India and Germany are among the top five furniture producers worldwide. The new free trade agreement between India and the EU will further intensify trade between the two regions. What makes the subcontinent particularly attractive is its high level of innovation and the rapid adoption of new technologies.
This is particularly evident in the Indian furniture market. Trend analyses predict growth from 26.5 billion euros (2025) to 55.5 billion euros (2032), corresponding to an average annual growth rate of 11.1 per cent. One of the drivers of this rapidly growing furniture market is the rapid rise of home working and the gig economy (freelancers and the self-employed).
“India offers a dynamic and growing market, and German companies bring technologies that can support the country’s further industrial development,” sums up Annett Bässler, Deputy Consul General of Germany in India. She notes: “Many German companies have been in the country for years, and in some cases decades; others are now beginning to consider local production as they see long-term potential in it.”
Long-standing partnerships revitalised
The Hettich Group recognised this potential long ago – the fourth-generation family-run business is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of furniture fittings. Having had a presence in India for 25 years, it recently opened a new production facility in Indore, in western India, which produces 60 million hinges and 5 million drawer runners annually. “A milestone on the long journey of our commitment to the Indian market and one of the most technologically advanced facilities,” says Andre Eckholt, Managing Director at Hettich India, responsible for the SAARC economic union, the Middle East and Africa.
