India needs urgent economic ringfence amid West Asia crisis, say experts at TCF roundtable

India needs an urgent economic ringfence amid the West Asia crisis, said experts at the Think Change Forum (TCF) roundtable.

Taking forward the spirit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent appeal to citizens and businesses to voluntarily reduce the consumption of imported, non-essential items and conserve foreign exchange during the West Asia crisis, TCF initiated a white paper to identify concrete policy steps to ringfence the Indian economy.

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This white paper, titled “Economic Ringfence Amid the West Asia Crisis: A Three-Point Agenda for Export Competitiveness, Import Discipline and Trade Defence”, released on Tuesday, was debated at an expert roundtable organised by TCF at the India International Centre here.

Economists, tax experts and former policymakers argued that the West Asia crisis has sharpened the need for India to move beyond reactive subsidies and adopt a more strategically aligned economic framework built around structural tax moderation, calibrated import discipline and stronger trade-remedy enforcement.

The event brought together Akhilesh Ranjan, Member (Retd), Central Board of Direct Taxes; Charanjot Singh Nanda, Former President ICAI 2025-26; Devendra Saxena, Retd Principal Chief Commissioner Income Tax, Mumbai; Rajat Mohan, Managing Partner, AMRG Global; Yogendra Kapoor, Economist, Tax and Business Expert; and Rajeev Gupta, MD RDI, Management Thinker, Board Member, Economist and Educationist.

The discussion centred on what experts described as the need for a “selective economic doctrine” — one that keeps India open where global integration is essential, but intervenes decisively where imports distort domestic markets, weaken capacity creation or cause avoidable foreign exchange outflow.

Participants observed that India can no longer rely solely on open-ended fiscal subsidies to absorb external shocks arising from crude oil volatility, freight disruptions, commodity inflation and supply-chain instability.

Instead, experts advocated structural measures aimed at strengthening domestic manufacturing competitiveness while preserving macroeconomic stability and foreign exchange reserves.

“India now has an opportunity to build a long-term economic doctrine where domestic capability itself becomes aspirational and globally competitive. The objective should be the creation of strong domestic manufacturing ecosystems that are capable of producing premium, high-value products within the country itself,” said Rajeev Gupta.

“Over time, India must strengthen its own value-added industries, innovation ecosystems and consumer confidence so that domestic products are increasingly perceived with the same aspirational value that is currently associated with imported brands,” said Rajeev Gupta.

A major focus area in the white paper and the panel discussion was the sharp rise in non-essential imports despite the presence of mature domestic manufacturing ecosystems across several consumer categories.

Experts noted that India imported nearly $81.7 million worth of bakers’ wares, $135.9 million worth of chocolates and cocoa preparations, and approximately $393 million worth of beauty and personal care products despite strong domestic FMCG and processing
capabilities.