India’s Manufacturing Push Enters New Phase With AI, Robotics At Core: Expert

India’s manufacturing sector is entering a technology-led phase, with artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, physical AI, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing technologies increasingly becoming central to the country’s ambitions to build globally competitive products and strengthen domestic capabilities.
The next phase of manufacturing growth is expected to depend not just on expanding production capacity, but also on the ability to develop indigenous technologies, build intellectual property and translate deep-tech research into commercially deployable solutions.
Priya Kapur, Director and CSR Chairperson, Sona Comstar, a leading mobility technology company at a panel discussion titled “Manufacturing Tech & Semiconductors: Can India Build What the World Needs Next?” called for deeper collaboration between industry and academia to translate India’s strong talent base into future-ready skills and commercially deployable technologies.
She noted that industry can bring real-world engineering challenges, manufacturing insights and use cases, while institutions such as IIT Delhi contribute deep-technology research, specialised laboratories and multidisciplinary expertise.
“Sona Comstar’s technology focus spans advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, robotics, physical AI and the broader future of mobility. Strong industry-academia partnerships can connect India’s talent and research capabilities with real-world engineering challenges, enabling us to develop solutions that are relevant, scalable and globally competitive,” said Kapur.
She added that the next phase of India’s manufacturing growth must be driven not only by greater capacity, but also by stronger technological capabilities, indigenous intellectual property and the ability to take innovation from the laboratory to the factory floor.
Kapur highlighted that through its Samridh Bharat CSR Programme, Sona Comstar works with the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer at IIT Delhi and IIMA Ventures, IIM Ahmedabad’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre, to support technology-led entrepreneurship and research.
The supported start-ups have advanced from prototype development towards market readiness, with innovations including AI-enabled battery systems, sodium-ion batteries, rare-earth-free motors, hydrogen technologies and mobile electric vehicle charging solutions.