OPINION | India Inc’s financial metrics are world-class. Leverage it to dominate global markets

Indian corporates have consistently compounded earnings across every five-year period, even through global shocks.

India has entered a decisive new phase in its economic journey. Breaching a GDP of ₹331 lakh crore (~$4 trillion) in FY25 and set to cross $10 trillion over the next 12-15 years, the trajectory is clear: India will soon stand among the top three economies in the world.

This growth has been powered by a corporate sector that is already one of the most efficient and profitable anywhere. The question before us now is whether India Inc will continue to play it safe by only dominating the domestic market or rise to building truly global challengers and champions as the world drastically reorients trade flows and alliances.

The indomitable profit engine of India Inc

The scale of India Inc’s efficiency is extraordinary. In FY25, gross corporate tax collections stood at ₹12.72 lakh crore ($159 billion). At a 25% average tax rate, this implies pre-tax corporate profits of ₹50.88 lakh crore ($636 billion). On a GDP base of ₹331 lakh crore ($4.1 trillion), India’s corporate pre-tax profits are 15.37% of GDP, a figure that matches the US and stands among the highest in the world.

Corporate India has also aggressively turned debt free, cleaning up balance sheets and increasing cash on the books. The Nifty 500 companies have over Rs 13 lakh crore of cash in hand. India Inc. aims to nearly double its capex spending to Rs 72.25 lakh crore over FY26-30, with a majority of the investment expected to be self-funded.

Over the past 25 years, Indian corporates have consistently compounded earnings across every five-year period, even through global shocks. They have mastered optimising margins under hypercompetitive price points, unreliable regulatory conditions and persistent geopolitical shocks, generating large positive cash flows at high compounding rates.

According to Ionic Wealth, corporate profits in India have grown consistently faster than GDP between FY20-25, a particularly challenging period of intense macro shifts. This is an extraordinary achievement: India Inc is an expert at producing profitable national champions.

Yet, what we have not done is channel these surpluses aggressively into winning meaningful global market share, into R&D and new product development, and into deeper integration of supply chains. The strategic framework that delivered this domestic success: cost optimisation, margin maximisation, strategic resilience planning, and cash flow generation, must now expand to encompass global market capture and full-stack manufacturing capabilities.

From national champions to global challengers

The $10 trillion GDP journey demands that India Inc think beyond national category leadership. Winning in India alone will not be sufficient. Indian companies must now compete with global peers for market share, technology leadership, and growth.

Take Motherson Sumi as an example. The company has recently commissioned one of the largest manufacturing facilities ever built in India — a plant the size of 33 football fields designed to produce at global scale and standards. Indian auto is the exemplar industry that is manufacturing from India to win global markets.

Over FY25, auto companies produced 5 million passenger vehicles, 1 million commercial vehicles, and 24 million two and three-wheelers just in India. They must aim to produce over 12 million PVs, 2 million CVs, and 30 million 2-3Ws by 2030, with 40% exported to command global market share at maximised margins and prices.

Apple’s experience is equally illuminating. Within just four years of starting large-scale iPhone assembly in India, yields have reached parity with China. Today, 25% of global iPhone production comes from India, a feat few would have believed possible even a decade ago. This move was more than just cost arbitrage—Apple invested in building an entire ecosystem of suppliers, training programs, and quality systems that now serve global markets from India.

Meanwhile, global competitors are already racing ahead with staggering levels of R&D investment. Chinese automaker BYD employs 110,000 people in R&D — the largest technical workforce in the global automotive industry. This depth of investment has allowed BYD to leapfrog established Western incumbents and secure dominant market share in EVs across geographies. China produces 31 million PVs annually, over double of the US which was the world’s largest PV market. The lesson is clear: global markets reward those who invest in scale and compete globally, and this is now possible from India.

The growth opportunity across sectors

India’s corporate sector sails along amongst the strongest profit and talent tailwinds in the world, and it is time to harness it. With 93% of global executives considering reshoring or nearshoring away from China, Indian manufacturers can capture substantial market share by building world-class production capabilities. There are multiple arenas where we can expand rapidly:

1) Chemicals and Specialty Materials: India already has a $300 billion chemicals industry growing at 11–12% annually. With China slowing and global buyers seeking diversified supply chains, India can scale both capacity and innovation to capture higher-value niches in specialty chemicals, performance materials, lab chemicals, and green alternatives.

2) Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences: India supplies 20% of the world’s generic drugs by volume, yet global R&D spends by Indian pharma are still a fraction of multinational peers. Moving from generics to novel molecules, biosimilars, and cutting-edge therapeutics is the next frontier. Priorities must be channelled into building this innovation pipeline for world.

3) Electronics and Advanced Manufacturing: With Apple’s India exports crossing $5 billion over the first 5 months of FY25 as a precedent, the country can attract and build for semiconductors, consumer electronics, and industrial hardware. Production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes are catalysing investment, but it is now up to corporates to make the long-term shift to full-stack capabilities, from design to assembly to export. India is already a global giant in chip design, it must now develop full stack capabilities. India has committed to reach $300 billion of electronics manufacturing and exports of $120 billion by FY27, and must target $200 billion of exports by 2030.

4) Automobiles & Auto-Components: India is already a major automotive producer — as of now, it ranks 4th globally in vehicle production and contributes about 7.1% of India’s GDP via this sector. The automotive components industry experienced an 11% YoY growth, reaching Rs. 3.32 lakh crore (US$ 38.4 billion) in the first half of FY25. The auto industry must target $120 billion in combined exports by 2030.

Exports from these sectors are more than growth opportunities; they will be strategic imperatives. Global market share, not domestic margins, will determine who thrives in the coming decades.

Urgently installing new capabilities

The demographic dividend that powered domestic consumption growth is transitioning into a manufacturing and innovation workforce capable of serving global markets. Companies that harness this transition through massive R&D hiring, world-class manufacturing investments, and global go-to-market strategies will emerge as tomorrow's category leaders. What must India Inc do to harness this convergence?

* Scale Domestic Production for Global Supply: India must manufacture for the world. This requires plants that are globally benchmarked in capacity, automation, quality, and sustainability.

* Hire and Train at Scale: Global competition is not won by factories alone but by the talent that powers them. India must train massive new workforces in advanced manufacturing, digital design, and world-class logistics. Corporates must invest in vocational education, apprenticeships, and partnerships with universities to ensure a pipeline of skilled talent, just like Indian IT did 30 years ago.

* Invest Aggressively in R&D: R&D spending by Indian corporates remains below 1% of revenue for most sectors, compared to 3–4% in advanced economies. This gap must close if we are to compete globally. Investing in laboratories, test beds, talent pipelines, university grants, and long-cycle innovation will yield long-term returns, but it is the only way to build enduring global leadership.

* Work with Government for Systems of Support: Just as the US built Silicon Valley on the back of defence grants and procurement, and China built Huawei and every other industrial global challenger with state financing, India Inc must work with the Government of India to design the next layer of support. This includes faster approvals, more agile trade policy, inter-departmental green channels, and stronger capital incentives for global production. By uniting to demand timely policy execution and accountability, corporations can transform the reform agenda from a policy tailwind into a powerful flywheel for global growth acceleration.

The window of opportunity is finite. Over the next decade, the global economy will reorganise supply chains in energy, technology, and manufacturing. Nations and corporates that claim share now will hold it for decades. Those who delay will be permanently locked out.

India Inc has already proven its ability to build category leaders under constraint. We have done this without the heavy state subsidies or governmental procurement support that fuelled the rise of American and Chinese corporates, and often against unfair PSU competition. Imagine what can be achieved if we now redirect our surpluses into global manufacturing scale, focused R&D, and international expansion.

We are at an inflection point. India Inc is more profitable than ever, more resilient than ever, and more ambitious than ever. But national dominance is no longer enough. The next 15 years demand that we transform from being category leaders in India to being challengers across the world. National category leadership must transform into global growth and market share.

The journey to $10 trillion GDP will not be achieved by services alone. The companies that will lead this journey are those bold enough to think beyond borders, invest beyond comfort zones, and compete beyond the familiar terrain of domestic markets. It will require a surge of new capacity, new technologies, and new champions built for global markets. The profits are already here. The capital is abundant. The time for global ambition is now.

(TV Mohandas Pai is Chairman at 3one4 Capital, and Pranav Pai, Managing Partner at 3one4 Capital.)

Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.