Insights

India’s rules for intelligent systems

India is single-minded about building at home. Here is what that means for each of our businesses.

India’s government and regulators are focused on three things:

  1. 1Growing local manufacturingMore of what India uses, made in India.
  2. 2DiversificationA broad base of suppliers and technologies.
  3. 3Deeper partnershipsLong-term relationships with many countries.

Strong incentives to build, such as Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes and support for electronics and components, sit alongside rules that make localisation necessary.

What it means for each business

Rules, government support and how we help

Strategic VenturesBuilding in India

Rules that shape it

  • Local-content expectations in public programmes
  • Limits on finished imports in some segments, such as drones

Government support

  • Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes across 14 sectors
  • India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and the mobile phone manufacturing scheme: about USD 20Bn (INR 1.9Tn), approved July 2026
  • The electronics components manufacturing scheme

How we help

Technology partnerships and supply-chain builds structured for India’s rules from day one.

Resilient SupplyTrusted supply

Rules that shape it

  • STQC security certification for CCTV: new cameras from April 2025, every camera sold from 1 April 2026
  • Trusted-source rules in telecom (2021) and other critical sectors

Government support

  • Public programmes that prefer certified, trusted sources: smart cities, rail, airports and defence

How we help

Supply programmes aligned with India’s certification and regulatory requirements before they are offered.

Sovereign StackControl of devices and data

Rules that shape it

  • Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, with its Rules notified in November 2025
  • CERT-In directions (2022): system logs kept in India for 180 days
  • Reserve Bank of India rules (2018) keeping payment data in India

Government support

  • A national push for digital public infrastructure and India-hosted platforms, such as UPI

How we help

India-hosted utilities, with keys under the customer’s control.

Select a business to see the detail.

In their words

India’s leadership on building at home

“…in this process of de-risking, diversifying, hedging, slowly a new architecture is coming into place.”
S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister · Munich Leaders Meeting, New Delhi, 4 October 2026 · Source
“…we have built domestic manufacturing capacity, energy security and reduced critical import dependencies.”
Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister · Union Budget 2026–27 speech · Source
“Due to the growth in manufacturing, lakhs of direct and indirect jobs have been created for youth in the country…”
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister · Chennai, 11 October 2026 · Source
“…finally we have been successful in getting the semiconductor industry established in our country.”
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and IT · On India’s first semiconductor plants, September 2026 · Source

In some segments the push goes further

Drones

Finished drones and their kits cannot be imported; components can.

Surveillance

Cameras must meet India’s STQC certification.

Rail, airports, meters, industrial IoT

Security and certification requirements, and local-content expectations in large programmes.

What it means

Build with Indian manufacturers

The supply chain and the product are built together in India, so the Indian company, its technology partners and its customers all benefit.

What we expect

More complex, not less

We believe these realities will become more complex. Partnerships set up now, with the right structure, will be ready.