My 2 Cents on Being Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self Reliance India)

A happy independence day to all of you. It was 15th August, 1947 we bid adieu to imperialism and colonial rule of India. Our forefathers pledged the vision of making a great nation of India - Bharat. We realised the importance of democracy and became a republic where it was people's mandate that will drive policy making.

We are a young country with "hope" the only driving force for a great vision to be achieved. It was this country that dominated exports in global trade pre colonial era and it was looted enough to fulfil the demands of imperial mindset thus brought country into shambles. But thanks to our great freedom fighters and their sacrifice we pledged to bring back the old glory to this nation.

However, in the course of building a great nation, we lost the value of our currency against the driving global currencies. The best analysis is to understand that the Exchange rate of 1947 was Rs. 3.30 to 1 dollar which in the next 74 years changed to INR 70.4 to $1 by 2020. We had great purchase power then which is a point of introspection. I also agree we had to fight on several grounds be increasing the social life of fellow Indians to strengthening education status of Indians plus several wars.

But, our determination in abiding to our constitution and making a great nation was not deterred. We kept the hope going. We believed in our thoughts of making Bharat a great nation.

Hadn't been so, we wouldn't have seen the move towards free economy in 1991 by the then government. This led to flourishing trade and was a resurrection of India's economy. There was no looking back since then. But policy implementation had its own hurdles, be it on foreign policy or internal bureaucracy challenges. It was a similar time when our neighbour China too went through internal changes and reforms post Tiananmen Square incident. But what happened that their economy went past ours be large extent. I think it was "Atmanirbharta". They became an export oriented country.

While we had our exports, but it remained constrained to service exports only. We need to understand the backbone of our country is SMB enterprises and they are small manufacturers. But instead of exports, this segment was more dependant on imports and you may see the Fiscal deficit that India has is a result of the same.

We assumed, India is a great market in itself so focus on catering to needs of domestic demand, but we ignored that we have the capacity to fulfil global demands too (this is what China understood well and focussed). While we focussed on catering to domestic demand, we depended mostly of getting raw materials from other countries and assembled it in India to serve domestic needs.

This has to change here on. While imports are needed, but we must thrive to become a major export oriented company. Look where are we in terms of Electronics manufacturing output from India compared to some major exporters in this segment. But we tend to product maximum engineers from this country. Similarly on innovation we are way behind. How many product tech companies are from India though we boast to have best minds working in top tech firms globally. We need to have a shift in mindset. We can and we will.

This is possible when there is a strong ecosystem built. Although government brings several policies, implementation is an issue. We need to expedite the implementation process. Startup should be given more support as they bring in innovations and problem solving techniques. Leverage them. Let's not work in Silos. Time is changing, my India is changing.

Thus, I take pledge to become more independent in my thoughts and actions. Let's become "Atmanirbhar" (Self Reliance). I believe that India can become a great export nation and would like to enable and help small merchants to promote their exports. I would like to add my 2 cents as a responsible citizen to promote exports from India. Work closely with government agencies, and become a part of decision making that would empower our fellow Indians in becoming an Export rich nation. With this I will be adding value to my nation in strengthening the fiscal deficit and adding a positive curve toward GDP. Let's join hands and make Bharat the Golden Bird in world sphere once again.

Self Reliance is the need of the hour. I am in, are you?

Let me know your thoughts?

Jai Hind,

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