It aims to reduce vulnerabilities after shocks such as the Asian War
NEW DELHI – Drawing on the experience of war-related turmoil in West Asia, government departments have begun working on a series of measures to increase resilience at home and reduce vulnerabilities to shocks, which have become more frequent in recent years.From identifying 100 to 150 items for import substitution, to boosting the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and checking the entry of cheap shipments, the ministries have initiated discussions and drawn up specific steps.Energy is at the top of the heap, with measures to increase the green hydrogen footprint, promote solar and green energy, and especially storage capacity being taken up equally. The road map drawn up at the request of the Prime Minister’s Office is being implemented through ministries, with regular monitoring by senior officials from Seva Tirth, officials told TOI.The plan itself was drawn up over a period of eight to ten weeks, and came with immediate steps to ensure that the economy did not run into shortages, be it in energy or other inputs and raw materials coming from West Asia.
In parallel, steps have been initiated to address structural weaknesses in the medium to long term, a senior official said.Some of the measures taken since the outbreak of war on February 28, including diversification of sources, are likely to continue.
For example, there will be less reliance on imported LPG and priority will be given to increasing pipelined penetration of natural gas.While the coal gasification initiative has been approved by the Union Cabinet, the government intends to channel some of this gas to fertilizer plants to reduce imports. A senior official said that six and seven projects will be pushed forward vigorously in addition to the projects under implementation.The Ministry of Petroleum is also expected to announce measures as part of a plan to enhance focus on oil and gas exploration within the country.
A similar boost is also expected in the case of rare earths and critical minerals, with the MoU between Assam and Nagaland being among the initial steps.Ethanol blending is expected to ramp up, albeit in a measured manner without pushing hard for it, officials said. Electric vehicles are also expected to be boosted, especially public transportation and long-distance trucking.On the export front, the government is also keen to de-risk and reduce dependence on a few geographies following the customs disruptions faced by Indian companies following US measures last year.
Principal Secretary Shaktikanta Das, Commerce Minister Rajesh Agrawal and Foreign Minister Vikram Misri held detailed consultations with missions across the world on the issue as India too seeks to be part of multiple global value chains.Officials said that the Ministry of Trade and Industry is working on a strategy to reduce dependence on importing more than 100 products, adding that a focus on the feasibility of local production is being studied.
In some cases, the use of tools, such as the minimum import price, is examined to check cheap imports from China.There is a review of the PLI scheme. Analysis is being done by NITI Aayog and IIM Ahmedabad and learning from the failure of some of them, such as advanced chemical cell and battery manufacturing and building on the success of electronics, pharmaceuticals and white goods.