Economic Survey 2024-25: China’s manufacturing dominance nears 45% of global output, poses long-term strategic challenges for India

The Economic Survey 2024-25, tabled in Parliament on Friday by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, highlighted China’s increasing dominance in global manufacturing and energy transition ecosystems.

“China has gained a strategic advantage by leveraging its competitiveness and economic policies to access and control key resources, now recognised as critical for global supply chains. In 2000, the US and its allies in Asia, Europe, and Latin America accounted for the overwhelming majority of global industrial production, with China contributing just 6%. But as per UNIDO projection, China will account for 45% of all global manufacturing, single-handedly matching or outpacing the US and its allies,” the Survey stated.

According to the Survey, such a high level of manufacturing dominance by a single country has been seen only twice before in world history; first, by the UK at the start of the Industrial Revolution; and second, by the US, just after World War II. It further noted that in an extended “war of production,” there is no guarantee that the entire world, united, could defeat China alone.


The report further highlighted that China’s manufacturing dominance is evident in industries, such as automobiles (especially electric vehicles), mining and refining of critical minerals (Copper, Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, Graphite), and clean energy equipment. The rise of Chinese automakers has disrupted long-standing incumbents in economies like Germany and Japan.

Additionally, the Economic Survey warned that China’s growing control over key economic resources creates long-term strategic dependencies, challenging major economies like Germany and Japan while reshaping global supply chains.