Is India’s Manufacturing Ecosystem Entering Its Startup Age? DPIIT Signs 50 MOUs to Boost Innovation

India’s manufacturing landscape is quietly undergoing a transformation — one that could redefine how industries innovate, collaborate, and scale. The government is no longer just talking about “Make in India”; it’s now building the framework for Innovate in India.

In a major step towards this vision, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has signed over 50 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with corporates and industry leaders to strengthen India’s manufacturing and innovation ecosystem for startups.

The initiative aims to spark deeper collaboration between large enterprises and emerging manufacturing startups — bringing together the experience of big industry with the disruptive energy of new-age innovators.

A New Era for Manufacturing Innovation

For years, India’s startup boom has been synonymous with software, fintech, and consumer tech. But as the world’s supply chains shift and India positions itself as a global manufacturing alternative, the focus is expanding — from apps to assembly lines, from code to components.

DPIIT’s latest push reflects this shift in mindset. The department is working proactively with corporates, unicorns, industry associations, and sector experts to build manufacturing-focused incubators and foster long-term partnerships between industry and innovation-driven startups.

“This is part of a larger effort to promote the startup ecosystem and encourage the industry to support innovation in manufacturing through incubators and partnerships,” a senior official from DPIIT said.

Why Manufacturing Startups Need a Different Kind of Support

While India has produced over a hundred unicorns in the past decade, only a handful belong to manufacturing or deeptech. The reason is simple: manufacturing innovation is capital-intensive, infrastructure-heavy, and slower to scale.

Young manufacturing startups often struggle to access pilot facilities, testing infrastructure, design labs, and prototyping spaces — all of which are essential before a product hits the market.

That’s where DPIIT’s new partnerships come into play. These MoUs are designed to bridge the infrastructure gap by creating shared innovation facilities — from design centres and prototyping labs to co-manufacturing spaces — easing the financial burden on startups and giving them access to the kind of resources that only established industries usually have.

“Manufacturing startups need more than just funding,” said an industry analyst. “They need access to machines, materials, mentors, and markets. This initiative could be the key to unlocking that ecosystem.”

Incubators: The Missing Link Between Innovation and Industry

One of the most impactful aspects of DPIIT’s initiative is the emphasis on manufacturing-focused incubators. These incubators will serve as bridges between the startup world and traditional industries — connecting ideas to infrastructure, and innovation to implementation.

These centres can be hosted by corporates, academic institutions, or research organisations. They will not only offer shared manufacturing resources but also open access to advanced technologies, mentorship programs, and investor networks — creating a complete support system for early-stage manufacturing ventures.

The approach signals a new kind of collaboration model — one where corporates act as partners in innovation, not just buyers or competitors.

The Biotech Boost: DPIIT x Thermo Fisher Scientific

The manufacturing push isn’t limited to traditional sectors. In a move that highlights India’s growing potential in deep science innovation, DPIIT recently signed a strategic MoU with Thermo Fisher Scientific (TFS) to accelerate the country’s biotechnology ecosystem.

Through this partnership, the two aim to support more than 500 biotech startups over the next three years, offering them access to technology, mentorship, strategic advisory, and investor connect programs.

Under DPIIT’s Startup India initiative, this collaboration will also launch the BioVerse Challenge — a nationwide hunt for India’s most promising biotech entrepreneurs. Alongside, the BioVerse Mentors Circle will bring together experts, scientists, and investors to train and guide startups across the country’s leading bio-incubators.

This partnership signals how DPIIT’s manufacturing and innovation strategy is expanding beyond hardware and industrial tech — into areas like biotech, deeptech, and sustainable materials, which are increasingly defining the future of global manufacturing.

‘Make in India 2.0’: From Factories to Innovation Labs

At its core, this initiative aligns with India’s broader ambition — to transition from being the world’s back-end manufacturing hub to becoming a frontline innovation powerhouse.

The over 50 MoUs signed by DPIIT mark a decisive shift from policy intent to ecosystem action — bringing together the government, corporates, incubators, and startups under one shared goal: to make India a global centre for manufacturing innovation.

It’s not just about boosting production capacity; it’s about building innovation capacity — where startups can experiment, prototype, and scale solutions that redefine how things are made.

India’s manufacturing sector is already the backbone of its economy, contributing nearly 17% to GDP and employing over 60 million people. But the next leap — the leap toward innovation-led manufacturing — will come from how effectively startups can plug into this ecosystem.

By fostering corporate partnerships, enabling infrastructure, and creating mentorship pathways, DPIIT is attempting to make that leap real.

As global companies look for reliable, innovation-driven supply chains, India’s ability to nurture homegrown manufacturing startups could determine whether the country becomes a true global manufacturing hub — not just in scale, but in intelligence, sustainability, and design.

The signing of these MoUs is more than an administrative step — it’s a signal that India’s manufacturing ecosystem is indeed entering its startup age.