India initiated economic reforms, beginning in the 1980’s, which became comprehensive in the early 1990’s. The reforms included significant liberalizations of the external control regime, opening up for increased imports and for foreign investments. The manufacturing industry has evolved; being chiseled by India’s liberalizing trade and investment regimes on the one hand, and the structural readjustments from within (propelled mostly by the changes in global industry), on the other. Several authors have documented the technological learning processes in Indian firms in a spectrum of industries (e.g., Kale and Little (2007) in pharmaceuticals, Arthreye (2005) in software industry, Parhi (2006) in the automotive industry).
The broad aim of this section is to discuss the changing forms of innovation in Indian automotive firms over the last few years. Starting with a broader contextual view of the automotive sector, to give a flavour of the general industrial environment, we will analyze the specific case of auto components industry which has shown remarkable success over the last two