Prime Minister Narendra Modi has again urged Indians to avoid unnecessary foreign travel, overseas destination weddings and gold purchases.
He has also renewed his call to buy Indian products. The argument is understandable. India wants more money circulating within its own economy.
But there is something uncomfortable about this appeal. Why should the Prime Minister tell citizens where they should spend their private money? People travel abroad because they want to. They marry abroad because they like the experience. They buy gold because it has cultural and financial value.
The foreign travel argument especially needs nuance. Tourism is a legitimate economic activity. Indians travelling abroad spend money on airlines which do pay taxes to India.
The real question is not whether Indians should travel, but whether India can offer equally attractive alternatives. Tourism in India is not cheaper. It’s very expensive. After spending a family vacation in Leh-Ladakh or Kashmir, a family may come away feeling that they could have enjoyed a better overall tourism experience abroad, in destinations such as Malaysia, Vietnam or Thailand.
The same applies to destination weddings. India has magnificent palaces, forts and luxury hotels for destination weddings. Rajasthan tops the list. Yet the country’s destination wedding ecosystem is still uneven.
Infrastructure, entertainment, event services, nightlife and hospitality often do not match the polished experience available in leading international destinations.
Moreover, value for money matters greatly from a customer’s perspective, and this is another factor that attracts people to foreign destinations for weddings.
Foreign destination weddings are not always more expensive. Depending on the guest list, location and package, some international destinations can be surprisingly competitive. So telling Indians to marry in India without dramatically improving the product is asking consumers to compromise.
Then comes gold. Here, the government’s concern has a stronger economic basis. India imports almost all of the gold it consumes. Gold and silver imports reached $68.1 billion in 2025, putting pressure on the trade balance and foreign exchange.
Still, persuasion is not the only option. If excessive gold imports are genuinely harmful, policymakers have tools such as duties, investment alternatives and financial incentives. Those measures can influence behaviour without making the government sound like a parent lecturing adults.
The bigger issue is Swadeshi. The government keeps asking Indians to buy Indian. Fine. But what exactly should a consumer buy?
Take laptops. India still lacks a major homegrown laptop brand with global recognition. There are Indian efforts such as Smartron, but they remain niche compared with Apple, HP, Dell, Lenovo and others.
Smartphones tell a similar story. Lava and other Indian brands exist, but how many know? But they do not yet offer the scale and premium ecosystem that Samsung, Apple and Chinese manufacturers provide. India has become a major manufacturing hub without yet creating a comparable global consumer brand.
Televisions are slightly better. Vu is an Indian brand. Yet the mainstream shelves are dominated by Samsung, LG, Sony, TCL and other international names. Gaming consoles present an even bigger gap. PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo dominate traditional console gaming.
Even the criticism about headphones and wearables needs updating. Indian brands such as boAt and Noise have built major consumer businesses. So the problem is not that India has nothing. The problem is that India has too few globally respected premium brands.
Cars expose the contradiction most clearly. Tata and Mahindra are strong Indian companies. Maruti Suzuki is deeply embedded in India, though Suzuki is Japanese. Tata’s luxury portfolio includes Jaguar and Land Rover, which are British brands owned by Tata Motors.
That brings us to leadership. If citizens are repeatedly asked to choose Swadeshi, the political class should demonstrate that choice wherever practical.
The Prime Minister, ministers and legislators should visibly champion Indian products, not merely ask ordinary consumers to do so. First they should abandon all foreign cars and use swadeshi vehicles in their convoys. Can they?
India does not need moral lectures. It needs world-class alternatives. Build better laptops, phones, televisions, cars, gaming hardware, luxury hotels and wedding destinations. Give Indians products they genuinely want. Then Swadeshi will not feel like an instruction from above. It will feel like a choice people happily make.
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