- Samsonite's Nashik factory became its largest global facility, surpassing Europe by volume
- Economic Survey 2025-26 links infrastructure and logistics to improved industrial competitiveness
- High-performing clusters drive export growth, foreign investment, innovation, and productivity
India's ambition to emerge as a globally competitive industrial hub will critically depend on the strength and scale of its industrial clusters. A strong example of this is the feat achieved by the luggage manufacturer, Samsonite. It was more than just a corporate milestone.
Its factory in Maharashtra's Nashik became the American company's largest production facility in the world by volume, overtaking long-established European manufacturing hubs.
And this is what the Economic Survey 2025-26 meant when it referred to how infrastructure and logistics can help in improving competitiveness. Samsonite's example is another evidence of what Indian industry can achieve when scale, supply chains, and skills come together in one place.
Evidence from across the world shows that high-performing clusters are not just contributors to industrial activity; they are central to a nation's export growth, attracting foreign investment, driving innovation and enhancing productivity, the Economic Survey said.
Countries that have successfully integrated into global value chains (GVCs), starting from China, Vietnam to South Korea, all have done so through a small number of highly competitive, globally connected clusters that combine economic density with institutional agility.
This is where the Nashik achievement comes in, the Economic Survey said. Samsonite's decision to further expand locally highlights the importance of established regional supply chains and workforce stability, it said.
Such examples demonstrate the potential to 'Make in India for India and the world' by evolving regional clusters into high-productivity global manufacturing bases.
Other Countries
China's Bay Area generates 35 per cent of its national exports, and 11 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) while occupying less than 1 per cent of land.
Vietnam's two key economic regions contribute nearly two-thirds of GDP and trade within just 11 per cent of its land area.
These examples highlight a consistent pattern: industrial activity needs concentration, connectivity, and a local environment that grants the freedom to compete and innovate, the Economic Survey said.
Industrial clusters create advantages by bringing firms, suppliers, workers, and logistics together in dense ecosystems. Such co-location increases productivity through shared infrastructure, reduced transaction costs, common labour pools, and continual knowledge spillovers - all of which are essential to industrial competitiveness.
India's Journey
India has attempted to build industrial clusters through various schemes over the past few decades, from the 1997 Industrial Park Scheme and the 2005 SEZ Act to the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme, and sector-specific clusters for electronics, textiles, and software.
While India has several organically developed clusters that bolster domestic production, transforming these clusters into globally competitive ecosystems needs addressing two key structural factors.
First, achieving optimal scale: the median size of India's clusters is relatively small, often lacking the necessary land area and robust multimodal connectivity essential for global value chain integration, the Economic Survey said.
And second, enhancing regulatory flexibility: frameworks governing these zones have yet to fully relax key constraints related to labour, building norms, and ease of doing business, which limit their appeal to international firms seeking speed and predictability, it said.
