For years, Indian auto startups meant assembly, battery in, motor in, scooter out.
That phase is ending.
The government just extended the ₹25,938-crore automotive PLI scheme to FY28 , and payouts now require 50%+ domestic value addition, assembling imported parts no longer cuts it.
That’s pulling founders into the unglamorous, hard-to-copy layer:
→ 3rdiTech is building CMOS image sensors for automotive ADAS, priced ~40% below imports 
→ Vervesemi works on data converters and RF transceivers for EV and aerospace 
→ Battery Smart (IIT Kanpur founders) runs 1,600+ battery-swap stations, doing 86 million swaps 
→ Grinntech (IIT Roorkee founders, IIT Madras incubated) builds battery management systems claimed to be 7.5x more capable than average 
→ Lohum runs full-stack lithium-ion recycling, recovering cobalt, nickel and graphite 
Component PLI, drivetrains, BMS, recycling, not another scooter brand.
If you’re a mechanical engineer today, would you bet your career on EVs, or on the components underneath them?
