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.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to build a “self-reliant India” and announced tax and regulatory reforms to benefit businesspeople and the middle class in his first major speech since the US imposed 50 per cent tariffs on the country.

Prime minister Narendra Modi marked India's 78 years of Independence on Friday by urging the nation to move towards more self-reliance amid the looming threat of additional US tariffs. Addressing the country from New Delhi's 17th-century,