Introduction
India’s manufacturing landscape is becoming increasingly complex, with domestic capabilities developing at different points across different supply chains. To understand where these capabilities are concentrated—and where important upstream dependencies remain—the Institute of Manufacturing and Economy (IME), Ahmedabad University, mapped the supply chains of electric vehicles, technical textiles, industrial robots and solar panels.
The accompanying Supply Chain Mapping Workbook provides a more detailed view of these ecosystems, mapping representative companies and components across OEM/Final Assembly, Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3, while also examining Gujarat presence, domestic versus import dependence, China exposure and the evidence available for each node. The sector commentaries complement this mapping by highlighting the broader structural gaps and policy developments shaping these industries.
To view the supply chain mapping click here, or explore it below.
Electric Vehicles
India's electric-vehicle supply chain has moved well beyond vehicle assembly, with domestic OEMs and a growing base of battery, power-electronics and other component capabilities. The thinner part of the chain is still upstream: lithium and cobalt extraction, battery-grade refining, active materials and cell manufacturing remain less developed than downstream assembly. The Ministry of Heavy Industries itself has identified the lack of a complete domestic battery-raw-material and refining ecosystem as an issue.
Policy has increasingly moved in this direction. The ₹18,100-crore PLI scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cells targets 50 GWh of domestic ACC manufacturing and requires increasing domestic value addition over time. PLI-Auto, with an outlay of ₹25,938 crore, is designed to deepen manufacturing and localisation of advanced automotive technologies, while PM E-DRIVE, now extended to March 2028, supports EV adoption, charging infrastructure and the broader manufacturing ecosystem.
The next supply-chain challenge is therefore less about creating EV assembly capacity and more about building competitive upstream capability in cells, materials, refining and critical minerals.
Technical Textiles
India has a relatively broad base in technical textiles, particularly in areas such as nonwovens, medical and hygiene products, polymer-based materials and converted textile products. The mapping also suggests that the constraint is not simply the absence of manufacturers: it is the depth and visibility of the upstream ecosystem, particularly for higher-value materials, specialised fibres and advanced applications. This is also an area where the available public evidence is less granular than for sectors such as automobiles or solar.
Government policy has explicitly recognised this need. The PLI Scheme for Textiles covers products of technical textiles and, as of July 2026, had 170 approved companies overall, including 89 in the technical-textiles segment, with projected investment of ₹27,832 crore in that segment. The National Technical Textiles Mission focuses on research and innovation, indigenous development of speciality fibres, high-performance products, skills and market development; its activities have been extended into 2028 through the sunset provisions.
For the sector, the policy question is therefore increasingly about moving from established textile conversion and nonwoven capabilities towards higher-value materials, specialised fibres, product qualification and technology-intensive applications.
Industrial Robots
India has a growing domestic robotics industry, with Indian companies designing and manufacturing industrial robots, cobots and AMRs. But the supply chain becomes thinner as one moves upstream. The mapping identifies gaps not because India has no robotics capability, but because several critical subsystems such as robot-specific mechanical assemblies, motion-control electronics, integrated sensing and safety packages, navigation stacks and specialised mechanisms, are often either developed in-house by OEMs or sourced through foreign suppliers rather than supplied by a deep independent Indian merchant ecosystem.
This is where robotics differs from sectors that already have large dedicated manufacturing programmes. Government support is currently more cross-cutting. MeitY's Draft National Strategy on Robotics explicitly identifies the need to strengthen India's robotics innovation, development, deployment and manufacturing ecosystem. DST's Advanced Manufacturing Technologies programme includes robotics and automation as a core thrust area, while the ₹1-lakh-crore RDI Scheme specifically includes robotics among the strategic deep-technology areas eligible for support.
A particularly relevant recent intervention is the ₹7,280-crore scheme for 6,000 MTPA of integrated sintered NdFeB rare-earth permanent-magnet capacity, aimed at reducing import dependence in applications including EVs, renewable energy and electronics.
The opportunity is therefore not only to build more robot OEMs, but to develop the motors, magnets, drives, sensors, controllers, precision mechanisms and other upstream capabilities that allow an Indian robotics ecosystem to deepen.
Solar Panels
India has built substantial downstream solar-manufacturing capacity, particularly in cells and modules, but the supply chain remains much less integrated upstream. The clearest gap is polysilicon: a 2026 assessment by TERI puts Indian commercial-scale polysilicon capacity at zero, compared with roughly 2 GW of ingot/wafer capacity and much larger cell and module capacity. This creates a structural distinction between having large domestic module capacity and having an integrated domestic solar value chain.
Policy is now increasingly addressing that gap. The ₹24,000-crore PLI programme for high-efficiency solar PV modules explicitly aims to develop an integrated manufacturing ecosystem and reduce import dependence. The ALMM framework has also expanded beyond modules: MNRE issued the first ALMM list for solar PV cells in 2025 and continues to update both module and cell lists in 2026.
The policy direction is consequently shifting from simply adding module capacity towards deeper integration across cells, wafers, ingots and eventually polysilicon. That is important because domestic module and cell capacity can expand much faster than the upstream capabilities needed to support it. Current projects by Indian manufacturers indicate that this upstream build-out is beginning, but it remains the principal structural gap identified by the mapping.
Together, the four sector maps show where India's manufacturing capabilities are developing and where important upstream gaps remain. The Supply Chain Mapping Workbook provides the detailed company and component-level evidence behind this analysis, helping identify areas where deeper domestic capabilities could strengthen these supply chains.
Sources
Institute of Manufacturing and Economy · Supply Chain Mapping · October 2026 · Primary research and compilation: Riddhi Bhargava, Harsh Dalal, Kahaan Shah and Dhairya Shah