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India Breaks Into Exclusive Auto Export League With Over 5 Million Units Shipped

From a tentative, low-cost production centre, India has emerged as a reliable manufacturing destination for automobiles as global brands use their local production to cater to increasingly sophisticated customers abroad.

By Prerna Lidhoo & Ketan Thakkar

05 Jan 2026

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India Breaks Into Exclusive Auto Export League With Over 5 Million Units Shipped

Not very long ago, Indian factories were viewed largely as frugal and low-cost assembly lines but rarely trusted with scale and consistency on the global stage. India's export footprint was limited, focused largely on two-wheelers for African markets and small cars for a narrow set of emerging economies, with the components segment doing the heavy lifting instead of fully-built vehicles. This perception has been changing steadily over the past decade, with 2025 being the year India finally broke out for good.

This year, the country is on track to ship over five million vehicles to overseas markets, a milestone ...

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