‘Our endeavour will be that we identify these products, put them in the public domain so that the manufacturers can look at them and give a boost to Make in India.’
Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff
To make India more self-reliant, the Department of Commerce is identifying as many as 100 products, where import dependency can be reduced and domestic capabilities can be enhanced.
“We are identifying 100 products, where we have huge imports, but at the same time we have some domestic capacities,” Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Monday.
“Those imports can be replaced by domestic capacities by improving utilisation of those products. That will be a step towards being Aatmanirbhar.”
“Our endeavour will be that we identify these products, put them in the public domain so that the manufacturers can look at them and give a boost to Make in India,” Barthwal told reporters.
The list will be out in the public domain by month-end or in October, he said.
It will include items across categories such as engineering goods, chemicals, plastics and pharmaceuticals, among others.
As a part of a preliminary assessment, the department has identified products that can be easily replaced through Swadeshi or Aatmanirbharta, Barthwal said.
A detailed exercise will involve deliberations with various government departments and consultations with industry, he added.
The exercise comes in the backdrop of reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods levied by the US and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to promote Swadeshi products.
India-EU talks
Commerce department Special Secretary L Satya Srinivas said the 13th round of negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union was held from September 8 to 12.
And, ‘significant convergence’ was achieved in many areas during the round.
“In this round, we brought quite a few chapters to substantial closure — they were not closed as such, but significant progress has been made,” Srinivas told reporters.
Both sides, he added, aim to conclude the negotiations at the earliest — by the end of this year. The 14th round is scheduled in Brussels from October 6 to 10.
Earlier this month, many high-level engagements, including at the level of commerce secretary and commerce and industry minister, took place.
The EU trade commissioner and EU commissioner for agriculture and food visited India during September 11-12. They held meetings with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
