They make our chips.
We make the world's medicine.
A human survives with dignity on five things — air, water, food, clothing, shelter. Everything else, however useful, is a convenience. So the real question of self-reliance was never whether India makes the latest phone. It is whether India can keep its own people alive without asking permission — and who, quietly, depends on India to keep theirs.
What a human actually needs to live
Not a mobile. Not a computer. Not a soft drink. Strip life back to survival with dignity and five needs remain. Here is where India stands on each — honestly.
Pillars with a value chain → can be traced stage by stage. More coming.
Air
The one essential no nation can be sold or denied — yet polluted across much of India.
Free · unequalWater
Abundant nationally but stressed and unevenly shared; the resource is India's, though global brands compete hard in the bottled market.
Held · strainedFood
World's #1 in milk, spices and pulses; the largest rice exporter on earth — yet imports most of its cooking oil.
Strong · one gapTrace the value chain →Clothing
Cotton, jute, textiles and tailoring are deeply domestic — a genuine, quiet strength.
Self-reliantTrace the value chain →Shelter
Cement, steel, brick and labour are overwhelmingly Indian-made and Indian-built.
Self-reliantDependence runs both ways
India is told, endlessly, what it must import. It is rarely shown the other column — what the world imports from India, and cannot easily replace.
- ~87%1,2Crude oilof consumption imported — Russia, Iraq, the Gulf
- 90–95%3Semiconductorsnear-total reliance — Taiwan, China, Korea
- ~100%4Lithium, cobalt & rare earthsbatteries, EVs, electronics, defence — mostly China
- ~70%5Pharma ingredients (APIs)the raw material of India's own medicines — from China
- ~100%6Potash fertiliserthe hidden crack under the food story
- ~90%7Coking coalthe coal that makes steel — shipped in
- ~57%8Edible / cooking oilpalm, soy, sunflower imported
- ~85%9Goldsecond only to oil in the import bill — Switzerland, UAE
- ~20%10,11Generic medicinesof global supply — and ~40% of every generic pill in the USA
- ~60%12Vaccinesof world demand; supplied to 150+ countries
- $205bn13IT & software servicesthe world's back office — half of it powering the USA
- ~40%14Rice on the world marketthe single largest rice exporter on earth
- ~50%15The global spice trade#1 producer, consumer and exporter
- ~25%16The world's milklargest producer on earth
- #216Cotton & textilesclothing the world, from fibre to cloth
- #216Sugar & teaamong the largest producers of both
India depends on the world for its conveniences. The world depends on India for its survival.
Even India's greatest strength is not fully its own. The “pharmacy of the world” imports roughly 70% of its pharmaceutical ingredients from China5. India makes the world's medicine — from raw material the world's rival controls. This is exactly how leverage is built: not by taking a thing, but by owning the one input it cannot make without.
It isn't only “the West”
Control is rarely a single hand. Different powers hold different levers over India — and India, in turn, holds levers the world can't easily prise loose. Seeing exactly who holds what is the first step to never being squeezed by any of them.
- China17,5,4Electronics, ~70% of pharma ingredients, critical minerals, solar cells — India's single largest source of imports
- Russia2~35% of India's crude oil, and the bulk of its defence hardware
- The Gulf — Saudi, Iraq, UAE1Crude oil and natural gas
- Taiwan & South Korea3Semiconductors, chips and displays
- Indonesia & Malaysia8Palm and edible oil
- The USA & the West3High-end technology, semiconductor IP, aircraft and global finance
- The USA11,13~40% of its generic medicines and ~53% of India's IT services
- Europe & the UK13~33% of India's IT services, plus medicines and textiles
- Africa10,12Generic medicines, vaccines and rice that feed and heal millions
- The Middle East & neighbours14Rice, staples, spices — and the workers behind them
The point is not fear of any one country — it is clarity. A nation that knows exactly where it is gripped knows exactly where to build.
Where India is still exposed
This page earns trust by naming the gaps, not hiding them. And every gap is an invitation: a place where a founder, a farmer, an engineer or a policy can make India a little less dependent. If you can fill one of these, the country needs you here.
Oil & gas
The deepest dependency of all — nearly nine of every ten barrels India burns arrive by ship. Renewables and domestic exploration are the exit, and the room to build is enormous.
Back Indian energy brands →Chips & electronics
Almost every processor is imported. New fabs are being built, but genuine capability is years away — a generational opening for Indian founders and engineers.
See electronics ownership →Metals & fertiliser
Lithium, cobalt, rare earths and the potash that feeds the fields are almost fully imported. Domestic mining, recycling and substitutes are wide-open frontiers.
Suggest a local maker →Reclaiming what's ours
Dependence isn't only material. India was taught to doubt its own medicine, food and culture — Ayurveda, native oils, millets, classical music. See where the evidence now backs the heritage.
A nation that feeds and heals the world is not a small one — whatever it has to import.
The dependency is real. So is the leverage. India should see both — and build where it's weak.
- 1.PRS India — Petroleum Demand for Grants 2025-26 (crude import dependence ~87%)
- 2.Statista — India's top suppliers of crude oil (Russia ~35%)
- 3.NITI Aayog, via ThePrint — India imports 90–95% of semiconductor demand
- 4.IEEFA — Critical minerals: India must step up its strategies (lithium/cobalt ~100% imported)
- 5.Observer Research Foundation — India's rise as global pharmacy masks deep dependence on China (~70% of APIs)
- 6.Insights on India — Reducing India's fertilizer dependence (potash ~100% imported)
- 7.EY-Parthenon — India's coking coal imports set to rise (~90% imported)
- 8.IMPRI — Enhancing India's edible oil sector (~57% imported)
- 9.IndMoney — Where does India's gold come from (~85% imported)
- 10.IBEF — Indian pharmaceutical industry (~20% of global generic supply)
- 11.CT Mirror — The US imports ~40% of its generic drugs from India
- 12.Invest India — Pharmaceuticals (India meets ~60% of global vaccine demand)
- 13.Business Standard / RBI — Software-services exports ~$205bn (USA ~53%, Europe ~33%)
- 14.APEDA — Export of rice (India the world's largest rice exporter)
- 15.IBEF — Indian spices industry (#1 producer; ~50% of global spice trade)
- 16.IBEF — Agriculture in India (largest milk producer; among the largest in cotton, sugar and tea)
- 17.GTRI, via Business Standard — China is India's largest trading partner (FY24)
Figures are directional and drawn from public reporting; they are indicators of scale, not audited accounts, and shift year to year. Switch To India does not provide investment or policy advice — this page exists to improve visibility of where India stands.