External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar virtually participates in the India Foundation’s Ideas Conclave on ‘Building Brand Bharat’.
| Photo Credit: PTI

In the name of open economy, we allowed other countries to get an advantageous playing field in the country and this has to stop, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Saturday (November 23, 2024).

Mr. Jaishankar was delivering a virtual keynote address at the 8th India Idea Conclave at Bengaluru. This year, the conclave, organised by India Foundation, is exploring the theme, ‘building Brand Bharath’.

“In the name of globalisation, we actually hollowed out the manufacturing. SMEs have been hurting for the last 30 years because they see unfair competition, see subsidised goods coming into the country. If we cannot protect them, they cannot compete,” he said.

According to Mr. Jaishankar, under Modi’s ‘Brand Bharat’, this is being done differently as ‘Make in India’ has moved from aspiration to an assertion.

“Look at semi conductors industry. We understand today semi conductor will be a make or break for a country like India,” he said, adding that where India that is Bharat is doing things differently is in taking the hard calls were necessary.

One such call is being prudent on foreign direct investments (FDI), said Mr. Jaishankar.

“I can tell you, in every FDI negotiation, we think very long, very hard. We are very concerned both about the social fabric and employment consequences of an FDI, as well as its national security implications,” the Minister said.

He added that the Modi government will never sign an FDI if these are not addressed.

“And I think that is the departure from the past,” he said.

The Minister also said since PM Modi took over, if he has to pick a region where India has really built a Brand Bharat, it would be the Middle East.

According to him, traditional belief is that if a country does well with Israel, it will lose all other players in the region. But he pointed out that India has proved this conventional wisdom wrong in the last 10 years.

“Today, Brand Bharat is seen as an ambitious brand. We are not just one among many willing to go with the flow. We will take the hard calls, put in resources, and we will stay in touch with the contemporary world… Under PM Modi, that really has been the big change, which is why our brand is different,” said Mr. Jaishankar.

The India Idea Conclave concludes on November 24.