Global Skepticism Meets Indian Precision at CastForge Stuttgart
At the CastForge trade fair in Stuttgart, Germany, Maulik Shah, founder and managing director of Aditya Engimach, a precision forging company based in Rajkot, Gujarat, faced the same question more than ten times over three days: "Is this really made in India?" According to Shah, buyers scrutinized his products, inquiring about materials, methods, and processes. "What followed was respect for our craftsmen and workers back in Gujarat," he wrote in a LinkedIn post. This moment, though small, encapsulated Shah's broader mission to challenge global prejudices against Indian manufacturing quality.
From a Single Room to Global Operations
Aditya Engimach, founded by Shah in 2010 from a single room, has grown over 16 years into a precision forging operation serving clients across multiple continents. The company supplies hot-forged, closed-die, and ring-rolled components for automotive, aerospace, energy, and heavy machinery sectors. It holds more than 15 certifications, including AS9100, the aerospace and defence industry's internationally recognized quality standard. Shah's presence at CastForge was not merely about securing orders; it was about "taking on a prejudice."
Direct Challenge to Global Assumptions
In a series of LinkedIn posts, Shah laid out his mission with bluntness. "For years, the world came to India for one thing, outsourced labour," he wrote ahead of the show. "This week, we went to the world to show them that we also engineer, build and innovate." He directly challenged the assumption that India competes only on cost and labour, not on quality. "The world still thinks India competes on price and labour," he noted. "But by standing on the same floor, meeting the same standard, we are taking the small steps to change this prejudice."
The Tier-2 Manufacturing Story
Shah's story resonates because of its origin in Rajkot, a tier-2 city in Gujarat's Saurashtra region, known for its casting, forging, and engineering industrial belt built by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). For decades, these firms worked quietly, supplying domestic industry with little global recognition. Improved connectivity, maturing export ambitions, and platforms connecting founders with global buyers have brought tier-2 manufacturers closer to international markets. Many SMEs from towns like Rajkot are now exhibiting at global trade fairs and pursuing export opportunities previously dominated by large corporations. Shah identifies the bottleneck not as talent or machinery, but as trust. "The lacking part," he argues, "is sustainability, system reliability and documentation."
Jugaad vs. Global Standards
Shah critically examined the Indian tendency to celebrate "jugaad"—a frugal, innovative fix. "We as Indians proudly celebrate jugaad," he wrote, "and in doing so, we've convinced the world and ourselves that this is the best we can do." However, he warned that global markets reward the opposite: "The world does not pay for your clever fix in a crisis. It pays to never have the crisis in the first place." On the shop floor, ordinary discipline creates extraordinary trust, he concluded, framing this as a manifesto for Indian manufacturers.
Broader Context: China-Plus-One Shift
Shah's message arrives as global manufacturers diversify supply chains beyond single-country dependence—the China-plus-one strategy. India has positioned itself as a leading alternative in the forging industry. Aditya Engimach was one of only a handful of Indian forging manufacturers at CastForge. Shah acknowledged that the mission to change global bias is long-term: "It won't be broken by how smart we are, but by our reliability on our quality that never fails."
