Rewriting the rules: The next chapter of Indian industrial manufacturing

Drawing on proprietary data from PwC’s Global Industrial Manufacturing Sector Outlook released in 2026, this research examines how Indian industrial manufacturers compare with their global peers. Our findings suggest that the challenge facing Indian industrial manufacturers is not one of intent or confidence, but of translation. Many firms believe they possess the cultural attributes associated with future-ready organisations, yet structural constraints continue to inhibit execution. The future-fit industrial manufacturing companies could bridge this gap by holistically aligning strategy with execution, embedding artificial intelligence into decision-making, reshaping value pools through digital engineering, extending innovation and collaborating with ecosystem partners, and continuously upskilling.

59%

of Indian industrial manufacturers believe AI will play the most important role in achieving their strategic goals.

57%

of Indian industrial manufacturers name product design and development as their biggest area of investment increase.

71%

of India respondents want to collaborate with ecosystem partners to access growth opportunities.

49%

of global respondents expect South Asia to become more important for revenue growth in five years.

As Indian industrial manufacturers aggressively deploy AI and adjacent technologies to automate their value chains in the next five years, the performance gap will not be defined by which technologies they adopt but by how coherently they integrate them into their overall business strategy and operations. Research indicated that 59% of Indian industrial manufacturers as compared to 52% at a global level believe AI will play the most important role in helping their respective companies achieve their strategic goals over the next five years.

Choice of top three technologies to achieve strategic goals over the next five years

By 2030, the proportion of manufacturers with highly automated physical production processes is expected to more than double in comparison to that in 2025. A greater number of Indian industrial manufacturers are keen to automate key business processes, including data capture and analytics, customer interaction, quality assurance and planning as well as forecasting over the next five years.

Automation ambitions of Indian industrial manufacturers

There is a discernible disconnect between the current strategic orientation and investment intent of Indian industrial manufacturers. Cluster analysis reveals that Indian industrial manufacturers lean decisively toward customer-centricity as 45% fall into this cluster. While Indian industrial manufacturers do not show a strong orientation towards product leadership/innovation, 57% of Indian industrial manufacturers identify product design and development as an area within their company’s value chain that will be seeing the largest percentage increase in investment over the next five years.

Strategic orientation of Indian industrial manufacturers

The ecosystem outlook of surveyed Indian industrial manufacturers supports their strategy towards creating balanced revenue pools over the next five years. Indian industrial manufacturers intend to deepen ecosystem partnerships across engineering and construction, technology, automotive and transportation to unlock new customer segments, co-create differentiated products and services, and significantly accelerate innovation to market.

Ecosystem goals for Indian industrial manufacturers during the next five years

Indian industrial manufacturers possess the cultural confidence to transform; however, if not adequately addressed, the barriers they face risk converting that confidence into unrealised potential over the next five years. Our research captured organisational self perception—specifically, the extent to which Indian manufacturers believe they possess cultural attributes such as agile decision making, workforce empowerment, and risk tolerance. The findings indicate a strong degree of confidence in current organisational capabilities and culture.

Company dynamics at present

About the survey

The survey provides a peek into the cultural and capability scaffolding Indian industrial manufacturers are building to support their chosen strategies. It also shares insights on the strategic and operational challenges industrial manufacturers in India are exposed to and outlines actions for them to grow into key drivers of India’s manufacturing GDP.

The survey draws on proprietary data from PwC’s Global Industrial Manufacturing Sector Outlook (N = 443 global respondents, including 51 from India).

The research covered Indian industrial manufacturing entities with revenues ranging above USD50 million to those exceeding USD25 billion.