Import Substitution : The Missing Execution Layer

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Dear Hon’ble Shri Narendra Modi ji,

I write this note in the context of your recent exhortation (29 December 2025),

 urging the Union and State Governments to identify 100 target

 products/sectors to reduce India’s import dependence and strengthen India’s

 manufacturing resilience in line with the Viksit Bharat @2047 vision.

Your emphasis on a National Manufacturing Mission, coordinated Centre–State

 action, and a clearly phased 10-year roadmap is both timely and necessary.

With due respect, I would like to submit that the core of this framework —

 including the “who does what and by when” — was articulated by me

 over a decade ago, in a public blog and email shared with policymakers,

 industry bodies, and senior administrators.

🔗 From Job-Seekers to Job-Creators?

15 September 2015
👉 https://www.hemenparekh.in/2015/09/from-job-seekers-to-job-creators.html

Unlike high-level intent notes, this proposal went much further, by laying down a

time-bound, role-wise execution mechanism for import substitution.

Allow me to summarise its essence:

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What My 2015 Proposal Already Defined — Precisely

1. What to Identify

• A public list of 5,000 imported products, published on the Make in India

• platform

• Import value, source countries, and landed costs disclosed upfront

• 
  

2. Who Selects the 100 Products

• India’s leading manufacturing companies

• Each company to select minimum 5 products for which it commits to

•  preparing bankable DPRs

• A publicly visible selection registry to avoid duplication

• 
  

3. Who Prepares What — and by When

• Manufacturing companies to submit DPRs to the Ministry of Commerce within

•  a defined timeframe

• Each DPR to carry prior in-principle bank acceptance, ensuring

•  seriousness and financial viability

• 
  

4. Who Builds Human Capital

• Mandatory Graduate Engineer Training (GET) programmes

• Each manufacturing firm to train at least 100 fresh engineers per year,

•  converting job-seekers into future MSME founders

• 
  

5. Role of the Government (Execution, Not Just Policy)

• Ministry of Commerce: publish DPRs for free public access

• Income Tax Department:

  • 200% weighted deduction for GET employment

  • CSR recognition for DPR preparation

  • Long-term tax and GST exemptions for GET-based manufacturing start-ups

  • 
    

6. Role of Industry Bodies

• ASSOCHAM / FICCI / CII to actively hand-hold DPR preparation

• State-wise mentor panels of retired manufacturing professionals

• 
  

7. Role of States

• Pro-active tracking and fast-tracking of manufacturing proposals via a unified e-Biz window

• 
  

In short, this was not a vision statement — it was an execution blueprint.

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More recently, I reiterated the same principle in the context of global trade

 pressures:

🔗 Retaliate Without Escalating: India’s Smart Response to Tariff Threats

07 August 2025
👉 https://www.hemenparekh.in/2025/08/retaliate-without-escalating-indias.html

“Let us retaliate — not with tariffs, but with ten thousand new factories.

 

Let us turn ‘Make in India’ from a slogan into a mass movement of

 

import substitution.”

 

Hon’ble Prime Minister,

Your current call to identify 100 products presents a rare alignment of political

 intent, economic urgency, and demographic readiness.

My humble submission is this:

India does not need to start from scratch.

 

The playbook already exists.

 

What is required is activation.

 

I would consider it a privilege if this decade-old, execution-ready framework 

 could be reviewed and, if found useful, adapted to the present National

 Manufacturing Mission.

 

With respectful regards,

Hemen Parekh

www.HemenParekh.ai

www.IndiaAGI.ai

www.My-Teacher.in

06 January 2026