Should we boycott foreign goods? What 'Atmanirbhar' is for? Arvind Panagariya explains all

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "vocal for local" appeal has been interpreted by many as an attempt to discourage consumption of foreign goods. There is also a clamour to boycott Chinese goods after increasing tensions between the two countries along the line of actual control. CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh discussed with Arvind Panagariya, former vice chairman of Niti Aayog, to understand what should be our interpretation of becoming "Atmanirbhar”.

A well-known educationist, Sonam Wangchuk, has been urging Indians through a series of videos to stop buying Chinese products.

An Indian techie even developed an app that helps users identify and remove all mobile apps that are made in China. However, the app is now removed from play store after Google said it violates the policies around "deceptive behaviour”.

In another instance, the Kendriya police canteen had listed over 1,000 goods that are either imported from other countries or contain key raw materials that are imported from abroad and they said that they will not sell those products. They however withdrew that circular.

All these developments indicate that the government wants to discourage consumption of foreign goods. In fact, home minister Amit Shah while speaking to our channel appealed to citizens to use only 'Made in India' goods. He said it will give a big boost to the Indian economy.

Biswajit Dhar, professor of Centre for Economic Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Ajay Dua, former DIPP secretary and a development economist, were also on the panel.