Why precision is sharpening Indian manufacturing

The Hindu BusinessLine · 23 September 2026 · Vipin Sondhi and G Sundararaman

A column in The Hindu BusinessLine traces how precision capability has compounded across Indian manufacturing — from the "mother machines" HMT was founded to build in 1953, through watchmaking, to the companies working from that inheritance today. Its argument is that India does not need to be good at everything, but exceptionally good at capabilities the world finds hard to substitute.

Ethereal Machines appears as one of the column's examples. The authors write:

Ethereal Machines, based in Bengaluru, is an instructive example. Founded in 2014 by college classmates Kaushik Mudda and Navin Jain to make more precisely cut parts for their own projects, it went on to build indigenous multi-axis CNC platforms, winning a CES Best of Innovation award in 2018. It now runs a machining-as-a-service model for aerospace, medical devices and electronics.

They quote co-founder Kaushik Mudda:

My conviction has always been that India has never lacked the engineering talent for advanced manufacturing, only the industrial capability to match it. Ethereal exists to close that gap.

The column is written by Vipin Sondhi, independent director and former MD & CEO of Ashok Leyland and JCB India, and G Sundararaman, Chief Scientist and Head of Wipro Research.

Read the full column at The Hindu BusinessLine — subscriber access.