Raghuram Rajan cautions against import substitution under 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative

Former Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday cautioned against import substitution under the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative of the government, saying the country has gone down this route earlier but could not succeed. If the focus is on import substitution by erecting tariffs, which we have done a lot of in the last few years, then I think it is a direction we have tried before and it has failed, he said.