Two routes to atmanirbharta: Why both China and India are looking inwards

While both have seen a drop in external trade in relation to GDP, the reasons are quite different - in China it is in part a problem of success, in India it points more to failure, writes T N Ninan

So China is following India’s lead, and going for atmanirbharta. Its top decision-making body has decided to turn away from export markets as a growth driver, and to focus more on its domestic market. It also seeks to reduce vulnerability to trade sanctions by hosting critical technologies and strategic production facilities within its territory. India wants the same, at lower levels of sophistication and higher tariffs.
 
The two countries talk now of self-reliance when their external trade, in relation to GDP, has been falling for some years. China’s two-way trade was 36 per cent of GDP in 2019, a