How India’s manufacturing future rides on ceramics

In a modest industrial park on the outskirts of Tamil Nadu’s Hosur, engineers crowd around a furnace glowing orange. Inside, at nearly 1,600 degrees Celsius, a small white pellet is taking shape—a heat-resistant component that could one day sit inside an electric vehicle motor or a missile nozzle. “It’s just ceramic,” one of them says, smiling wearily after a long shift. Yet, behind that simple statement lies India’s larger struggle to build materials that will power its industrial future. advertisement That struggle is now central to India’s economic agenda. The government is finalising a National Mission for Manufacturing designed to…