Robotics

Indian robotics companies aim to become global leaders

The Indian government has set a target to become a global robotics superpower by 2030, according to the Ministry of Electronics and Internet Technology's draft National Strategy on Robotics. This initiative perfectly aligns with the Make in India 2.0 vision to enhance India's integration into the global value chain.

At TechSparks 2023, two emerging stars of the Indian robotics sector, Ati Motors and Nosh, discussed the state of Indian robotics on the world stage. Ati Motors focuses on autonomous vehicles for businesses. It recently raised $10.8 million in a Series A funding round. Nosh, on the other hand, is a startup working on developing a robot chef. Despite their different focuses, both founders expressed the view that India is in the early stages of exploring the robotics market.

While India has seen success with consumer-facing home vacuum robots, it lags behind in the business-to-business (B2B) segment. Robotics installations in India increased by 54% to 4,945 units in 2021, but the country ranks 10th globally as the industrial robot installations is 4 in number per 10,000 manufacturing workers.

One major obstacle for the Indian robotics industry is the shortage of individuals having Master's and PhD-level expertise. The founders also cited funding as a challenge. There are a limited number of venture capital firms in India that invest in the seed stage of robotics startups.

However, there have been positive developments in the Indian robotics space. Government grants are available to support startups, and a growing awareness and curiosity in robotics is also seen.

Both founders believe that the Indian robotics sector is in a much better position than it was before. According to them, it can grow significantly in the next five years. They also mentioned the ongoing global funding environment, which favors hardware businesses. It can further boost the growth of Indian robotics startups, especially with increasing government support and awareness in both the industry and among consumers.