By Soham Das

On Independence Day, from the Red Fort, the Prime Minister called on India to deepen atmanirbharta (self-reliance). The appeal came just days after Washington hit Indian exports with 50% tariffs and publicly brushed aside New Delhi’s bid for a negotiated truce. It is a stirring call, but also a familiar reflex: when faced with an economic crisis, India has turned inward, seeking safety in self-sufficiency. History suggests that path comes at a steep cost.

Yet history shows that two roads lie before us. One leads to openness—absorbing global capital, ideas, and markets—the other to insulation, where we produce for ourselves, in our own way, and on our own terms. We have walked the second path before, and the results have been sobering.

The 1905 Swadeshi and Boycott Movement is the clearest case. Indian private industry and services had been expanding exponentially since 1881, and as Tirthankar Roy’s A Business History of India shows, the movement left no visible trace on retail output from 1821 to 1941.

There are aspects of modern economies we must absorb.

First, a firm is not just an assemblage of labour, capital, and materials. It is held together by “knowledge”—the invisible craft of complex contracting, deciphering demand, and perfecting processes. Two paths lead to mastery: we tinker and learn, or we observe and........

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