The present study examines stigma removal in the context of strategic industries. Strategic industries are critical from a national interest perspective and may not be able to engage in conventional stigma management strategies, such as concealment, dilution and coopting stakeholders, identified in extant literature. The present in-depth qualitative study of the Indian civilian nuclear energy industry, a strategic industry within the Government of India, identifies two strategies, namely dependency reduction and category repositioning through responsible behaviour, employed in order to eradicate a global level stigma. The study concludes with implications for strategic industries and stigma management literature.