When the whole world including India, is suffering from the worst pandemic of Covid-19

which has taken the global economy to its feet, India has planned to convert this crisis into

an opportunity to strengthen its supply chain system by becoming self-reliant i.e.

AtmaNirbhar. The term not only means to “Make in India, for India”, but more importantly

to get our Indians brands global & supply globally, the “Made in India” products.

Self-Reliance - 

PM Modi addressed the nation on the eve of May 12th, 2020 with a vision in mind to make

India ‘Atmanirbhar’ i.e. to make India Self-Reliant. Defining the important pillars for being

self-reliant which are Economy, Infrastructure, System, Demography & Demand, PM Modi

urged the fellow Indian to become “Vocal for Local”.  To uplift the Indian industries, Govt.

announced a hefty financial package of almost 10% of our GDP i.e. Rs. 20 Lakh crores., which

will benefit various segments including cottage industry, Micro, Small and Medium

Enterprises (MSMEs), laborers, middle class, and industries, among others. The package is

expected to support a wide range of social & industrial sections to give a boost to the
development of the country. Moreover, Land, Labour, Liquidity and Laws have all been

emphasized in this package. 

“This was the PM’s Carpe Diem (Seize the Day) speech; an opportunity to change the narrative from

‘Survival’ to ‘Strength.’ We will know tomorrow whether or not this is going to be a transformational

moment like 1991. What I also believe is I won’t get much sleep tonight!”

Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group

India for the World - 

During this crisis time, India has managed to supply Hydroxychloroquine & Paracetamol

tablets which have been found to be effective for the supportive treatment of Covid-19, to

over 120 countries over the world without compromising on the domestic supply of these

medicines. With this supply of medicines in the crisis times, India has shown the world what

a true leader is like. Lot of countries appreciated India for the efforts it took including

POTUS, President of Brazil, etc.

"Extraordinary times require even closer cooperation between friends. Thank you India and the

Indian people for the decision on HCQ. Will not be forgotten! Thank you Prime Minister

@NarendraModi for your strong leadership in helping not just India, but humanity, in this fight!"

Donald Trump, POTUS

Some of the sectors in India have emerged from nowhere during the crisis situation to

become a leader in production. The best example of this would be the PPE kits

manufacturing. In March, India was short of PPE kits in every medical institution in the

country with no manufacturer of PPE kits in India. But our textile industry stepped up &

within 3 months of time India manufactures 4.5 lakh PPE kits in a day. From zero to 4.5L, it

certainly is a huge achievement. From zero PPE kits to exporting them is what self-reliance is

all about. Same goes with the manufacturing of N95 masks & sanitizers. Today India

produces over 2 Lakh N95 marks per day. Companies like Alok Industries, JCT Phagwara,

Gokaldas Exports, and Aditya Birla are some of domestic PPE kits manufacturers. During the

beginning of the pandemic in march, there was a shortage of the sanitizers as there were

limited companies that produced sanitizers. With liquor production stopped, the small-scale

liquor industries saw an opportunity to produce sanitizers locally which was equally efficient

& in accordance with the guidelines of the IMDR. With shortage of ventilators in India, some

of the major industries in India tried their expertise in technology to build cost-effective

ventilators. One of such companies is Mahindra & Mahindra, who invested their expertise

in making a mechanical ventilator prototype that would cost a mere Rs.7500. “Turning the

crisis into opportunity” type of attitude of India is what self-reliance is all about.

What can be done - 

India is heavily dependent on other countries for certain sectors like electronics products

such as Mobile phones. China is the biggest driver of smartphones in Indian market with

over 75% of the phones in India being Chinese. These phones are only assembled in India. It

doesn't make it ‘Made in India’. India needs a major player in the smartphones industry as

India is the biggest buyer of smartphones after China in the world. Recently, Samsung
started its biggest smartphone making factory in Noida which is the biggest in the world.

This is a great start for making India a manufacturing Hub, but India needs more. The

greatest factor in this is going to be labor. India lacks skilled labor. Like China, India will have

to invest in its people, to make them their own asset & asset to the country by making them

skilled in whatever field they work in. Also, this pandemic has taught us a lot of things. One

of them is that a major portion of the workforce in India is migrants. Every state needs to

have jobs for their people locally within their states to make other cities proper rather than

only the metro cities. States need to do skill mapping of their workers like the UP govt.,

collect the data & use this data to create skill-based opportunities in their states. Making the

states more self-reliant is the way for development.

“The idea behind self-reliance or Aatmanirbharta is not to turn the country inwards, or into an

isolationist country, but to the contrary, it is to ensure that India can emerge as the global nerve

centre of the complex modern multinational supply chains,"

HarshVardhan Shringla , Foreign Secretary of India