Govt Seeks 100 Products to Boost Local Manufacturing Drive

• The Commerce Department is identifying around 100 products with high import volumes
• The initiative involves a list of raw materials, intermediate inputs, and finished goods
• The initiative aligns with the government’s goal to decrease dependence on imports

According to a senior official, the commerce department is developing a list of about 100 products that could be produced domestically in an effort to reduce dependency on imports into India.

The goal of this initiative is to strengthen through domestic production in sectors such as engineering goods, chemicals, plastics, and pharmaceuticals.

The Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said, "We have identified around 100 products with large imports that also have large domestic capacity. We want to see if capacity utilisation can be increased and we can reduce dependency on unessential imports".

The department has already conducted a preliminary assessment and the list will be finalized after consultations with several departments and industry stakeholders. The department is considering raw materials, intermediate inputs, and finished goods for this swadeshi manufacturing push.

Also Read: Tata Motors Partners with 13 EV Operators to Boost Charging

Once completed, the list will be made available in the public domain as an attachment to the import data to support Indian companies and startups in seeking replacement products through domestic production.

This initiative is in line with the government’s overall fourfold approach, which also entails decreasing dependence on imports from certain locations. In this regard, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal stressed, the aim to reduce reliance on China remains a key target, especially for active pharmaceutical ingredients and electronics. Producers from China have advantages in costs and fully receive government subsidies.

The government has shifted toward these schemes over the past few years such as Production Linked Incentives (PLI) to enhance local manufacturing within mobile phones, electronics, components, white goods and pharmaceuticals, and this new initiative continues that trend. Barthwal added, "We are identifying new products, markets and are now trying to identify new producers".