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Industry brief · Manufacturing

Manufacturing, where our guest makes bricks from plastic

One Building Real founder works in manufacturing. In India, Kunjpreet Arora and Angirus Industries make Wricks, bricks of single-use plastic and construction rubble shaped like clay ones. This brief covers Indian manufacturing around them, from output, factory jobs and robots to incentive schemes, credit for small firms and new rules on carbon and plastic.

India
Checked 20 Oct 2026 · every figure linked to its source · next review Jan 2027

01At a glance

9.2%

growth in India's manufacturing gross value added at constant (2022-23) prices, year on year, in April-June 2026, the first quarter of 2026-27, according to MoSPI's first quarterly estimates1

First estimate, subject to revision. A different measure from the index and survey figures further down; do not compare them
2.10 crore

persons engaged in factories covered by MoSPI's Annual Survey of Industries in 2024-25, up from 1.96 crore in 2023-242

Registered factories covered by the survey only, not India's whole manufacturing workforce
US$19.04B

of foreign direct investment equity into Indian manufacturing in 2024-25, up 18% from $16.12 billion in 2023-24, according to the government3

Manufacturing only. The latest manufacturing-specific official figure
₹2.40 lakh crore+

of actual investment drawn by India's production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes by 31 March 2026, the Commerce Ministry told the Lok Sabha4

Cumulative since the schemes began, as counted by the government
~10,500

industrial robots installed in India in 2025, up 15%, making it the sixth-largest market in the world, according to the International Federation of Robotics5

Annual installations, not robots in use

02How AI and automation are reshaping it

Robots on the factory floor

  • Installations. India installed almost 10,500 industrial robots in 2025, up 15%, the sixth-largest market in the world, according to the International Federation of Robotics5.
  • Growth. India's annual installations grew by 27% a year on average between 2020 and 2025, the IFR says6.
  • Robots in use. India's operational stock of industrial robots reached 52,570 units in 2024, tenth in the world, while automotive installations rose 15% to 4,070 units, the IFR reported in 20257.
IFR counts. The average growth rate starts from a pandemic low, and the stock figure is a year older than the installations figure.

AI: a modelled potential

NITI Aayog's 'AI for Viksit Bharat' report says AI in manufacturing could deliver $85-100 billion through predictive maintenance, digital twins and intelligent quality control8.

A modelled potential, not a measured gain. We found no official measure of AI adoption in Indian factories.

03What the output numbers say

National accounts

India's manufacturing gross value added at constant (2022-23) prices grew 9.2% year on year in April-June 2026, according to MoSPI's first quarterly estimates1.

For the full year 2025-26, the government told the Lok Sabha that manufacturing gross value added at constant prices grew 10.7% under the revised national accounts series with base year 2022-239.

Both are on the revised series at constant prices. One is a single quarter, the other a full year, so they do not make a trend.

Industrial production index

9.0%

growth in manufacturing in August 2026, year on year, while India's Index of Industrial Production grew 8.0%, according to the National Statistics Office's quick estimates10

Among manufacturing industries, the biggest contributors to growth in August 2026 were electrical equipment, up 30.9%, other transport equipment, up 25.3%, and motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, up 25.2%, according to National Statistics Office data11.

The overall index, which also covers mining and electricity, grew 6.7% in April-August 2026, compared with 4.2% a year earlier, according to National Statistics Office data12.

Index growth from quick estimates, revised in later releases. Not the same measure as value added in the national accounts.

Registered factories

  • Establishments. The number of establishments covered by MoSPI's Annual Survey of Industries rose from 2.60 lakh in 2023-24 to 2.67 lakh in 2024-2513.
  • Value added. Gross value added in India's registered manufacturing sector rose 9.59% at current prices in 2024-25, and output grew 7.81%, according to the National Statistics Office's Annual Survey of Industries14.
Current prices, not adjusted for inflation, so these rates cannot be set against the constant-price national accounts figures.

Purchasing managers' survey

The HSBC India Manufacturing PMI, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 55.1 in September 2026 from 52.8 in August, with employment growth resuming after a decline the previous month and new export orders expanding at a quicker pace15.

A survey-based index of whether conditions are improving, not a measure of output.

04Where the money is moving

Production-linked incentives

  • Budget. India runs PLI schemes for 14 key sectors with an approved outlay of ₹1.91 lakh crore, the Commerce Ministry told the Lok Sabha in July 202616.
  • Investment and jobs. By 31 March 2026 the schemes had drawn actual investment of over ₹2.40 lakh crore and generated over 14.15 lakh jobs, direct and indirect, the ministry said4.
  • Exports. PLI schemes have enabled exports of over ₹15.2 lakh crore since their launch, as of 31 March 2026, the Commerce Ministry says17.
An approved outlay is a budget, not spending. Investment, jobs and exports are the government's own cumulative counts, and 'enabled' is its attribution.

Electronics

₹13.11 lakh crore

of electronics production in India in 2025-26, up from ₹11.32 lakh crore in 2024-25, according to the government18

India's mobile phone exports were about ₹2.59 lakh crore in 2025-26, the government says19.

India's 2026-27 Budget raised the outlay of the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme from ₹22,919 crore to ₹40,000 crore20.

Production and exports are nominal, government-reported figures. The scheme figure is an outlay, not spending.

Small firms and credit

  • Registered MSMEs. As of August 2026, 9.16 crore MSMEs were registered on the government's Udyam platform, employing more than 40 crore people21.
  • Their weight. MSMEs account for 35.4% of India's manufacturing output, 31.1% of GDP and 48.58% of exports, according to the Economic Survey 2025-26 as cited by the government22.
  • Guarantees. India's Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) approved 29.03 lakh guarantees worth ₹3.77 lakh crore between 1 January and 30 November 202523.
These cover all MSMEs, including services and trading, not manufacturers alone. Udyam employment is self-declared, and the Economic Survey shares are printed as the government cites them.

05What the government is changing

  1. Machinery loans. The government approved a Mutual Credit Guarantee Scheme under which NCGTC gives lenders 60% guarantee cover on loans of up to ₹100 crore to MSMEs for buying equipment or machinery24.
  2. Manufacturing mission announced. India's 2025-26 Budget announced a National Manufacturing Mission covering small, medium and large industries, providing policy support, execution roadmaps and a governance and monitoring framework for central ministries and states25. It is also meant to support clean tech manufacturing and raise domestic value addition in products including solar PV cells, EV batteries, motors and controllers, electrolysers, wind turbines, high-voltage transmission equipment and grid-scale batteries26.
  3. Carbon targets. Under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, targets for aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali and pulp and paper were notified27.
  4. More carbon targets. Targets for petroleum refining, petrochemicals and textiles followed under the same scheme27.
  5. A proposed target. The Economic Survey 2025-26 says the proposed National Mission on Manufacturing aims to raise manufacturing's contribution to India's GDP to 25 per cent by 203528.
  6. Budget 2026-27. The Budget raised the outlay of the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme from ₹22,919 crore to ₹40,000 crore20 and allocated ₹10,000 crore over five years to a Container Manufacturing Scheme29. These are outlays, not spending.
  7. Mission status. The government said work on the National Mission on Manufacturing was underway through an Inter-Ministerial Committee, targeting a rise in manufacturing's share of GDP to 25% by 203530. We found no launch, notification or outlay.
  8. Machinery loans widened. The government modified the Mutual Credit Guarantee Scheme, reducing the required cost of equipment or machinery to up to 60% of project cost, from 75% earlier, and including service-sector MSMEs31.
  9. Carbon targets in force. Legally binding greenhouse-gas emission-intensity targets under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme were in force for about 490 entities across seven energy-intensive sectors for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 compliance years, the International Carbon Action Partnership reported32.
  10. Recycled plastic. India's Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2026 require recycled content in rigid plastic packaging (Category I) to rise from 30% in 2025-26 to 60% by 2028-29, from 10% to 20% for Category II and from 5% to 10% for Category III, which includes multi-layered packaging33. The obligations fall on producers, importers and brand owners of plastic packaging.
  11. MSME law. Under the MSME Development (Amendment) Bill 2026, which the government says Parliament passed, MSMEs are classified by investment in plant and machinery or equipment and by turnover, central public sector enterprises must settle MSME invoices through the TReDS platform, and penalties for not filing registration or not supplying information are decriminalised34. We have not confirmed that it has been notified.

06Trends to watch

Robots are arriving fast, from a low base

India installed almost 10,500 industrial robots in 2025, the sixth-largest market in the world5, after average growth of 27% a year between 2020 and 20256. Its stock of robots in use, 52,570 units in 2024, ranked tenth7.

Electronics is where incentives and output are both rising

The 2026-27 Budget raised the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme outlay from ₹22,919 crore to ₹40,000 crore20. The government says electronics production rose from ₹11.32 lakh crore in 2024-25 to ₹13.11 lakh crore in 2025-2618, and mobile phone exports were about ₹2.59 lakh crore in 2025-2619.

Incentive results are the government's own count

PLI schemes for 14 sectors carry an approved outlay of ₹1.91 lakh crore16. The Commerce Ministry credits them with over ₹2.40 lakh crore of actual investment and over 14.15 lakh direct and indirect jobs4, and says they have enabled exports of over ₹15.2 lakh crore17.

Credit for machinery is being widened for small firms

A guarantee scheme approved in January 2025 covers 60% of loans of up to ₹100 crore for MSME equipment or machinery24, and in March 2026 it was eased and extended to service-sector MSMEs31. CGTMSE approved 29.03 lakh guarantees between 1 January and 30 November 202523.

Carbon and plastic rules are reaching factories

Emission-intensity targets under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme were in force for about 490 entities across seven sectors by March 202632, with more sectors notified in October 2025 and January 202627. From 31 March 2026, plastic packaging producers face rising recycled-content requirements33.

07The problems our guests are solving

The bricks made from plastic waste that refuse to break
India

EP09Kunjpreet Arora · Angirus Industries

The bricks made from plastic waste that refuse to break

~233B

bricks a year made in India (plus or minus 15 billion), with the brick industry consuming about 990 PJ of energy and 35 million tonnes of coal a year, a 2023 Nature Sustainability study estimated35

The scale of the fired-brick industry today, not a market Wricks addresses.

A technology compendium compiled by the Pune Knowledge Cluster with support from the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser lists Angirus's Wricks plant in Bengaluru with a stated capacity of 1,500 bricks a day, a company figure that has not been independently verified36.

Co-founder Kunjpreet Arora told Imagine5 that if the company reached its goal of selling 3.2 million Wricks a year it would recycle a minimum of 7,800 tons of waste, figures she said were based on a single manufacturing plant37.

Both are Angirus's own figures: a stated plant capacity and the founder's goal, not measured output.

Kunjpreet says Angirus turns single-use plastic and construction rubble into Wricks, bricks shaped exactly like clay ones so masons need no new process. In the episode she explains how early pilots taught her that builders buy strength, cost and durability rather than sustainability, and how the company is scaling from Udaipur to Bangalore.

Watch the episode →

See how these conversations connect on the Discovery Atlas →

08Sources

One research agent gathered 40 figures from government, regulator and established data sources. A separate red-team agent then reopened every source, checked each number, its scope and its date, and looked for newer or conflicting data. It kept 20 figures as written, corrected 19 and cut 1. Each figure above links to its source below, with the date it refers to.

  1. MoSPI press note on Q1 2026-27 GDP estimates, 31 Aug 2026 · Q1 2026-27 (Apr-Jun 2026), first estimate, subject to revision
  2. Free Press Journal, 30 Sep 2026, reporting MoSPI's ASI 2024-25 · ASI 2024-25 (registered factory sector)
  3. PIB backgrounder 'India's Manufacturing Momentum', 19 Sep 2025 · FY2024-25 (latest manufacturing-specific official figure)
  4. PIB (Ministry of Commerce & Industry), Lok Sabha reply, 21 Jul 2026 · Cumulative to 31 Mar 2026
  5. Automation.com, 24 Sep 2026, reporting IFR World Robotics 2026 · Calendar year 2025
  6. Automation.com, 24 Sep 2026, reporting IFR World Robotics 2026 · 2020-2025 CAGR
  7. The Tribune, 26 Sep 2025, reporting IFR World Robotics 2025 · 2024
  8. Outlook Business, 15 Sep 2025, reporting NITI Aayog · Modelled projection (report published Sep 2025)
  9. The Tribune (ANI), 12 Aug 2026, reporting a Lok Sabha reply · FY2025-26, provisional estimates (revised series, base 2022-23)
  10. ThePrint (PTI), 28 Sep 2026, reporting NSO data · August 2026, quick estimate (revised in later releases)
  11. The Hans India, 29 Sep 2026, reporting NSO data · August 2026, quick estimate
  12. ThePrint (PTI), 28 Sep 2026, reporting NSO data · Apr-Aug 2026 (FY2026-27 to date), quick estimates
  13. Free Press Journal, 30 Sep 2026, reporting MoSPI's ASI 2024-25 · ASI 2024-25 (registered factory sector)
  14. The Policy Edge, 30 Sep 2026, reporting NSO's ASI 2024-25 · ASI 2024-25, current prices (not inflation-adjusted)
  15. Upstox News, 1 Oct 2026, reporting HSBC/S&P Global · September 2026 (final; flash was 55.7)
  16. PIB (Ministry of Commerce & Industry), Lok Sabha reply, 21 Jul 2026 · As stated 21 Jul 2026 (approved outlay, not disbursement)
  17. PIB (Ministry of Commerce & Industry), Lok Sabha reply, 21 Jul 2026 · Cumulative to 31 Mar 2026
  18. PIB factsheet, 14 Aug 2026 · FY2025-26 (nominal)
  19. PIB factsheet, 14 Aug 2026 · FY2025-26 (approximate)
  20. PIB, 12 Feb 2026 · Union Budget 2026-27 (outlay)
  21. PIB factsheet, 11 Aug 2026 · As of Aug 2026 (all MSMEs, self-declared employment)
  22. PIB factsheet, 11 Aug 2026 · Economic Survey 2025-26 (data year not stated on the page)
  23. PIB press note, 26 Jun 2026 · 1 Jan-30 Nov 2025
  24. PIB (Ministry of Finance), 29 Jan 2025 · Approved 29 Jan 2025 (modified Mar 2026)
  25. PIB (Ministry of Finance), 1 Feb 2025 · Announced 1 Feb 2025 (not yet launched)
  26. PIB (Ministry of Finance), 1 Feb 2025 · Announced 1 Feb 2025
  27. ICAP, 30 Mar 2026 · Oct 2025 and Jan 2026
  28. Ministry of Finance, Economic Survey 2025-26, Chapter VIII (Jan 2026) · Target for 2035 (proposed; Economic Survey 2025-26)
  29. PIB, 12 Feb 2026 · Union Budget 2026-27 (allocation over five years)
  30. PIB, 12 Feb 2026 · Status as of 12 Feb 2026
  31. PIB, 21 Mar 2026 · Modified 21 Mar 2026
  32. ICAP, 30 Mar 2026 · Status at 30 Mar 2026
  33. LiveLaw, 12 Apr 2026 · Notified 31 Mar 2026; targets 2025-26 to 2028-29
  34. PIB factsheet, 11 Aug 2026 · Aug 2026 (passage per government; notification not confirmed)
  35. Tibrewal et al., Nature Sustainability, Oct 2023 · Study published Oct 2023 (modelled estimate)
  36. Pune Knowledge Cluster / Office of the PSA, Technology Compendium: Solid Waste Management (undated) · Undated listing (hosted Dec 2025); company-stated capacity
  37. Imagine5 interview with Kunjpreet Arora (undated, page modified Aug 2024) · Company's stated goal; undated interview (page modified Aug 2024)