Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat signals an India going from local to global big league

In the high noon of imperialism, mornings and afternoons of the London aristocracy would be incomplete without tea from India. It was a straight loot, with no benefits reaching Indians.

In July last year, India started sending boxes to London meant to exact money and perhaps some revenge. Those boxes were packed with Nagaland’s Raja Mircha, one of the hottest chillies in the world and a guaranteed tear-jerker.

That interesting export found a mention in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat on Sunday. The prime minister was talking about India meeting the impressive $400 billion export target. But his musings were not just about the scale of the economic achievement. He presented it in the foil of a civilisational upsurge, the nation’s dawning realisation of its potential. That, he said, was the uptick in global demand for Indian goods as well as building a strong supply chain.

Modi named some export items to drive home how local excellence was getting translated into global business. He mentioned Assam’s Hailakandi leather products, Maharashtra’s Osmanabad handloom, Bijapur’s fruits and vegetables, black rice from Uttar Pradesh’s Chandauli, bananas from Tamil Nadu, and Ladakh’s famous apricots.

He said millet from Himachal and Uttarakhand was going to Denmark, Andhra’s Bainganpalli and Suvarnarekha mangoes were reaching South Korea, Tripura’s fresh jackfruits were headed for London, and Gujarat wheat was being sent to Crimea and Sri Lanka.

It is true that this success has not come in a random manner. A detailed strategy was worked out. There were nation-wise, product-wise, and export promotion council-wise targets. Those targets were closely monitored and course correction done where needed.

Also, from primary commodities, India is moving to the export of manufactured, designed, and processed items. It is exporting more value-added and high-end products. A surge in engineering and garment exports testify to that.

The top five commodities exported from India were engineering goods, petroleum products, gems and jewellery, chemicals, and readymade garments.

But Modi underlined the tremendous power of soft exports and a burgeoning market at home of yoga and Ayurveda. The Ayurveda market, which used to be Rs 22,000 crore six years ago, is touching Rs 1.4 lakh crore, he said. He mentioned startups in this space like Kapiva Ayurveda, NirogStreet, and Atreya Innovations.

India’s journey of self-realisation and self-reliance has made its way through arms or astra exports as well. India’s arms export has gone up to Rs 11.6k crore from a meagre Rs 1.9k crore in 2014-15.

The prime minister’s Mann Ki Baat this week was as much a celebration of India’s economic achievement as it was a gentle reminder of the civilisational strengths that the nation needs is slowly waking up to and embracing again.

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