Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the citizens to buy ‘Made-in-India’ products while informing that business worth more than ₹4 lakh crore has been done in the country during the festive period and some trade organisations estimate that there could be a business of around ₹5 lakh crore during this wedding season.

“Last month in ‘Mann Ki Baat’ I had laid emphasis on ‘Vocal for Local’ -- buying local products. Within the last few days, business worth more than ₹4 lakh crore has been done in the country on Diwali, BhaiyaDooj, and Chhath puja. And during this period, tremendous enthusiasm was seen among the people in buying products ‘Made in India’. Now even our children, while buying something at the shop, have started checking whether ‘Made in India’ is mentioned on them or not,” he said.

Speaking in the 107th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Modi said that nowadays, people do not forget to check the Country of Origin while purchasing goods online and added that just as the very success of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ is becoming its inspiration; the success of ‘Vocal For Local’ is opening the doors to a ‘Developed India - Prosperous India’.

“This campaign of ‘Vocal For Local’ strengthens the economy of the entire country. The Vocal For Local campaign is a guarantor of employment. This is a guarantee of balanced development of the country. This provides equal opportunities to both urban and rural people,” he noted.

This also paves the way for value addition in local products, and if ever, there are ups and downs in the global economy, “the mantra of ‘Vocal For Local’ also protects our economy”.

The PM also noted that this is the second consecutive year when the trend of buying some goods through cash payments on the occasion of Deepawali is gradually on the decline. That means that people are making more and more digital payments now.

“This is also very encouraging. You can do one more thing. Decide for yourself that for one month you will make payments only through UPI or any digital medium and not through cash. The success of the digital revolution in India has made this absolutely possible. And when one month is over, please share your experiences and your photos with me,” he urged during his radio programme.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also informed that there has been an increase of more than 31 per cent in patent applications by Indians in 2022, as per a recent report by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

“This report shows that this has never happened earlier even in the top 10 countries that are at the forefront in filing patents. I congratulate my young colleagues for this wonderful achievement. I want to assure my young friends that the country is with you at every step...today, our patents are getting 10 times more approvals. We all know that patents not only increase the Intellectual Property of the country; they also open doors to newer opportunities,” he added.

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