Self-reliance in manufacturing stumbles on massive import dependence

During 2018-19, foreign exchange spending mostly on capital goods stood at 25.5 per cent of total sales

The government has its work cut out as far as building self-reliance in the manufacturing sector goes. 

Key chunks of India's manufacturing exports remain heavily dependent on goods and material sourced from abroad and increasingly spend more on financing these inputs. 

During 2018-19, foreign exchange spending (mostly used to finance the purchase of capital goods necessary to manufacturing) stood at 25.5 per cent of total sales. 

According to the Bank, analysis by end-use indicates that 79 per cent of India's overall imports are intermediate goods. The manufacturing sector also suffers from this overwhelming dependence on foreign intermediary products. 

But even more crucially, export earnings as per cent of total sales (16.4 per cent in 2018-19) remained broadly stagnant since 2015-16.