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Self-Reliance Is Outdated. We Need More Interdependence.
India’s dependence on China deserves scrutiny. But dependence itself is not the problem. The bigger question is whether those dependencies are diversified — and whether India is building products, technologies and services the rest of the world needs.
A recent The Hindu data piece, “The paradox of self-reliance: India-China trade dynamics,” points to an uncomfortable reality: even as India builds its manufacturing base, much of that base still runs on Chinese components, intermediate goods and capital equipment.
The concern is legitimate. India’s trade deficit with China has widened sharply, and the concentration of imports in several categories creates genuine vulnerability. In a December 2025 reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada explained that the deficit is driven mainly by imports of raw materials, intermediate goods and capital goods, including auto components, electronic parts, mobile-phone components, machinery and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Many of these inputs, importantly, are used in products manufactured in India, including products that are subsequently exported.
But the same data can lead to a different question: is dependence itself the problem, or is undiversified dependence the problem?
