Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the country on Friday to move towards more self-reliance, manufacture everything from fertilisers to jet engines and EV batteries, and vowed to protect farmers in the face of a trade conflict with Washington.

US President Donald Trump’s administration hit India with a 25 per cent tariff from July 1, then last week doubled the amount to 50 per cent by adding a “secondary” 25 per cent tariff for its purchases of Russian oil, which Washington argues is helping fuel Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced tax cuts, pledged policy reform and urged the citizens to design and produce high quality goods at home, in a sweeping Independence Day speech that blasted rising “economic selfishness” in the world.