can only improve through innovation that keeps pace with the emerging challenges of the times. It is high time that the Government bolsters the AYUSH system of medicine and promote it to boost India’s soft-power image in the near future by integrating it with the modern allopathic system of medicine, which gives quick relief from diseases but not the guarantee of good health. It is in this context that the AYUSH system, especially Yoga and Ayurveda, can play a niche role in terms of affordability, accessibility and long-term benefits of ensuring good health and a strong immunity to fight diseases for all the citizens of the country and across all age-groups.

Information & Technology

With the recent ban on Chinese apps by the Government of India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has kickstarted the Atmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge aimed at improving the Indian app ecosystem, in partnership with the Atal Innovation Mission and the government think-tank Niti Aayog. As a part of the challenge, Indian start-ups will be incentivised to create world-class apps, thereby furthering the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives. The government has allocated Rs. 20 lakh, Rs. 15 lakh and Rs. 10 lakh for the first, second and third-placed apps in each category. There may also be sub-categories, where winners will get Rs. 5 lakh, Rs. 3 lakh, and Rs. 2 lakh for the first, second and third positions respectively.
The banning of Chinese apps by the Indian government has been called a strategic move or ‘digital strike’ because it has served a strong warning to China and as well as its bigger government-controlled businesses in India. The ban aligns with a strong public demand to take strict action against apps that pose a threat to India’s sovereignty and integrity and as well as the privacy of its citizens. There were apprehensions that the apps could be used to monitor movements of Indian troops and stealing of strategic information. This is indeed a bold step undertaken by the Modi government that has unapologetically conveyed a serious signal to all the anti-India and Breaking-India forces that it is not going to compromise on the country’s national security at any cost.

Way Forward

A beginning seems to have been made with PM Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and the emphasis on Swadeshi. However, several bold reforms are required in the sectors of agriculture, industry, health and education so as to make the country and its economy truly Atmanirbhar by harnessing the maximum possible benefits from the special economic package announced by the government. Atmanirbhar and Swadeshi will prepare the country for tough competition in the global supply chain in the coming times, hence it is very important that India wins this competition and emerge as a leading manufacturing hub that the world can look up to as a sustainable and credible alternative to the Dragon.


Sources:

  1. India needs Rs. 50-60 lakh crore foreign investments to bolster coronavirus-hit economy: Gadkari. Times of India (2020, July 02). Retrieved from https://m.timesofindia.com/business/india-business/india-needs-rs-50-60-lakh-crore-foreign-investments-to-bolster-coronavirus-hit-economy-nitin-gadkari/articleshow/76750833.cms
  2. Government approves purchase of fighter jets, missile systems, weapons worth Rs. 38,900 crore. Times of India (2020, July 02). Retrieved from https://m.timesofindia.com/india/government-approves-purchase-of-fighter-jets-missile-systems-weapons-worth-rs-38900-crore/articleshow/76750301.cms
  3. Gharelu Manufacturing ko Badhawa dene ke liye Sarkar ne uthaye ye Kadam, Aayat Shulk me bhi kiya Ijafa. Dainik Jagran (2020, June 29). Retrieved from https://m.jagran.com/business/biz-boycott-china-government-steps-to-boost-domestic-manufacturing-increases-import-duty-20451119.html?itm_source=referral&itm_medium=homepage&itm_campaign=cre
  4. Rakheja, Harshit. (2020, July 04). After Banning Chinese Apps, Modi Kickstarts AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge. Inc42 Staff. Retrieved from https://inc42.com/buzz/after-banning-chinese-apps-modi-kickstarts-aatmanirbhar-bharat-app-innovation-challenge/

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