India’s manufacturing share on the rise, but still far behind China: Economic Survey 2024-25

India holds a 2.8% share, while China’s share is much larger at 28.8%, which presents major opportunities for India to increase its industrial sector's contribution to GDP, especially when compared to other nations.

“Not since World War II has one country dominated the manufacturing landscape in such a way,” said India’s Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Economic Survey, reported NDTV Profit.

“China is now the world’s sole manufacturing superpower… China’s share in critical technology will be higher than the combined next 10 countries.”

Despite this, there are encouraging signals for India's manufacturing sector.

The country’s industrial growth for fiscal 2025 is projected to exceed the five-year average.

The sector is expected to expand by 6.2%, primarily fuelled by strong performance in the electricity and construction sectors.

However, in the September quarter, growth slowed to 3.6%, attributed to three main factors: a sharp drop in manufacturing exports, an unpredictable monsoon season, and variations in the timing of the festive period.

“India’s goal should now be to fire all domestic drivers of growth,” Nageswaran was quoted as saying by NDTV Profit.

“Deregulation exercise at the local and state government levels for industries, education and employment needs to happen.”