Self-Reliance Driving India’s Economic Surge

Context:

This analysis examines how India’s pivot to self-reliance, through targeted policy changes, is fueling economic expansion. The piece highlights key initiatives reshaping industrial, defense, and human capital sectors, positioning India as the third-largest economy by Purchasing Power Parity ($14.5 trillion), with a focus on reducing external dependence and enhancing domestic capabilities.

1. Make in India Initiative: Launched in 2014, this policy promotes domestic manufacturing by easing regulations, offering tax incentives, and improving infrastructure, boosting sectors like electronics and automobiles.
2. Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes: Introduced in 2020 and expanded by 2025, PLI provides financial incentives (₹120 crore allocated) to enhance production in 14 sectors, including pharmaceuticals and renewable energy, reducing import reliance.
3. Defense Indigenization: Post-2020 DAP (Defence Acquisition Procedure) reforms prioritize local production of fighter jets, missile systems, and warships, cutting arms imports (India dropped to second-largest importer by 2025).
4. iDEX Framework: Initiated in 2018, Innovations for Defence Excellence fosters startups and MSMEs to develop indigenous defense tech, with policy support like funding and trials scaled up by 2025.
5. Skill India Program: Revamped in 2021, this policy enhances workforce skills via vocational training, aligning education with industry needs (e.g., IT, manufacturing), targeting 400 million skilled workers by 2030.
6. Digital India Push: Strengthened since 2020, policies promote digital infrastructure (e.g., 5G rollout) and IT self-reliance, supporting firms like TCS and Infosys to lead global outsourcing markets.
7. Startup India Expansion: Updated in 2023, it offers tax holidays and funding access, encouraging entrepreneurship in AI, green energy, and biotech, fostering innovation-driven growth.
8. Defense Space Agency: Established in 2019 and bolstered by 2025 policies, it militarizes space capabilities, integrating satellite tech and cyber warfare into national security frameworks.
9. FDI Policy Shift: Revised in 2024, caps foreign ownership in strategic sectors while incentivizing joint ventures for tech transfer, balancing openness with self-reliance goals.
10. Education Investment: Increased budgetary allocation since 2022 supports IITs and IISc for R&D in 4IR technologies (e.g., quantum computing), aiming to retain talent and reduce tech imports.

Key Terms:

• Make in India: Policy to boost domestic manufacturing and reduce imports.
• PLI Schemes: Incentives for production in key sectors to enhance self-reliance.
• DAP 2020: Defence Acquisition Procedure promoting indigenous defense production.
• iDEX: Framework supporting defense innovation by startups and MSMEs.
• Skill India: Program for workforce skilling to meet industry demands.
• Digital India: Initiative for digital infrastructure and IT self-sufficiency.
• Startup India: Policy fostering entrepreneurship with fiscal benefits.
• Defense Space Agency: Body advancing space-based defense capabilities.
• FDI: Foreign Direct Investment, regulated for strategic autonomy.
• 4IR: Fourth Industrial Revolution, era of advanced tech like AI and robotics.

Link To The Original Article – https://www.thehindu.com/education/how-policy-shift-towards-self-reliance-is-boosting-indias-economic-growth/article69348587.ece