India's manufacturing agenda is entering a more demanding phase, with industry leaders saying the country must now focus less on adding factories and more on building the capabilities that make those factories globally competitive. The Confederation of Indian Industry said the Make in India programme, now completing 12 years, is increasingly being judged not by the scale of announced investment alone but by the depth of domestic supply chains, the pace of technology adoption and the ability of Indian firms to compete in export markets.
Capability Over Capacity
CII's assessment reflects a broader shift in industrial policy thinking. In the early years of Make in India, the central objective was to attract capital, expand production bases and signal that India was open for manufacturing. That phase helped create momentum across sectors such as automotive, electronics, engineering and components. But industry now faces a more exacting test: whether India can move up the value chain from assembly and scale-up to design, materials, precision engineering and advanced manufacturing processes.
For the automotive, electric vehicle and mobility ecosystem, that transition is especially significant. The sector is no longer defined only by vehicle output, but by control over batteries, power electronics, software, charging infrastructure, lightweight materials and other high-value inputs. CII's message suggests that India's next manufacturing leap will depend on how quickly domestic firms can localise these inputs and reduce dependence on imported components that can constrain margins, raise costs and expose supply chains to global shocks.
The emphasis on deeper capabilities also comes at a time when global manufacturers are reassessing supply chains amid geopolitical uncertainty, trade realignments and a renewed search for resilient production hubs. India has sought to position itself as an alternative manufacturing base, but industry observers say that opportunity will only translate into durable gains if the country can offer not just scale and labour, but reliability, quality and technical sophistication.
EV Supply Chains Matter
The EV segment illustrates the challenge clearly. India has made progress in vehicle assembly and market development, but the domestic ecosystem for critical components remains uneven. Batteries, semiconductors, advanced motors, control systems and specialised materials continue to depend heavily on imports. That leaves manufacturers vulnerable to price volatility and supply disruptions, while also limiting the domestic value captured from each vehicle produced.
CII's framing implies that the next phase of Make in India must focus on creating a more complete industrial stack around mobility. That means nurturing component suppliers, encouraging technology partnerships, improving standards and certification, and supporting research and development that can translate into commercially viable products. It also means ensuring that policy incentives do not merely reward output, but also encourage localisation depth, productivity gains and export readiness.
For automakers and suppliers, the strategic question is whether India can become a source of globally competitive products rather than only a large domestic market. That requires consistent quality, cost discipline and scale, but also faster innovation cycles and stronger integration with international value chains. In practice, this could determine whether India becomes a major exporter of vehicles and mobility technologies or remains primarily a destination for final assembly.
Global Markets Test India
The broader significance of CII's remarks is that they place global competitiveness at the centre of the manufacturing debate. India's industrial policy has increasingly sought to align domestic production with export ambitions, and that alignment is now more urgent as firms look for stable, diversified manufacturing locations. But global markets are unforgiving: they reward efficiency, compliance, technological depth and dependable delivery.
That means the success of Make in India's next chapter will depend on more than headline announcements. It will require sustained improvements in logistics, power reliability, skill development, regulatory predictability and access to finance for suppliers and mid-sized manufacturers. It will also require a stronger innovation ecosystem, so that Indian firms are not only producing for the present market but preparing for the next generation of mobility technologies.
CII's intervention is therefore both a milestone assessment and a policy signal. Twelve years after Make in India was launched, the conversation is shifting from whether India can manufacture at scale to whether it can manufacture at global standards. In automotive and EVs, where competition is intensifying and technology cycles are shortening, that distinction may decide how much of the value chain India ultimately captures.
The message from industry is clear: the future of Make in India will be measured not just by the number of plants built, but by the strength of the ecosystem that surrounds them.