Component Exports Double in One Decade to $24 Billion

India's auto component exports have more than doubled over the past decade, rising from about $11 billion, or ₹72,000 crore, in FY16 to about $24 billion, or ₹2.11 lakh crore, in FY26. The country's share of global component trade, however, remains under 5%, against China's roughly 12%.

The gap is the central point of the BCG-ACMA report Beyond Resilience, which frames it less as a shortfall than as the sector's largest single pool of headroom. India's export growth has also accelerated in the second half of the decade, with the compound annual rate rising from 12% over ten years to 17% over five.

The more consequential milestone came in FY24, when the industry recorded its first net trade surplus – about $300 million, or ₹2,500 crore. That reversed a deficit of about $2.9 billion, or ₹19,000 crore, in FY16. The report attributes the shift to deeper integration into global supply chains, participation in higher-value OEM programmes and capabilities aligned with an electric powertrain.

The competitive context favours India in one specific way. Global vehicle sales have grown at roughly 1–2% a year over the past decade, across both passenger and commercial vehicles, as mature markets reached saturation and sales began replacing rather than expanding the fleet. As global ICE supply chains consolidate and other markets pull back, continued demand for traditional components gives India an opening to position itself as a trusted global hub for high-quality ICE parts – while simultaneously building the EV component pool.

Industry leaders are already counting on it. In the report's survey of over 50 companies, exports were cited by 55% of respondents as a source of the next leg of growth, second only to the domestic market at more than 60%.

The industry's own target is about $45 billion in exports by FY30, or roughly 1.9 times the FY26 level – a pace of about 17% a year, in line with what the last five years delivered.

What the report identifies as missing is shared infrastructure rather than intent. It calls for proactive outreach to global OEMs through cluster-level incentive packages covering an anchor OEM and its Tier-1 and Tier-2 base, single-window clearances to compress approval timelines, shared testing and certification facilities so smaller suppliers can meet global standards without carrying the cost alone, and shared warehousing in key export markets to address the reliability concerns that hold back order books.

Sustainability is treated as an export condition rather than a separate agenda. Decarbonising manufacturing, adopting renewable energy and building circularity into design are described as increasingly non-negotiable as OEMs push Scope-3 targets down their supply chains and export markets tighten green requirements at the border.

India's auto component exports have more than doubled over the past decade, rising from about $11 billion, or ₹72,000 crore, in FY16 to about $24 billion, or ₹2.11 lakh crore, in FY26. The country's share of global component trade, however, remains under 5%, against China's roughly 12%.

The gap is the central point of the BCG-ACMA report Beyond Resilience, which frames it less as a shortfall than as the sector's largest single pool of headroom. India's export growth has also accelerated in the second half of the decade, with the compound annual rate rising from 12% over ten years to 17% over five.

The more consequential milestone came in FY24, when the industry recorded its first net trade surplus – about $300 million, or ₹2,500 crore. That reversed a deficit of about $2.9 billion, or ₹19,000 crore, in FY16. The report attributes the shift to deeper integration into global supply chains, participation in higher-value OEM programmes and capabilities aligned with an electric powertrain.

The competitive context favours India in one specific way. Global vehicle sales have grown at roughly 1–2% a year over the past decade, across both passenger and commercial vehicles, as mature markets reached saturation and sales began replacing rather than expanding the fleet. As global ICE supply chains consolidate and other markets pull back, continued demand for traditional components gives India an opening to position itself as a trusted global hub for high-quality ICE parts – while simultaneously building the EV component pool.

Industry leaders are already counting on it. In the report's survey of over 50 companies, exports were cited by 55% of respondents as a source of the next leg of growth, second only to the domestic market at more than 60%.

The industry's own target is about $45 billion in exports by FY30, or roughly 1.9 times the FY26 level – a pace of about 17% a year, in line with what the last five years delivered.

What the report identifies as missing is shared infrastructure rather than intent. It calls for proactive outreach to global OEMs through cluster-level incentive packages covering an anchor OEM and its Tier-1 and Tier-2 base, single-window clearances to compress approval timelines, shared testing and certification facilities so smaller suppliers can meet global standards without carrying the cost alone, and shared warehousing in key export markets to address the reliability concerns that hold back order books.

Sustainability is treated as an export condition rather than a separate agenda. Decarbonising manufacturing, adopting renewable energy and building circularity into design are described as increasingly non-negotiable as OEMs push Scope-3 targets down their supply chains and export markets tighten green requirements at the border