Boopalan Balu, Rajesh Jayapal, Koteswara Rao Gunupuru, Ramanjaneyulu Mogili
The automotive industry has one of the most sophisticated global supply chains, with multi-national import-export flows running through every major automaker. Internationalization in the 1990s brought about a high degree of global sourcing along with organizational changes which brought out much needed increased in productivity. But with the COVID-19 pandemic halting many trade routes, many manufacturers are switching to regional suppliers and are therefore accelerating the process of localization. Such a change is not only beneficial to the economy of the home country, but also is considered as an environment-friendly initiative in line with green supply chain strategies. This study aims to provide a roadmap for bringing about such a change in the Indian automotive sector by combining the best localization practices followed by automakers across the world. Specific components which can be localized are studied in detail and separate strategies for localizing these components are presented. Such a roadmap will support the Indian Government's existing initiatives such as the ‘Make in India’ and will also lay the foundation for supporting India’s vision of an ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat.