Maruti Suzuki CEO Highlights India's Opportunity In Advanced Manufacturing

Maruti Suzuki India MD & CEO Hisashi Takeuchi has highlighted an opportunity for India to strengthen its position as a global manufacturing hub, while stressing that deep localisation alone will not be sufficient to achieve long-term competitiveness. Speaking at the 66th ACMA Annual Session, Takeuchi underlined the importance of global-quality products, stronger supplier capabilities and advanced manufacturing systems.

Takeuchi noted that India’s automotive industry has demonstrated resilience through several disruptions in recent years, including semiconductor shortages, geopolitical tensions and supply chain challenges. Despite these difficulties, automakers continued production and worked to meet customer demand, reflecting the sector’s ability to adapt to changing operating conditions.

He identified four key areas that will shape the industry’s competitiveness in the coming years: deep localisation, people development, collective learning and technology. Takeuchi also pointed to the restructuring of global supply chains as an opportunity for India, noting that reliability and continuity are becoming increasingly important alongside cost considerations.

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Government initiatives, including the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and the India Semiconductor Mission, along with strong domestic demand and export potential, could further support India’s manufacturing ambitions. These factors, he noted, provide an opportunity for companies to expand local capabilities and strengthen the country’s role in global supply and manufacturing networks.

However, Takeuchi stressed that localisation must be accompanied by improvements in quality and engineering capabilities. He highlighted the importance of Tier-2 and Tier-3 suppliers in strengthening the wider automotive ecosystem and called for greater investment in technology, quality systems, engineering expertise and communication across the supply chain.

Takeuchi also emphasised the need for manufacturing capacity that can respond quickly to fluctuations in market demand while remaining capable of supporting long-term expansion. Building flexible production systems and a stronger supplier network, he noted, will be important for India to convert the current global supply-chain shift into a sustained manufacturing advantage.

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