The canteens of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will exclusively sell domestic products starting 1 June, announced India's Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday. With the new order, the canteens will be selling made-in-India goods to one million security personnel and their families in India, giving a major boost to domestic industries and manufacturers.
“This will be applicable to all CAPF canteens across the country from 01 June 2020. With this, 5 million families of about 1 Million CAPF personnel will use indigenously,” stated Shah in a series of Tweet.
Shah stated in that the decision has been taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs after the prime minister’s clarion call that Indians become ‘vocal for local’ and exhibit a preference for local products in order to make the country self-reliant.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed countrymen to support as well as proudly promote local products in a bid to endorse "Atmanirbhar Bharat" – a self-reliant India. He also announced financial stimulus worth INR 20 trillion ($266 billion) to offset the disruption caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"The global brands were sometimes also very local like this. But when people started using them, started promoting them, branding them, felt proud of them, they became global from local products," he said.
The CAPFs, with an annual budget of $13 billion, have various units of armed forces under their umbrella, directly controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It includes the Assam Rifles, Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Security Guard and Sashastra Seema Bal.
The canteens in these units together sell products worth INR 28 bln ($373 million) annually.