Government to prefer India-made products over imports

As Donald Trump’s slogan of ‘Buy American, Hire American’ is creating ripples in the world economy, Indian government has also decided something similar for manufacturing and services companies.

The government has decided to go with the slogan ‘India First’, giving preference to products from Indian companies.

It was on March 7, 2017 that the revamped General Financial Rules (GFRs) were announced to guide public finance including government procurement of locally manufactured goods or locally produced services.

Government procurement consists of around 30% of country’s Gross Domestic Product, which currently is around $2.1 trillion. It means that with the change in rules, government departments have $600 billion-plus worth of goods and services to be bought from India.

Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has been pitching for a similar law for a long period of time.

"We welcome the government move on this and we hope that different departments including at state government level will act fast on this-...to promote local industry," Ashwani Mahajan, national convenor of SJM, told ET.

(Image source CNBC)