In a transfer that underscores India’s strategic resolve to cut back dependence on China, Germany’s Herrenknecht AG, one of many world’s main tunnel boring machine (TBM) producers, is increasing its operations in Chennai with a brand new 12.4-acre manufacturing facility in North Chennai. The enlargement comes at a time when a number of main Indian infrastructure initiatives — from metro corridors to hydropower tunnels — are dealing with delays resulting from China’s obstruction of TBM exports. The brand new plant, trade experiences say, will assist India not solely meet its rising home demand but additionally safe its provide chain from geopolitical disruptions.
Diplomatic and Financial Pushback
The present tensions hint again to October final yr, when Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal raised the problem instantly with German Financial system Minister Robert Habeck. In a candid alternate that later went viral, Goyal mentioned, “Your German firm is supplying us tunnel boring machines, which they’re making in China… however China isn’t permitting them to promote it to India. We should always cease shopping for German gear now.”
The remarks have been a uncommon public acknowledgment of Beijing’s political interference in commerce involving third international locations. Herrenknecht, which manufactures TBMs in China for international shoppers, had been blocked by Chinese language customs from exporting gear certain for Indian infrastructure initiatives.
China’s Assurance
Apparently, whilst tensions simmer, Chinese language International Minister Wang Yi throughout his latest go to to New Delhi reportedly assured Exterior Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar that Beijing would handle India’s issues over fertilisers, uncommon earth parts, and tunnel boring machines. However officers in New Delhi stay cautious. “We are able to’t afford to let strategic infrastructure be held hostage to a different nation’s political agenda,” mentioned a senior authorities supply aware of the developments.
Initiatives Delayed, Persistence Examined
The delay hit a number of essential infrastructure works in India — together with metro expansions and river-linking tunnels — all reliant on well timed TBM provides. The scenario escalated to the purpose the place New Delhi lodged formal protests with each Berlin and Beijing, urging them to resolve the bottleneck.
Herrenknecht’s administration, too, confirmed the bizarre customs holdup. German Ambassador to India Dr. Philipp Ackermann later acknowledged the problem, saying, “It’s clear for political causes that the Chinese language would not likely allow them to out.”
He added that the expertise had prompted Herrenknecht to diversify its operations, calling the Chennai enlargement a “good instance of not placing all eggs in a single basket.”
India’s ‘German Checkmate’
For India, the episode served as a wake-up name. With China weaponizing commerce dependencies, particularly because the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes, New Delhi has sought to localize essential manufacturing and deepen industrial ties with trusted companions like Germany, Japan, and France. Herrenknecht’s determination to fabricate TBMs instantly in India somewhat than counting on exports from China is being seen as a strategic win — each economically and diplomatically. The transfer will permit sooner challenge execution, native job creation, and know-how switch whereas decreasing the affect of Chinese language provide chains on India’s infrastructure push.
Chennai As India’s Tunnel Tech Hub
Herrenknecht was the primary international TBM maker to arrange an meeting facility in India in 2007, additionally in Chennai. With the brand new plant, the German main goals to totally manufacture and assemble its machines domestically, strengthening India’s engineering base and decreasing challenge prices. The timing couldn’t be extra essential — India has dozens of main tunneling initiatives within the pipeline, together with metro techniques, high-speed rail corridors, and river-interlinking schemes. The home demand for TBMs is anticipated to soar over the subsequent 5 years, making native manufacturing each an financial and strategic necessity.
A Broader Message
Herrenknecht’s Chennai enlargement sends a transparent sign: India’s infrastructure ambitions is not going to be stalled by geopolitics. As New Delhi deepens industrial cooperation with Germany, it is usually laying the muse for a self-reliant, resilient manufacturing ecosystem that stands agency towards exterior strain. What started as a commerce dispute has developed right into a strategic rebalancing — one the place India, backed by its companions, is quietly crafting a German checkmate to China’s obstruction playbook.