From robot consumer to robot producer: can India build its own robots?
SRF Capital Studio Research DeskFunding Intelligence, SRF Capital StudioIndia now buys more factory robots than all but five countries. Very few of them carry an Indian name on the arm.
Summary
- India installed almost 10,500 industrial robots in 2025, sixth in the world, and nearly all of them were built abroad.
- Indian firms now build warehouse robots, cobots, vision-guided arms and a first humanoid, but the precision gearboxes, motors and chips inside are still largely imported.
- MeitY's 2023 draft strategy proposes incentives, robot manufacturing zones and buy-Indian procurement. Until money is attached, India's best route runs through what its own factories buy.
Look at the nameplate on the arm in almost any Indian car or electronics plant and it will read FANUC, ABB, KUKA or Yaskawa. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) counted almost 10,500 robots installed in India in 2025. That was 15% more than in 2024, and enough for sixth place, behind Germany.
Installations have grown by an average of 27% a year since 2020, the IFR says, so India is plainly a big customer. Whether it can become a maker has a different answer for each part of the robot.
Which companies make robots in India?
A short list of Indian firms design and build robots here. The largest by far is Addverb, in which Reliance Industries holds a 54% stake.
Indian robot makers and what they build, October 2026
| Company | What it builds | What it reports |
|---|---|---|
| Addverb, Noida | Mobile and sorting robots, automated storage, a humanoid | FY25 revenue of ₹600 crore by Inc42's figure, ₹800 crore by the company's June 2026 release; plant rated for up to 1 lakh robots a year |
| Systemantics, Bengaluru | Six-axis collaborative arms (ASYSTR) | 3 kg and 5 kg models on sale, a 10 kg model announced; designed and made in India |
| CynLr | Two-armed robots guided by cameras that pick unfamiliar objects (CyRo) | Builds its own vision system for the robot |
| TAL Manufacturing Solutions, Tata group | Industrial arms | Brabo arms, launched in 2017; current sales not disclosed |
Addverb has gone furthest. In early 2026 it unveiled a wheeled humanoid, Elixis-W, six feet tall and able to lift 15 kg, Inc42 reported. It plans about 100 units in the first year for five or six customers in solar, battery, electronics, nuclear and chemical plants.
These are real products built by Indian engineers. Most of them, though, are mobile and warehouse robots, which the IFR counts separately from factory arms. In the arms Indian plants buy each year, Indian brands hold a small share.
What does India still import to build a robot?
A robot arm is a chain of joints. Each joint needs a motor, a controller that tells it where to stop, and a precision gearbox. The gearbox turns a motor's fast, weak spin into slow, strong and exact movement.
Those gearboxes, called reducers, come from very few suppliers. Nabtesco of Japan estimates it makes about 60% of the heavy RV reducers used in medium and large arms. Harmonic Drive Systems, also Japanese, leads the smaller reducers used in wrists.
MeitY's draft strategy is frank about the rest. It lists imported actuators, motors, gearboxes, circuit boards, chips and sensors, and says the dependence is heaviest for magnets, batteries and chipsets. Why this pushed most Indian firms into integration work is set out in our piece on robotics system integrators.
So a robot made in India today usually means an Indian design built around imported joints. That is a fair start, but the hardest parts are still owned elsewhere.
What does MeitY's draft robotics strategy propose?
MeitY published a Draft National Strategy on Robotics in 2023. It aims to make India a global leader in robotics for manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture and national security by 2030. For robot makers, four proposals matter most.
- A Robotics Innovation Unit inside MeitY, under the IndiaAI programme, to fund and coordinate the work.
- Incentives for making robots and robot parts, modelled on the government's existing design-linked, production-linked and capex-linked schemes.
- Robotics manufacturing zones near the industries that buy robots, with subsidised land, plug-and-play sheds and common facility centres.
- Purchase preference in government buying for suppliers that meet a minimum local-content rule, plus a tariff to raise value added in India.
As of October 2026 we could not find that the strategy had been finalised or given a budget. A plan without money changes few factory decisions.
Does the PLI scheme help Indian robot makers?
Not directly, because there is no production-linked incentive for robots. The 14 sector schemes, with an outlay of ₹1.97 lakh crore, pay firms for making phones, car parts, medicines and other goods.
Those schemes do create robot demand, and the IFR has warned that installations could dip once the incentives end. But PLI rewards the output, not the origin of the machines that make it. Most of the automation it pays for runs on imported arms, and MeitY's proposed robot incentive would be the first aimed at the maker.
PLI rewards the output, not the origin of the machines that make it.
What did China do that India has not done yet?
China built the demand first. It installed 354,000 industrial robots in 2025, 59% of the world total, and Chinese makers supplied 55% of them, according to the IFR.
That market is about 34 times India's. A reducer or servo-motor plant needs volume, and India's 10,500 arms a year cannot fill one yet. The realistic path starts where Indian conditions differ from Japan's: cobots priced for small plants, warehouse robots, vision software, and machined parts for global makers.
Reducers and motors can follow once there are enough Indian-designed robots to buy them. Our report on robotics in manufacturing maps the buyers that demand would come from.
What should founders and investors in Indian robotics check?
A founder building robots should pick a product where Indian price, service and factory layouts matter. Design each joint so a second gearbox supplier can be swapped in, because one supplier is a risk to both margin and delivery.
An investor should ask how much of each robot's cost is made in India and how much revenue comes from service and software. Where the margin sits is in our piece on robotics industry margins. Hardware founders raising money can see our venture and private equity work and robotics sector page.
Frequently asked questions
Which companies manufacture robots in India?
Addverb, Systemantics, CynLr and TAL Manufacturing Solutions are among the Indian makers. Global brands supply most of the arms Indian factories install.
Can India make robots?
Yes, finished robots of several kinds. What India cannot yet make at scale are the precision reducers, servo motors and chips inside them.
What is the future of robotics in India?
Demand is rising fast, at 27% a year on average from 2020 to 2025. How much of it Indian makers win depends on whether MeitY's robotics strategy gets a budget.
How many robots are there in India?
About 52,600 industrial robots were working in Indian factories at the end of 2024, by the IFR's count. Almost 10,500 more were installed in 2025.
Which robotics companies are listed in India?
Affordable Robotic & Automation is listed on the NSE and BSE, and sells robotic welding, warehouse automation and automated car parking systems. Addverb, the largest robot maker, is majority-owned by Reliance Industries, which is listed.
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