By Prateek Jain
The manufacturing industry in India is in a decisive era. The expansion in the last couple of years led by policies has enhanced capacity, boosted foreign capital and raised confidence among various industries. According to industry estimates, the use of manufacturing in GDP may increase by approximately 17 percent to approximately 25 percent within the next few years. This signals ambition. Leadership will not be determined by ambition. The next inflection point is how the scale of high-value manufacturing can be sustained on India’s industrial infrastructure.
Infrastructure as a performance driver
Modern factories operate within tight limits. Robotics, automated material handling, and data-driven planning rely on predictable layouts, stable power, and consistent logistics flows. When these vary, automation underperforms, regardless of investment. This gap is already evident in sectors where advanced assembly lines sit alongside weak upstream infrastructure, affecting quality, uptime, and cost control.
Facilities that are automation ready demand a different approach to industrial planning. Reliable power is a baseline. Logistics should facilitate automated flow and just-in-time operations. Fiber and next-generation networks provide digital connectivity that is critical to real-time coordination across sites and partners.
This is seen in the increase in data center investments to handle cloud, analytics and AI workloads. However, the domestic capacity of India is still low despite producing a large portion of world data, which indicates the necessity of more robust digital infrastructure in the industrial sectors.
Automation preparedness is uneven
The technologies of Industry 4.0 are expected now in electronics, clean energy, precision engineering and healthcare manufacturing. The adoption is increasing, yet the scale is skewed. The NASSCOM AI Adoption Index shows that although 87 percent of enterprises report the use of AI solutions, just 26 percent of enterprises have reached scale. It is whether industrial environments can support automation reliably across shifts, seasons, and production cycles.
Data reflects this concern. The robotics market in Indian manufacturing is projected to grow from around $1.2 billion in 2025 to over $2.8 billion by 2032. At the same time, IoT adoption across manufacturing is expected to reach nearly $15 billion as connected sensors and predictive tools become more common. These systems deliver value only when infrastructure, data, and operations are aligned.
Industrial corridors and execution speed
The next phase of industrial corridor development must focus on reducing time-to-production. Automation-ready zoning, standardised utilities, and integrated logistics links reduce commissioning delays and stabilisation risks. Plug-and-play manufacturing zones designed for automated operations allow faster transition from installation to steady output.
Large connectivity initiatives have improved links between factories, ports, and freight networks. What remains is designing corridors with automation readiness at the core and extending this depth into emerging manufacturing clusters beyond major metros.
Power, logistics, and supply chain limits
Operation limits in automated factories and high-throughput warehouses are characterized by power stability and logistics reliability. Any short-term disruption is ripple-effected through synchronised systems that shut down production and slow down deliveries. This is becoming more prominent in clean energy, electronic and temperature-sensitive supply chains, where delays are caused by inconsistencies in infrastructure. The quality of power and the reliability of freight have to be addressed in the budget 2026 as constraints to value creation.
MSMEs and supplier depth
The Indian supplier ecosystem is skewed. Many Tier 2 and Tier 3 manufacturers are based on plants that are not automation friendly. According to industry surveys, more than 78 percent of MSMEs do not focus on digitalisation, which is frequently caused by the lack of skills and the incomprehension of the choice of technology. This vulnerability constrains the functioning of the most sophisticated plants. The shared manufacturing location, shared automation environment and access models based on infrastructure can enhance readiness by the suppliers in a shorter time than the incentives at the firm level.
Budget 2026 as an execution test
India’s manufacturing base has reached a point where outcomes will be shaped by how infrastructure supports real operations. Budget 2026 can reinforce this shift by directing investment toward power stability, automation-ready industrial zones, digital connectivity, and supplier access. These choices will help manufacturing move beyond isolated technology adoption toward consistent, high-quality execution across value chains.
(The author is Co-Founder & COO, Addverb)
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