Samsonite's luggage factory in Nashik emerged as the firm's largest production facility in the world by volume, surpassing its European counterparts, as per a case study in the Economic Survey 2025-26, which discussed the importance of industrial clusters in boosting productivity.
"Industrial clusters create advantages by bringing firms, suppliers, workers, and logistics together in dense ecosystems. Such co-location increases productivity through shared infrastructure, reduced transaction costs, common labour pools, and continual knowledge spillovers—all of which are essential to industrial competitiveness," the survey said.
Ahead of the upcoming Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled the survey, which provides an official analysis of the current state of the economy as well as a forward-looking review.
As per the survey, creating industrial clusters where companies, suppliers, workers and logistics come together to form ecosystems will be a better driver of productivity instead of opening more dispersed factories.
These clusters help countries integrate into global value chains, draw foreign investment and spur productivity-driven growth as per the survey.
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The survey lauded Samsonite's industrial cluster expansions, stating that its focus on colocating firms, suppliers and workers, which leads to shared infrastructure, deep labour markets, and lower transaction costs, all of which aid firms to scale quickly and on a global level.
"The company's decision to further expand locally highlights the importance of established regional supply chains and workforce stability," the survey said.
The survey highlighted three key structural factors that need to be addressed to transform industrial clusters in globally competitive ecosystems.
The first is achieving optimal scale as the median size of India's clusters is relatively small, and tend to lack the necessary land area and robust multimodal connectivity required for global value chain integration, the survey said.
The second is enhancing regulatory flexibility as frameworks governing these zones are yet to fully relax key constraints related to labour, building norms, and ease of doing business, which limit their appeal to international firms seeking speed and predictability as per the survey.
The third involves harnessing private execution by enhancing the role of private developers to masterplan, build, and operate core infrastructure, ensuring market responsiveness and efficiency as per the survey.
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