annashay 
Walking through a toolroom, one is struck by the silence. Unlike an automotive plant with its hum and clang, here the work is quiet, meticulous, almost artistic. Yet these jigs, dies and fixtures create every car, washing machine, mobile phone and aircraft engine. Without them, there would be no modern manufacturing. However, in India’s journey to become a global manufacturing atmanirbhar powerhouse, the Tool and Die (T&D) industry (the process of making custom metal parts) remains under-recognised and needs a huge impetus.
NITI Aayog’s April 2025 report, Automotive Industry Powering India’s Participation in Global Value Chains, underscores the centrality of the T&D ecosystem to India’s automotive future.
India’s National Manufacturing Mission (NMM) provides a perfect umbrella for a sub-mission: a National Tool and Die Mission. The NMM’s focus on MSME competitiveness, skilling, technology adoption and quality standards directly resonates with T&D needs. Integrating T&D as a strategic sub-mission would ensure policy alignment, resource prioritisation and capacity-building. It would strengthen precision manufacturing, reduce import dependence and energise Make in India.
A couple of years ago, an auto OEM had to fly in dies from Taiwan at three times the cost because domestic suppliers failed quality standards at the finishing line. A defence manufacturer once delayed a critical delivery because a T&D vendor’s heat-treatment facility broke down. Even in consumer electronics, a large assembler had to source bespoke fixtures from overseas, causing a month-long hold-up. These are not isolated disruptions. They happen often and illustrate why the sector must move from the margins to the mainstream.
The Foundation
If the Machine Tool Industry is the mother of manufacturing, then T&D is its backbone. Machine tools build machines, but tools and dies define the accuracy, quality and repeatability of every product.
Setting up a T&D factory requires ₹500-1000 crore. A single specialised precision tool can cost ₹10-25 crore; complex ones run into hundreds. Tier 1 suppliers often mention: ‘A die may cost ₹20 crore, but a week’s delay can cost many times more in lost production.’
For automobiles, defence, aerospace, electronics and consumer goods, the absence of indigenous T&D capability means dependence, delays and vulnerability. India still imports much of its high-end tools, particularly from China, leaving ambitions hostage to external supply chains.
Even fortnight-long delays in overseas deliveries have disrupted multi-crore model launches by OEMs, affecting finances, delaying market entry and shaking customer confidence.
In automobiles, dies enable millions of components at scale with uniform quality. In capital goods, they determine cost competitiveness. In electronics, from smartphone casings to TV frames, every product begins with a tool.
The 3C industry — Computers, Communications and Consumer Electronics — offers huge opportunities. Electronics tooling is still a small share of India’s market but demands extreme precision. A leading phone assembler lamented: ‘We can assemble millions of phones, but the casing tooling all come from China.’
India currently meets around 70 per cent of tooling demand domestically, with 30 per cent imported; mainly high-precision complex tools. Automotive drives nearly 60 per cent of demand, but electronics, aerospace, defence, medical equipment and 5G are rapidly expanding.
This is why global leaders — Japan, Korea, Germany and China — first built strong T&D ecosystems, which became the bedrock for scaling their industries.
Lessons from Global Leaders
* Japan: Post-war investments in toolmaking enabled Toyota’s rise.
* South Korea: Hyundai and Kia grew through close integration with domestic toolmakers. Engineers emphasise that precision dies for flagship models were perfected in-house, ensuring quality consistency.
* Germany: The Mittelstand includes world-leading toolmakers. Small firms recount refining dies for Mercedes for decades. Continuity of trust and precision makes them formidable.
* China: Declared T&D strategic in the 2000s, subsidised it and became the world’s largest producer within two decades.
The lesson is clear: those who control tools, control the industry. India must craft its own playbook, treating T&D as strategy, not support.
A Way Forward
India has automotive hubs in Pune, Chennai, Gurugram, Sanand and Indore. Yet the absence of a strong domestic T&D base is a glaring weakness. Tooling is capital intensive, beyond the reach of MSMEs. Medium-sized toolrooms exist but lack scale. Imports remain vulnerable to shocks; a strategic risk.
India must act with urgency. A time-bound National Tool & Die Mission, treating the sector as strategic infrastructure, should rest on five pillars:
Mega Tooling Parks: At least five advanced parks co-located with auto and engineering hubs, equipped with 5-axis CNCs, EDM/WEDM, additive manufacturing, metrology labs, heat treatment and CAD/CAM FEA tools accessible to MSMEs.
Tooling Universities with Global Partners: Collaborate with Germany, Japan, Taiwan and Korea to train 5,000+ toolmakers annually.
National Demand Aggregation: Pool requirements across sectors to provide scale.
Strategic Procurement & Localisation: Incentivise 30-40 per cent complex tooling within five years, with government support for first-lot purchases.
Digital Leapfrog: Invest in AI-driven tool design, simulation and hybrid manufacturing.
Toolmaking is as much about people as machines. Skilled designers, die engineers, and machinists are critical. Industry often struggles to find young toolmakers with CAD/CAM skills. Fresh engineers are retrained for months before handling high-precision dies. The hunger to learn exists, but formal training gaps remain.
Dedicated Tool Design & Development courses should be launched across engineering colleges and ITIs near clusters. CSR funds could support labs and scholarships, while the National Skill Mission must address toolmaking.
India’s ambitions in automobiles, defence, capital goods and electronics cannot be realised without mastering T&D. History shows every industrial nation first built its T&D industry which enabled venturing into global markets. Germany, Japan, Korea all did it. China is the latest.
India stands at the same crossroads. We have the markets, talent and ambition. What we need is recognition of this invisible backbone and the courage to invest in it. Having seen Indian industry leapfrog before — from world-class trucks to globally competitive construction equipment — we are convinced the T&D sector can script the next success story, if given the same urgency.
Because in the end, only with tools will come atmanirbharta. To truly become the factory of the world, we must make the tools that make the products for the world.
Sondhi, Independent Director and former MD & CEO of Ashok Leyland & JCB India; Kumar, former Director, CMTI. Views expressed are personal
Published on September 26, 2025
