Highlights
imports of manufacturing-related items in the last financial year 2025-26
- Machinery (electric and non-electric) — $61.7 billion
- Machine tools — $6.4 billion
- Transport equipment — $34.7 billion
- Chemical products — $16 billion
- Synthetic resins and plastic materials — $22.7 billion
- Organic and inorganic chemicals — $28 billion
- Electronics — $116 billion
Government Plans Major Push for Domestic Manufacturing Amid West Asia Crisis
IBT CORRESPONDENT: Like during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government is preparing to turn the West Asia crisis into an opportunity. Similar to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, the government may introduce new incentive schemes to encourage domestic manufacturing of more than two dozen items.
In collaboration with the industrial sector, the identification of these items has already begun. The focus areas include machinery, machine tools, transport equipment, professional equipment, chemicals, and electronic goods.
India is currently a major importer of both electronic and non-electronic machinery. Due to heavy dependence on imports, engineers often have to be brought in from abroad when machines malfunction. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, domestic manufacturing of cluster-based machinery can be significantly increased through industrial clusters that will provide a single-window approval system involving both central and state governments.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government launched the PLI scheme to promote domestic manufacturing of 14 sectors. Following the scheme’s announcement in 2020, large-scale manufacturing of mobile phones and several electronic items began in India. However, the country still imports most mobile phone-related components.
India imports over $140 billion worth of machinery, equipment, and chemicals annually. Electronics items alone account for imports worth $116 billion. Experts say many of these manufacturing items can be produced domestically, which would also generate large-scale employment opportunities.
India imports nearly 6–7 million laptops every year, while domestic manufacturing accounts for only 30 percent of total laptop sales. Recently, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal emphasized at an industry event that simple assembly operations are no longer sufficient and that India must move toward complete manufacturing.
Sources say the government is now identifying all items that can be manufactured domestically in order to reduce import dependence. Discussions between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Finance have already begun.
If India becomes a full-scale manufacturer of machinery, chemicals, and electronics, the country could save more than $250 billion in foreign exchange.
Meanwhile, efforts are also underway to boost sustainable manufacturing. Plastic items, traditionally produced from petroleum-based granules, may soon see an alternative as domestic production of polylactic acid (PLA) bioplastic from sugarcane and corn starch is expected to begin in sugar mills.
