Asia Manufacturing Index 2026: India gets sixth place

In the Asia Manufacturing Index 2026 by Dezan Shira & Associates of Hong Kong, India got the sixth place, while China retained the top position in the Asia Manufacturing Index 2026.

• India has been placed at sixth number in the Asia Manufacturing Index 2026, which shows continuous progress but also brings out shortcomings in competitiveness. This ranking compares major Asian manufacturing economies on the basis of key structural and policy indicators.

India’s performance

• India’s economy is clearly growing rapidly, overall it is in third place – only behind Vietnam and China.
• It scores the highest on economic growth, which is a main sub-parameter under the economy pillar, and is second on economic scale, only behind China.
• India ranks first among 11 countries, measured on sub-parameters including the size and growth of the labor force, demographic structure, labor cost and educational achievement.
• India ranks fourth on infrastructure and fifth on innovation – these are areas in which further improvement is expected through continuous government efforts.
• Nevertheless, several weaknesses emerge. India ranks ninth on tax policy, international trade and political risk. It scores the lowest on tax rates among the 11 countries and lags behind China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam (top scorer) and Thailand in terms of tax incentives.
• On international trade, India scores poorly on parameters such as free trade agreement integration, where China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam perform much better. It is also at a lower position in logistics performance, in which six countries are ahead of it and Singapore is the leader in this category.

Asia Manufacturing Index 2026

• China retained the top position in the Asia Manufacturing Index 2026, which shows its scale, strength of infrastructure and integrated supply chain.
• Malaysia emerged as the second-ranked economy for the first time, overtaking Vietnam, which slipped to third place.
• Singapore reached the fourth place, overtaking South Korea, which came down to fifth place.
• India is ahead of Indonesia (seventh), while Thailand has made a fast jump — from 10th place in 2025 to eighth place in 2026. The Philippines is now in 10th place, Japan is in ninth place, and China continues to dominate the index by remaining at the top position for the third consecutive year. Among the 11 countries studied, Bangladesh is at the lowest position.

Issuer of the Asia Manufacturing Index

• In its third year, this index — issued by Dezan Shira & Associates, a pan-Asian market entry advisory firm headquartered in Hong Kong — places India behind major Asian competitors in the global manufacturing race.
• This index uses a structured framework to assess the manufacturing competitiveness of large Asian economies.
• It ranks countries on the basis of eight major pillars: economy, political risk, business environment, international trade, tax policy, infrastructure, workforce and innovation.
• These pillars are further divided into 43 sub-parameters, which present a detailed and data-driven comparison of manufacturing readiness and long-term potential across Asia.