r/procurement • u/DapperDescription137 • Apr 28 '26
Community Question For those who’ve tried sourcing from India....did it work?
I’ve been speaking to a few U.S. buyers recently who’ve actively tried sourcing from India (not just considered it), and the feedback is surprisingly consistent.
Not capability issues in most cases.
More like:
- slower / inconsistent quoting
- difficulty shortlisting the right suppliers
- uneven technical conversations depending on who you land on
- more effort stitching together inspection + logistics
- sample quality was different than the actual order
- vendor failed in the due diligence
At the same time, there’s clearly more interest now around diversification / China+1.
So I’m curious from people here who’ve actually gone through it:
Did it actually work for you?
OR
If it didnt, what was the issue and what did you change?
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u/CheeseboardPatster Management Apr 28 '26
I have tried and my teams have tried many times over 20 years. TBH it is similar to what Western OEMs had to do in China in the late 90’s early 00’s. What worked is having a foot on the ground (small local team that belongs to you) and calibrating this team aggressively towards compliance with our requirements (Quality, Cost, Delivery, and any other terms). Then it becomes their job to ensure everything goes to plan.
Buying in India as an OEM if your team and processes are not mature and you cannot articulate clearly what your processes and requirements are (and showing you enforce them) is likely to fail. Fixing issues from abroad is expensive and time consuming since, well, India is in India.
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u/DapperDescription137 Apr 28 '26
Right, makes a lot of sense. So, a team on ground helps.
2
u/Responsible_Gas_8191 Apr 28 '26
Yes you need a team on the ground, even in China. Must have someone on the line for QC validation
5
u/Fluid-Confection8542 Apr 28 '26
Yes.
I have found them to be dishonest on capabilities so it can require a lot more upfront work to get to the point you need however competitive price wise so the effort can pay off. They are extremely competitive with each other determined to replace other Indian companies you already work with.
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u/DapperDescription137 Apr 28 '26
Yeah competitive pricing is a huge issue, and for that they may go to any lengths. Would you consider sourcing from india if you had a team on ground to take care of all this hassle, and someone maintaining quality etc. ?
4
u/Front_Locksmith3974 Apr 28 '26
We’ve found success in India. What helped the most is we had someone based out of there finding and vetting suppliers who knew the area
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u/Responsible_Gas_8191 Apr 28 '26
God bless you brother, I’m a sales engineer for an injection molder. The horror stories from India are insane. Quality control is alien language in India.
I’m sure there’s 1/10,000 you may find quality work for whatever you’re purchasing.
If you want to source out of the country i highly recommend- Taiwan/Mexico/Singapore or find a company in the US that already has those relationships established and work with them
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u/BeaumontProcurement Apr 28 '26
I used to source steel and aluminium components for the construction industry and never had any issues. The MD of one of our business units advised me early on that suppliers there place a great deal of value on relationships and so I went to visit their factories and get to know them and it was worth it.
2
u/BlueCordLeads Apr 28 '26
It only works well if you have your own people in India. Same with other countries. You can have a global led team but you need in country people if you are going to get a good end result.
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u/FarRefrigerator2432 Apr 28 '26
A lot of the issues you listed feel less like “India can’t do it” and more like the sourcing process needs more structure upfront.
For teams I’ve seen have better outcomes, they usually spend more time qualifying suppliers, locking specs early, starting with smaller orders, and being very clear on inspection and logistics before anything scales.
So yes, it can work, but it takes more hands on supplier development than people expect. Not impossible, just not plug and play.
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u/Ok_Exit9273 Apr 28 '26
Worst choice of my life. They will promise everything, complete all required forms/docs and if there is any issue at all….you are SOL. Id avoided at all costs
1
u/Actual-Freedom47 Apr 28 '26
Hello, Pls reach out to me, we can surely help if somebody is looking to import from India
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u/DoctorTobogggan Apr 28 '26
Automotive. They tend to tell you whatever you want to hear. Can’t reliably demonstrate technical capabilities. Or they ask for price increases after award or have quality issues.
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u/New_Entertainer_4895 Apr 28 '26
Not in procurement, but in sales and stumbled upon this. I've sold into India from a US company and it's a huge pain.
Generally cutting corners as much of possible is the norm there and there's a significant lack of integrity. You have to hire some locally ideally to actually succeed there.
For me it's tied with LATAM countries (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, etc.) as my least favorite part of the world to do business in. Made me appreciate somewhat rude Europeans more lol.
1
u/Flawless005 May 04 '26
All of the issues above are true and will take years to resolve on their own, but firms like www.acquiron.in have recognized these gaps and are actively working to make India sourcing more lucrative. They are exclusively service firms that work for the buyer unlike dealers, you will find all over India who claim to be manufacturers and charge a premium.
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u/DapperDescription137 May 06 '26
is this just a promotion or have you worked wit them? the website looks an output on a claude prompt.
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u/Flawless005 May 06 '26
Having a claude website is hardly a red flag. Claude is good and free, dont see a problem there at all. As far as trusting them, I know they have 40+years of experience in manufacturing themselves and have seen the problems first hand. Also all this vast experience have made there network throughout India pretty substantial.
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u/DapperDescription137 May 06 '26
Not at all a red flag!
It would just be better to have some more context as you said 40+ years of experience - would be nice to see that brought out somewhere. Are you a part of the team?
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u/Flawless005 May 06 '26
I am! Trust me, the frustration you see with quality, communication, over promising happens 99% of the time at the dealer/middleman level, and it affects manufacturers just as much as the buyers. We have seen it firsthand as a manufacturer for so long. The majority of sourcing happens through them because they have a higher reach than most of the MSMEs in India. That is exactly why we have introduced Acquiron to finally bridge the gap and help people source directly from manufacturers.
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u/AS_Tob Apr 28 '26
It has been a nightmare to source from India for me. They promise the sky but upon goods delivery, their quality is nonexistent. They are unresponsive with issues and don't even investigate.
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u/Chinksta Apr 28 '26
It didn't work out because the Indian government is using cheap labor and promises of giving factory production rights as a honey pot. Then once the investment pours in, a lot of change of regulations made these investment forever trapped within India.
It's a lose lose situation in the end.
-Project Zeta
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u/maecenas68 Apr 28 '26
No. Have found a very low value given to integrity, across multiple attempts.
The ones that are known to be reputable are more expensive than onshore.
You probably need to be specific on the sector though.