Make in India is not an isolationist strategy.

‘Make in India’ is not an isolationist or a protectionist strategy but it is an approach to get into the global value chain, a senior Indian diplomat has said. Arunish Chawla, who is head of the economic issues at the Indian Embassy in the US, said a lot of articles were written about the recent union budget. “And one of the big headlines which went around this city was is India going back to protectionism? The answer is a loud ‘NO’,” Chawla told a Washington audience.

“What India has done is a part of a careful strategy in manufacturing called Make in India. We have moved away from what we called Made in India to what we now call Make in India. Make in India is not an isolationist strategy. It is not a protectionist strategy. It is not even a strategy of blind import substitution. It is a strategy to get into the global value chains; to be genuinely a part of the global value chains,” Chawla said.

Participating in a panel discussion on ‘Deepening US-India Trade Ties: Focus on States’ organised by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Chawla said that India and the United States were not horizontally competitive economies, but were vertically integrated economies. It is important for economies of large size to reap the benefits of their market size, on their jobs growth potential by creating local ecosystems, he noted.

India, he said offers a greater opportunity for American companies. “American companies are welcome, they are loved in India, they are respected, their business practices are respected, and they occupy commanding heights in every sector of the Indian economy,” Chawla said, adding India is looking at ways to bring down the bilateral trade deficit. “Our work on aerospace, defense and energy sector is beginning to take root. While trade deficit of United States with every major country increased in 2017 with India, it declined in absolute terms,” he said.

In 2017 calendar year, India-US bilateral trade in goods and services reached USD 140 billion, Chawla said. “This is not a small trade. It is growing double digits year on year; more than twice the rate at which the global trade is growing. As Indian economy grows and India becomes a much larger economy, the trade will grow leaps and bounds,” said the top Indian official.