NEW DELHI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
wants to make India more self-reliant, but if the experience over the past few years is anything to go by, it’s not going to be easy.
Faced with disruptions to raw material supplies from China because of the pandemic and millions of job losses following a nationwide lockdown, Modi has ratcheted up calls to boost local manufacturing and reduce India’s reliance on
imports
.
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A shortage of personal protective equipment at the beginning of the outbreak increased his resolve — and within the space of just two months, India has become the world’s biggest maker of PPE kits after China. That success has only emboldened Modi as he exhorts
Indians
to buy local goods.
A military standoff with China is now adding fuel to those calls. Following a deadly clash between soldiers from both countries along a contested Himalayan border this month, Indian political leaders have called for a boycott of Chinese goods and possible higher tariffs on products from its neighbor. Traders, who were previously reluctant to snub cheap Chinese imports, have now come up with a list of 3,000 items, including toys