Key Details
The 2022 National Strategy for Additive Manufacturing (NSAM) has built a base of skills, start-ups and home-grown technologies. A proposed NSAM 2.0 would focus on getting more of those technologies into commercial use.
Skills and enterprises: More than 1.54 lakh people have received additive-manufacturing-related training, and 56 start-ups have been supported.
Technology development: A network of national centres has enabled the development of 65 India-specific technologies, spanning materials, machines, design methods and printed products. Seven specialised Development and Deployment Centres have been established.
Original ambitions: The 2022 strategy set targets including 100 start-ups, 500 new products and one lakh skilled workers. Reported training has passed the last of these targets; training numbers alone do not establish workforce placement.
Proposed next phase: NSAM 2.0 would emphasise intellectual property, commercialisation, more affordable machines and materials, and wider industrial use.
The Next Challenge Is Industrial Use
Additive manufacturing, often called 3D printing, builds an object layer by layer from a digital design. It can make complex or customised components that are difficult to produce through conventional methods.
NSAM has helped build capabilities across design, materials, machines and skills. The distinction now is between developing a technology and using it routinely in production. NSAM 2.0 is being conceptualised around that transition: generating intellectual property, improving the affordability of equipment and materials, and developing technologies that can be commercialised.
Applications Are Emerging Across Sectors
The update points to uses in space, defence, healthcare, electronics and construction. Agnikul Cosmos’s single-piece printed rocket engine demonstrates the technology’s ability to produce complex hardware. Other examples include patient-specific medical implants, printed electronic components and construction projects.
These examples show why the technology has attracted interest beyond prototyping. They represent different stages of development and adoption, however; a successful demonstration is not evidence that a product is already being manufactured at scale.
NSAM 2.0 Remains a Proposed Direction
The next phase would expand start-up support, strengthen the additive-manufacturing electronics value chain and encourage cooperation on standards, research and technology. It also proposes clusters to make machines and materials more affordable—an important consideration for firms deciding whether to adopt the technology.
The PIB update describes NSAM 2.0 as “being conceptualised”. It does not announce a final strategy, a new funding allocation or a date when the proposed measures will take effect.
Policy Relevance
India has developed a base of trained people, start-ups and home-grown technologies. Industrial adoption now depends on whether firms can obtain reliable materials and equipment, meet the standards required in sectors such as aerospace and healthcare, and find commercially viable uses for the designs developed by research centres.
That makes affordability and commercialisation more consequential than the number of prototypes alone. The proposed clusters and standards cooperation address parts of this problem; future evidence of repeat orders, production use and domestic supply would show how far the shift has progressed.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: What support would help Indian manufacturers move proven 3D-printing technologies into regular production, particularly where equipment costs and technical standards are barriers?
Follow the Full Update Here: Additive Manufacturing in India