Banking Swadeshi: Why India Must Put Factories Before Paper

BG Srinivas India has one of the world’s largest foreign-exchange reserves—about US$734.6 billion as of early October 2026. Yet it cannot reliably manufacture several critical inputs on which its economy depends, from rare-earth magnets to active pharmaceutical ingredients. When China restricted magnet export licences in 2025, Indian electric-vehicle manufacturers faced supply-chain disruptions. A