India, Sept. 13 -- Something unusual happened to India's automobile industry recently: after two years as a net exporter of components, it slipped back into deficit. Component imports rose 13% to $25.4 billion in FY26 while exports grew just 5% to $24 billion, turning a surplus of about $500 million into a $1.4 billion deficit. China alone supplied roughly $9 billion, or more than a third of India's auto-component imports.

This deserves attention because automobiles are hardly an infant Indian industry. India is one of the world's largest vehicle manufacturers and its auto-component industry, now approaching $86 billion, rests on decades of accumulated capability in engines, transmissions, forgings, castings and machining. Yet the techno...