founded Alphacraft, a manufacturing firm, 25 years ago in a small workshop in the southern city of Coimbatore. It now operates out of a 4,500 square-metre factory, piled with aluminium cast parts. It employs 400 people and will soon open a second facility of similar size. Customers include Indian startups, notably Ola Electric, a fast-growing local scooter manufacturer, and global companies including Britain’s Aston Martin and America’s John Deere.
That said, the big conglomerates are still influential. Reliance Industries dominates telecoms and refining, and is expanding into entertainment. The Adani Group is the largest manager of airports and seaports and the second-largest producer of cement and power. Though broader corporate concentration may be weakening, these firms have seen continually increasing market shares. The recent data could turn out to be a post-covid blip.
or teaming up with a local partner, having found that India is a tough place to go it alone. Foreign-direct-investment flows into India, which surged in 2020 to 6.2% of the world’s total, have since fallen to a decadal low . This is partly due to higher interest rates, but also because of the tough operating environment for foreign firms.Many Indian companies are now doing well.
Against this background, India is becoming more innovative. A study by PatentVector, an analytics firm, showed the valuation of Indian patents has more than tripled over the past five years, as the filing process has been simplified. A private space industry has emerged, with more than 200 firms filling the sector. Two are on the verge of launching rockets.