COVID-19 has exposed the serious strategic implications of India’s import dependence, especially on China. Politics, Policy and Pandemic are the challenges to Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Atmanirbharta (self-reliance). While the initiative is essential to promote capacity building and competitiveness on a local and global scale, among the issues that still need to be looked into are cost of logistics, bureaucratic hurdles and comparatively higher taxes in some sectors that discourage investments. The military action by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh has led to dramatic changes in policies in keeping with the vision of self-reliance. The brief explores the Central Government’s policies towards curbing Chinese investments, defines protectionism in the new context and attempts to analyse the way ahead to achieve self-reliance, especially in the manufacturing sector of the Indian economy.