India's $1.2B plan to build its own tunnel boring machines
India is set to approve a $1.2 billion incentive scheme to build high-value construction equipment at home, from tunnel boring machines to elevators and firefighting gear. The seven-year plan targets $1.8 billion in fresh investment and local value-addition mandates, a direct answer to Chinese export leverage. Beijing throttled tunnelling-machinery shipments after the 2020 border clash, and imports collapsed from $18 million to $500,000. The domestic equipment market is worth $10.5 billion and expanding on metro and highway spend.