Hettich India Plans Major Manufacturing Expansion as India Takes a Bigger Role in Its Global Supply Chain
Hettich's manufacturing strategy in India remains centred around its core furniture fittings and interior solutions portfolio.
The company currently manufactures hinges at Indore, along with telescopic slides and entry-level products such as wire baskets. It is now preparing to expand the locally manufactured portfolio by adding drawer systems. (ETManufacturing.in)
These core categories are expected to continue receiving significant investment.
Earlier in 2026, Hettich also inaugurated a new automated manufacturing facility at its Indore campus for undermount drawer runners. The approximately 25,700 sq. metre plant, located within its roughly 103,039 sq. metre Indore campus, has projected annual capacity of around 5 million drawer runners. The existing hinge operation has capacity of approximately 60 million hinges annually. (ETRetail.com)
The new facility forms part of Hettich's broader ₹2,000 crore investment commitment in India.
India's Furniture Industry Is Becoming More Organised
Hettich's expansion is taking place alongside a structural transformation of India's furniture industry.
The furniture fittings market is growing organically at approximately 7% to 10% annually, according to Eckholt. At the same time, the transition from unorganised manufacturing towards organised production is accelerating. (ETManufacturing.in)
Regulatory measures such as Quality Control Orders (QCOs) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) requirements are contributing to this transition.
Consumers are also increasingly demanding engineered, branded and quality-focused products.
Together, these trends create greater opportunities for organised manufacturers capable of producing consistently at scale.
India's Supplier Ecosystem Could Become More Specialised
Hettich sees parallels between India's evolving manufacturing landscape and the specialised manufacturing clusters that have developed in China.
China's manufacturing competitiveness has benefited significantly from clusters where production scale, specialised technologies, suppliers and capabilities are concentrated geographically.
India could gradually move in a similar direction.
As domestic demand grows and manufacturing becomes more organised, Hettich expects increased investment in:
Specialised suppliers
Precision engineering
Advanced manufacturing technologies
Automation
Large-scale organised production
This could have substantial implications for India's industrial clusters. (ETManufacturing.in)
Large anchor manufacturers often attract supporting suppliers around their facilities, creating deeper industrial ecosystems and generating secondary demand for industrial land and factory space.
Consolidation Could Reshape Furniture Manufacturing
Another structural change is expected within India's furniture OEM segment.
Much of India's furniture industry has historically been fragmented, with carpenters and relatively small manufacturers playing a major role.
Eckholt compares today's Indian market with Europe approximately 20 to 30 years ago, when the European furniture industry was similarly fragmented.
Over time, Europe transitioned towards larger and increasingly automated manufacturing operations.
Hettich expects India to move in a similar direction, particularly in the OEM segment. (ETManufacturing.in)
Smaller manufacturers could increasingly consolidate, while larger companies invest in scale, automation and organised production.
Skilled carpenters will remain important, but adapting to new technologies and products will be essential as the industry evolves.
Automation, Robotics and AI Will Shape the Factory of 2030
Hettich's manufacturing strategy also provides a glimpse into how advanced factories are evolving.
Rather than viewing one technology as transformative on its own, the company expects competitiveness to come from integrating:
Automation
Robotics
Artificial intelligence
Digitalisation
Hettich's operations are already highly automated, with approximately 90% of its manufacturing processes automated from a value-addition perspective. Packaging remains an area where manual intervention is relatively higher. (ETManufacturing.in)
The objective, however, is not automation simply for the sake of reducing human involvement.
The priority is to standardise quality-critical processes and ensure consistent product quality regardless of who operates the equipment.
AI could then provide another layer of efficiency by identifying incremental optimisation opportunities that may be difficult to detect manually.
Expansion Will Require More Specialised Talent
Hettich currently directly employs approximately 2,200 to 2,300 people in India, of whom nearly 1,100 work in manufacturing. (ETManufacturing.in)
Interestingly, future investment may not translate simply into proportional increases in employee numbers.
As manufacturing becomes more technologically sophisticated, Hettich expects greater demand for specialised talent.
This reflects another important transformation within India's manufacturing sector.
The factories attracting investment today increasingly require engineers, automation specialists, technicians and employees capable of operating sophisticated production systems.
Industrial ecosystems therefore need more than land and infrastructure. Access to skilled technical talent is becoming an equally important site-selection consideration.
India Is Also Becoming an Export Base
Hettich's expansion is being driven by both domestic demand and exports.
The company intends to continue strengthening India's position as an export base for the wider Hettich Group. (ETManufacturing.in)
Its existing Indore operations already serve markets beyond India. The company's new drawer-runner facility is designed to support demand in India as well as international markets, reinforcing India's role within Hettich's global production network. (ETRetail.com)
However, localisation is not yet absolute.
Hettich continues to depend on a limited number of specialised European suppliers for certain highly technical manufacturing processes. (ETManufacturing.in)
This highlights both India's progress and the opportunity ahead: developing deeper domestic capabilities in specialised components, precision engineering and manufacturing technologies could capture a greater share of global industrial value chains.
What Hettich's Expansion Means for Industrial Real Estate
For India's industrial real estate market, Hettich's investment plans illustrate an increasingly important demand trend.
Advanced global manufacturers require more than conventional factory sheds.
Their site-selection requirements increasingly include:
High-quality industrial infrastructure
Reliable power and utilities
Large expansion-ready sites
Access to skilled technical talent
Proximity to specialised suppliers
Strong highway, port and airport connectivity
Supportive state industrial policies
Build-to-Suit manufacturing facilities
Space capable of supporting automation and precision engineering
The fact that Hettich is considering Gujarat and the Chennai region alongside its existing Indore footprint demonstrates how these factors influence the next generation of manufacturing location decisions.
For industrial developers and landowners, locations that combine infrastructure, connectivity, talent and scalable industrial land will be best positioned to capture this demand.
Looking Ahead
Hettich's India story is representative of a broader transformation underway across the country's manufacturing sector.
The company has already invested approximately ₹2,000 crore, plans another ₹500 crore for its next growth phase, and intends to approximately double its overall India investment by 2030. It is simultaneously evaluating another manufacturing facility as its existing capacity moves towards higher utilisation. (ETManufacturing.in)
But the bigger story is not simply the quantum of investment.
It is the nature of that investment.
Localisation. Advanced automation. Precision engineering. New product manufacturing. R&D. Sustainability. Export-oriented production.
These are precisely the capabilities India needs to move further up global manufacturing value chains.
As Hettich and other multinational manufacturers deepen their presence, the opportunity will extend well beyond individual factories. It will stimulate demand for specialised suppliers, skilled talent, industrial infrastructure, logistics networks and high-quality manufacturing real estate.
India is increasingly becoming not merely a market where global companies sell, but a location where they design, manufacture and build for the world. (ETManufacturing.in)
